VIETNAM – Supermarket brands’ development causes worries – 18 Jun, 2011

Supermarkets have been trying to develop the product with their own brands, while enterprises have become the manufacturers who do the outsourcing for supermarkets.

According to representatives of some big supermarkets, there are some 100 companies, production workshops, craft villages and cooperatives are doing the outsourcing for the retailers.

Manufacturers doing the outsourcing for others

The owner of a garment workshop in district 10 in HCM City said that if he brings products to supermarkets to sell, he has to pay the discount rate of 35 percent and some other kinds of expenses.

Besides this, he will only get money 60 days after bringing products to supermarkets. In general, the business cost for selling products at supermarkets is about 45 percent. Meanwhile, if his company does the outsourcing for supermarkets, the business cost would be less than 10 percent.

Cao Tien Vi, Chair of the Saigon Paper Corporation, also said that it is unwise to refuse the proposal to do the outsourcing for supermarkets. “Supermarkets are big distributors, therefore, even though when doing the outsourcing, we do not get high profits, we still have to do in order to get other preferences from the retailers,” he said.

Le Thi Thanh Lam, deputy director of SG Food, said that the volume of products her company makes for supermarkets now accounts for 65 percent of the total production. Lam that her company and supermarkets have been cooperating for mutual benefits.

“The products with supermarkets’ brands can sell very well,” she said

While some manufacturers see the outsourcing for supermarkets as a kind of cooperation for mutual benefit, other manufacturers say they have no other choice than accepting to do the outsourcing for supermarkets.

The owner of H Food Company said that a supermarket once asked H Company to do the outsourcing for it. As H refused to take this job, the supermarket placed orders with another manufacturer. The low prices of the products (30 percent lower than H’s products) plus the sale promotion programmes offered by the supermarket, has led to the fact that H’s products became unsalable. Finally, H’s products have been weeded out from the supermarket’s shelves, because of the low sales.

An egg supplier also said that as she refused to provide eggs under the supermarket’s brand, the supermarket will chose another supplier. As the products are displayed on advantageous positions, and cheaper, they have been selling very well, though the eggs are smaller.

Different ways for manufacturers

Most of the products with supermarkets’ brands are food and drinks. These are the products supermarkets can be sure about the quality through the purchasing and verifying procedures.

Lam from SG Food, said that only the original products with specific characteristics which have special tastes or new processing technique are being sold by the company under the brand “SG Food”.

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lien, PR director of Kinh Do Group said that Kinh Do is making the products for selling under the brand of Kinh Do, and it is also making the products for supermarkets. Since the latter products are only sold at supermarkets, Lien does not think that they would be a threat to Kinh Do.

Lien stressed that the main distribution channel of Kinh Do is the network of shops, kiosks at traditional markets and sales agents. Besides, the products under supermarkets’ brands are just low cost products, which are simple and do not have any special characteristics.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Huu Toan, director of Sanding – a fashion company, said that his company has stopped making the products for supermarkets. “We tried our best to make products, but the profits were too low. Only supermarkets could benefit when their turnover increased,” he said.

Information Intellasia.net

VIETNAM – Livestock farms accused of price collusion – 15/06/2011

VietNamNet Bridge – The latest increase in livestock prices in the domestic market, which has surprised both traders and consumers, is being blamed on price manipulation by big breeding companies.

Lending strength to the suspicion of price manipulation is the fact that the surge has come during the low season, but several retailers say demand and supply factors have also played a role.

Pork prices in the city’s retail markets have increased by between VND5,000-8,000 per kilo on average in the last few days. Prices of lean-fat cuts have gone up to VND110,000 (US$5.2) per kilo and the upper leg has been sold for VND130,000 ($6.2).

“Despite the price hike, consumers still have to buy them,” a retailer at Tan Binh District’s Pham Van Hai market said, explaining that they had no choice but to increase their prices as those of all other livestock items have also got increased prices.

The pricing typically depends a lot on supply and demand, but the pork market is an exception, said deputy head of the country’s main livestock supplier Vissan’s Market Office Do Minh Trung. “A new standard price is being set up in the pork market.”

The Tuoi Tre newspaper cited the owners of some pig farms in the southeastern region as saying prices of live pigs increased because of a shortage in supply following an epidemic in Aprilû. The prices went down later with supply returning to normal.

The latest increase, however, was not caused by any lack in supply.

The pork supply in southern markets has been sufficient, according to a trader at HCM City’s suburban Hoc Mon market, but the price has gone up because of increasing demand from northern markets. “The number of pigs sold to the north sometimes reached 2,000 a day and this made southern pig farmers push up the price.”

