Vietnam’s government always support science and technology application in agriculture and will double investment in scientific projects of high applicability in the coming years, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said.
The Tien Phong (Pioneer) newspaper cited Deputy PM Hung as saying at the meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) that the government is ready to provide VND200 billion, even VND300 billion-VND400 billion to deal with hot issues in agriculture like varieties improvement and post harvest loss reduction.
The government official stressed that putting science and technology into life, particularly in production, is one of the three pivotal issues that the nation needs to address to build a new rural area and a modern agriculture and raise the living conditions of farmers.
He asked the MARD, research institutes and scientists to embark on projects that are in involving breeding, know-how training in rural areas, post-harvest technology, aquaculture, and food security projects.
“Selecting orientations, goals and solutions for a scientific and technological strategy for the agricultural sector is very important,” Deputy PM Hung said.
The MARD reported that it received over VND 2.6 trillion for scientific and technological research in agriculture in the 2001-2005 period, which accounted for 2.3 per cent of the total investment pumped into the agricultural sector.
The sum, however, made up just 0.1 per cent of the country’s GDP while it was four to seven fold in other countries in the region, the MARD said.
MARD Minister Cao Duc Phat suggested an increase in investment for agricultural research to 0.3 per cent-0.5 per cent of the national GDP.
MARD has proposed that the Government allow private businesses to take part in the selection of agriculture-engaged scientific research as one of a series of measures to boost the research and transfer of scientific and technological advances in the agricultural sector.
In 2008, MARD plans to disburse VND 600 billion for agricultural research. (Pioneer, VNA)
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