Vietnam National University of Agriculture attended the conference on "Thua Thien Hue towards the sustainable - safe - high technology agricultural development”

On the morning of July 29, 2019, the People's Committee of Thua Thien Hue province organized a conference on “Thua Thien Hue towards sustainable - safe - high technology agricultural development” to promote the development of agricultural sector in Thua Thien Hue. Attending the conference were Mr. Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, and representatives of some departments of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, namely Planning Department, Science and Technology Department, General Department of Fisheries, General Department of Forestry and Vietnam National University of Agriculture VNUA together with international enterprises and organizations.

Addressing at the conference, Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said Thua Thien Hue Province, a 143 - year old ancient capital of Vietnam under the Nguyen Dynasty, is the place of the quintessence of heaven and earth, the junction of regions, which possesses numerous advantages for the development of agriculture in the province (diversity of terrain: mountains, sea, plains and lagoons; diversity of plants, animals). He suggested that the province should focus on exploiting their own advantages in order to develop the agricultural economy towards circulating ecology, production of agricultural specialties; organic agriculture development; agricultural development associated with culture – tourism, culinary culture of Hue Imperial City.

Scientists and enterprises also proposed many ideas for the agricultural development of Thua Thien Hue province such as exploitation of aquatic resources and sustainable development in Tam Giang - Cau Hai lagoon, plant restructuring; preservation and development of specialty plants and animals of the province; tourism development associated with agricultural production; building and developing local products (OCOP program). Especially, experts from JICA - Japan shared some experiences through a presentation on "High technology Agricultural Cooperative Model in Japan and the possibility of model replication in Vietnam”

Presenting at the conference, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan stated that recognizing the potential advantages and the limitations of natural and socio-economic conditions of the province is a prerequisite for building a safe, sustainable and circulating agricultural economy. Besides, to have comprehensive solutions, the province needs to synchronously implement various solutions such as training high quality human resources (technical staff, workers) to meet the strategic objectives of agricultural area; promoting the application of technical advances for development focusing on assessing the current situation of diverse plants and animals and aquatic resources, and land resources; finding solutions for sustainable development and reduction of environmental pollution; restoring and developing indigenous plants, animals, aquatic products (Thanh Tra, Mai Hue, Sen Hue, Ong Bau Fish ...); Assessing forest resources and develop a sustainable forestry development strategy, linking forestry development with the development of non-timber forest products to limit the pressure on forest exploitation.

Mr. Phan Van Tho, Chairman of Thua Thien Hue Provincial People's Committee, highly appreciated and thanked valuable suggestions from participants. He stressed that the province really wants to have a closer and more effective cooperation with VNUA during the implementation of the provincial agricultural development strategy.