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has said it has not made any plan to import pork so far this year and is unlikely to do so in the coming years as domestic production and supply are abundant.

The head of the Livestock Breeding Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Hoang Kim Giao, confirmed that supply was sufficient in the domestic market. He attributed the latest hike to international trends and argued it was not a bad thing.

“The increase (in livestock prices) would encourage breeders to further invest and develop their livestock farms after suffering big losses following epidemics last year,” he said.

However, breeders argue that the real beneficiaries of the price hike are not farmers, but livestock companies.

The high price of cattle feed has actually forced quite a few farmers to give up on animal husbandry.

The current suppliers of livestock are mostly large breeding companies, many of them foreign-invested. With their large-scale operations and advanced technologies, they have taken a majority stake in the domestic market.

About 9,000 pigs are sold to HCM City market everyday and the foreign livestock companies supply up to 80 per cent of the total, said HCM City Veterinary Department.

At current prices, breeders can make profits of VND2 million ($95) per 100kg of pig sold, and this is the highest margin so far, according to an owner of a breeding farm in southern Dong Nai Province’s Bien Hoa City.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, he said these figures indicated how much profit the breeding companies were making and also explained the price hike.

The poultry market is facing a similar situation. The market is dominated by big foreign invested companies like CP, Emivest, Japfa.

The price of industrially-raised chicken went down to VND38,000 ($1.8) per kilo late last month but went up again to VND41,000 (almost $2) per kilo over the last few days. Breeders are enjoying record high profits of 50 per cent, as a kilo of chicken, which requires an investment of VND27,000 (nearly $1.3), is sold for VND40,500 ($1.9).

Information VNS

VIETNAM – Firms eye opportunities in Malaysia, Indonesia – 7 Jun, 2011

The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Asia-Pacific Department will organise a business trip for Vietnamese firms to seek opportunities in foodstuff and beverage in Malaysia and Indonesia from September 26-October 3.

The trip, as part of the National Trade Promotion Programme in 2011, will help domestic businesses better understand the customers’ demand in the market and then draw up effective export strategies, said the deputy head of the department, Dao Ngoc Chuong.
Information Intellasia.net

VIETNAM – Vietnamese retailing industry needs ‘big guys’ – 7 Jun, 2011

Building up a retail network which can bring facilities to consumers and developing the retail companies powerful enough to lead the market, are the two issues being discussed thoroughly when compiling a strategy to develop retail trade services in Vietnam.

The “tomato flow”

A survey conducted by Cadilhon, a market survey firm, on the flow of tomatoes after harvesting, can show an overall picture of Vietnam’s retail market. After tomatoes are harvested by farmers, they are carried to distributors. The tomatoes consumed by Metro supermarket bring 1.4 percent of the total sales, while 16 other supermarkets bring 0.6 percent of total sales. The other 98 percent of tomatoes are consumed by wholesalers mostly through the vending network and 1600 stable retailers.

The figures cited by Cadilhon show that the traditional sale channel still play a very important role in distributing everyday consumer products, such as food or household articles.

However, analysts have pointed out that in recent years, modern retail channels have been expanding rapidly with the development of some leading brands like Metro, Big C, Saigon Co-op supermarket chains. Not only foreign retailers can come to Vietnam to set up distribution points but foreign manufacturers can also set up trade centers through domestic partners.

However, domestic retailers still hold dim role in Vietnamese market, which still lacks “big guys” who can lead the market. The survey on the “tomato flow” can show that. Meanwhile, in other regional countries, the biggest retailers are domestic ones. In Indonesia or China, for example, four domestic retailers now have the biggest sales, even though the giant Wal-Mart is now present in China, or Carrefour has arrived in Indonesia.

Prioritising to develop “big guys” or giving opportunities to all?

As a marketing expert, Ngo Trong Thanh, Managing director of Mancom, has suggested drawing up a government’s action plan in order to develop retail trade in Vietnam in 2011-2020. Thanh said that it is necessary to define the fields that need to be prioritised to develop and encourage big companies to undertake the role of pioneering and leading the market.

“The success story of Phu Thai as a big distributor, or the story of Saigon Co-op with a large supermarket chain can show the efficiency of retailers in big scale,” Thanh said.

He went on to say that it is necessary to encourage big companies to establish convenience store systems, join food shop chains, or farm produce trade centers.

However, Le Viet Nga, deputy director of the Domestic Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which is compiling the programme on developing retail industry, stressed that it is necessary to create equal opportunities to all enterprises. She said that this is the main principle of the legal document the ministry is compiling.

“Will the prioritisation given to big enterprises come contrary to WTO rules and create unfair business environment?” she questioned.

In reply, Thanh said the question needs to be answered by policy makers. However, as a marketing expert, Thanh said that “supporting retail companies” does not mean offering preferences or giving money.

The support can be in different modes. “Assisting enterprises to build up reasonable management tools and helping train the workforce could be the effective support,” he said.

“If all domestic retailers are nearly the same like small eggs, they will be easily crushed when foreign retailers expand their business. The practice of the retail industry development in other countries has shown this,” he added.

Information Intellasia.net

VIETNAM – CPP Acquires CP Viet Nam Livestock – June 03, 2011

VIET NAM – C.P. Pokphand (CPP) of China has acquired C.P. Vietnam Livestock Corporation, for HK$4.73 billion.

CP Pokphand Co. Ltd (CPP), China’s leading provider of animal nutrition solutions in the food industry, has announced an agreement to acquire from a wholly-owned subsidiary of Charoen Pokphand Group Company Limited (CPG), its majority shareholder, a 70.82 per cent interest in CP Vietnam Livestock Corporation (CPVL), a leading integrated livestock and aquaculture company in Viet Nam, for a total consideration of HK$4,735 million (approximately US$609 million), representing a multiple of 12.5 times CPVL’s 2010 audited net profit attributable to the Group after adjusting for the technical assistance service fee that would have been paid by CPVL if the current arrangements had been in place and the Company had completed the acquisition in 2010.

As one of the largest corporate acquisitions in Viet Nam, the deal represents a unique opportunity for CPP to acquire a controlling stake in a market leader and expand into one of the fastest growing feed and farming markets in Southeast Asia. The acquisition not only enables the Group to broaden and diversify its business base, but also is expected to be accretive to CPP’s earnings per share immediately.

According to the terms of the agreement, the consideration will be satisfied by the issuance of new convertible preference shares and new ordinary shares to a wholly-owned subsidiary of CPG. The acquisition is subject to the approval of independent shareholders at a special general meeting, and completion of which is expected to take place before the end of 2011.

Established in Viet Nam in 1993, CPVL’s integrated livestock and aquaculture businesses span the entire food production value chain, from the manufacturing and distribution of animal feed, to breeding and farming of livestock and aquatic animals, as well as processing and production of meat and food products. CPVL commands a leading position with approximately 20 per cent of commercial feed market, 77 per cent of industrial swine farming markets and 30 per cent of broiler farming markets in Viet Nam. For the year ended 2010, CPVL recorded an audited total revenue and net profit of VND20,077,880 million (approximately US$1,046.5 million) and VND964,584 million (approximately US$50.3 million), respectively.

Viet Nam’s strong demand for meat and seafood products is driven by its young and expanding population, with a median age of 28. The country is also a major exporter of seafood in Asia. Capitalising on this favorable environment, Viet Nam’s commercial feed market has been growing strongly, enjoying a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 16 per cent between 2005 and 2009, and strong growth is expected to continue in the coming years.

Industrial farming is also growing faster, driven by a structural shift to large scale production through scientific farming. Industrial production of poultry and swine in Viet Nam registered a robust CAGR of approximately 2 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively, between 2005 and 2009.

Meanwhile, CPVL’s feed production, poultry and swine farming businesses achieved revenue CAGRs of 28 per cent, 34 per cent and 44 per cent, respectively between 2005 and 2009, consistently out-performing the market.

CPVL currently has four livestock feed mills with a total capacity of approximately 2.26 million tons per year and three aquatic feed mills with a combined capacity of approximately 0.61 million tons per year. The Group expects the acquisition of CPVL’s feed operations in Viet Nam to be synergistic with the Group’s existing 78 feed mills in China by enhancement in its economies of scale in raw material procurement.

Dhanin Chearavanont, Chairman and Executive Director of CPP said: “This strategic acquisition will immediately position CPP as the leader in the commercial feed and industrial farming market of Viet Nam. We expect the fast growing business in Viet Nam to become a key growth driver and to contribute to a broader and more diversified income base for the Group going forward. We are confident that this, together with our leading business presence in China, will move CPP closer to our goal of becoming a significant player in Asia’s promising agri-food market.”

Information ThePigSite News Desk

VIETNAM – Charoen Pokphand plans to buy Modern State in Vietnam – 03 Jun 2011

C.P. Pokphand plans to buy Modern State for HK$4.74 billion (app. US$ 610 million) in order to obtain the company’s animal feed manufacturing, animal breeding, meat processing, and food manufacturing businesses in Vietnam, according to a company filing.

Modern State is affiliated to a Thai-registered subsidiary of Pokphand’s parent.

By acquiring 70.8% of the Vietnamese animal-feed producer C.P. Pokphand Co (the Chinese arm of Thailands Charoen Pokphand Group) is to expand into Southeast Asia, in a bid to tap into new markets outside China, the origin of 96% of its sales last year.

Modern State has a 20% share of Vietnam’s commercial feed market which has expanded about 16% annually between 2005 and 2009, and 30% of its broiler-farming market.

Unique opportunity

As one of the largest corporate acquisitions in Vietnam, the deal represents a unique opportunity for CPP to acquire a controlling stake in a market leader and expand into one of the fastest growing feed and farming markets in South East Asia. The acquisition enables CPP to broaden and diversify its business base.

Established in Vietnam in 1993, CPVL’s integrated livestock and aquaculture businesses span the entire food production value chain, from the manufacturing and distribution of animal feed, to breeding and farming of livestock and aquatic animals, as well as processing and production of meat and food products. CPVL commands a leading position with approximately 20% of commercial feed market, 77% of industrial swine farming markets and 30% of broiler farming markets in Vietnam. For the year ended 2010, CPVL recorded an audited total revenue and net profit of VND20,077,880 million (US$1,046.5 million) and VND964,584 million (US$50.3 million), respectively.

Strong demand

Vietnam’s strong demand for meat and seafood products is driven by its young and expanding population, with a median age of 28. The country is also a major exporter of seafood in Asia. Capitalising on this favorable environment, Vietnam’s commercial feed market has been growing strongly, enjoying a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 16% between 2005 and 2009, and strong growth is expected to continue in the coming years.

Industrial farming is also growing faster, driven by a structural shift to large scale production through scientific farming. Industrial production of poultry and swine in Vietnam registered a robust CAGR of approximately 22% and 24%, respectively, between 2005 and 2009.

Meanwhile, CPVL’s feed production, poultry and swine farming businesses achieved revenue CAGRs of 28%, 34% and 44% respectively between 2005 and 2009, consistently outperforming the market.

CPVL currently has four livestock feed mills with a total capacity of approximately 2.26 million tons per year and three aquatic feed mills with a combined capacity of approximately 0.61 million tons per year. CPP expects the acquisition of CPVL’s feed operations in Vietnam to be synergistic with the CPP’s existing 78 feed mills in China by enhancement in its economies of scale in raw material procurement.

Positioning as leader

Dhanin Chearavanont, chairman and executive director of CPP said, “This strategic acquisition will immediately position CPP as the leader in the commercial feed and industrial farming market of Vietnam. We expect the fast growing business in Vietnam to become a key growth driver and to contribute to a broader and more diversified income base for the Group going forward. We are confident that this, together with our leading business presence in China, will move CPP closer to our goal of becoming a significant player in Asia’s promising agri-food market.”

Information AllAboutFeed.net

VIETNAM – Hepza says IPs, EPZs have proved an efficient model – 01/06/2011

VietNamNet Bridge – The development of industrial parks and export processing zones in HCMC over the past 20 years has proved a success as these concentrated zones have served as the driving force that helped transform the local economy, said the top official in charge of such zones.

 

Vu Van Hoa, director of HCMC Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (Hepza), told a press meeting on Friday to review the development of IPs and EPZs in HCMC over the past 20 years that the model has helped lure investors into the city.

 

But he also stressed that conditions have changed, and as such, the city is mapping out a new development path for such concentrated production zones.

 

In the past 20 years, EPZs and IPs in the city have become attractive destinations for both domestic and foreign investors and play important roles in drawing investment, he said.

 

Currently, the city has 15 EPZs and IPs with a total area of more than 3,500 hectares, of which 14 operational IZs and EPZs have leased over 1,185 hectares out of 1,763 hectares, or 67 % of the rentable area. One industrial park is now in the pipeline.

 

Hoa said that the city was the first locality in Vietnam to experiment the export processing zone model.

 

To date, such zones are housing 1,216 projects with total investment of US$6.68 billion, including 733 domestic-invested projects and 483 FDI ones. All such figures average out at an invested capital of US$6.5 million on each hectare of land in the zones, and US$18 million in annual export revenue, in addition to nearly 200 jobs as well as VND725 million in annual tax income.

 

The development of EPZs and IZs is a driving force for economic development and restructuring toward increased industrial production and export value, he said.

 

“They have created the leverage for the industrial development in the southern region and the country as a whole,” he told reporters.

 

Hoa said that one important achievement of EPZs and IPs was the rapid export revenue growth. The accumulated export revenue of such zones reached US$23.2 billion, accounting for 12.53% of the city export turnover, and this proportion grows year after year.

 

Time for change

 

However successful they have been, such zones have largely attracted labor-intensive projects and generated little added value products, according to Hoa.

 

Foreign investors mainly invested in processing projects like electronics assembly, textiles, and shoes that need many laborers and brought about low value products.

 

As the competition is getting tougher and as economic development turns more in-depth, the development model at concentrated production zones need a more efficient path, and the city needs to promote changes, according to Hoa, saying “now is the time to channel the cash flow into more efficient sectors.”

 

He told the press meeting that the city would now strongly shift to projects with high science and technology contents.

 

Hoa noted the city will add 3,000 more hectares of land for EPZs and IPs by setting new industrial parks as well as expanding the current industrial parks. Areas of priority for foreign investment in the city from now on will be high value-added, environment-friendly manufacturing and hi-tech sectors.

 

With this trend, Hepza hoped one hectare of land in EPZs and IPs would bring more high value-added products, helping boost the total export revenue.

 

HEPZA will hold a ceremony to mark the 20th year of development of the city Export Processing and Industrial Zones in the middle next month. It will also hold seminars to attract investors into the zones.

 

In the first five months of this year, the city’s EPZs and IPs attracted more than US$1.35 billion of invested capital, or nearly 95% of this year’s target.

 

Information SGT

VIETNAM – State management agencies disagree on pork import – 31/05/2011

VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) has proposed to import 100,000 tons of pork, while the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) believes that there’s no need to import meat.

MOIT has proposed to import pork because it believes the imports would help ease the current shortage which has pushed the prices up to the levels unbearable for consumers. Meanwhile, MARD believes that the domestic supply is big enough to meet the demand. It has expressed the worry that consumers would, once again, say “no” to pork because of the blue-ear pig epidemic.

 

The survey conducted by MARD showed that at the Long Bien wholesale market in Hanoi, pork is selling at 91,000-106,000 dong per kilo, which means the increase of 25-27 percent in comparison with Tet holiday.

 

The Minh Hien poultry and animal slaughtering factory in Hanoi, which has the designed capacity of 5000 fowls and 1000 pigs a day, has reported that very few people come here these days to purchase pork for reselling.

 

The representative of the factory said that the slaughtering costs are relatively high because of the heavy investments on the factory’s equipment. Therefore, though the State asks to sell products at low prices to stabilize the market, it cannot slash the sale prices any further, or it will incur losses.

 

Meanwhile, livestock farms cannot enjoy preferences to implement the duty of stabilizing the market. This means that the State assigns the duty of stabilizing the prices to slaughtering workshops, not to breeders.

 

MOIT believes that it is necessary to import pork, because the prices have become overly high. The increasingly high food prices, plus the increasing petroleum prices and basic wage increases have all put a hard pressure on people. Farms now sell pork at 60,000-62,000 dong per kilo of live weight.

 

The pork prices have been increasing because one month ago, small merchants rushed to collect pork from southern provinces and carry to the north and sell to China to make profits. This has led to the sharp fall in the supply. Also, the epidemic, plus the increasingly high feed prices have forced farmers to raise the prices.

 

It is estimated that Vietnam will need 2.9 million tons of meat of different kinds this year, an increase of 6.5-7 percent over 2010. Therefore, MOIT has proposed to import 100,000 tons of pork.

 

Nevertheless, MARD believes that the domestic supply can meet the domestic demand.

 

The ministry has admitted the pork shortage, but it said the shortage is not worrying. The total output of pork in 2011 would still reach 3.3 million tons of live weight. As the epidemic has been driven back, farmers would resume the farming, which would make the supply more profuse towards the year end.

 

MOIT is the agency which takes the responsibility of balancing the supply and demand of essential goods in order to stabilize the domestic market. Whether to import pork will still be discussed by the two ministries, and for the time being, consumers have to buy food at overly high prices.

 

Nguyen Khac Hiep, the owner of a pig slaughtering workshop in Ha Dong district, complained that the business has never been as tough as of recent days. It is very difficult to buy pigs now, because farms do not have many pigs to sell. While the input prices have increased, the sales have been going very slowly with the sale volume having dropped by 50 percent.

 

As the blue-ear pig epidemic is threatened to break out again, worries have been raised that consumers would turn their back to pork like they did in 2010. In some localities, farmers rushed to sell pigs out after hearing about the epidemic.

 

If the epidemic cannot be extinguished soon, farmers would continue leaving farms idle, and the pork prices would continue rising.

 

Information TBKTVN

VIETNAM – High Prices Encourage Meat Imports – May 23, 2011

VIET NAM – There has been a significant rise in frozen meat imports, especially poultry meat but also pork and beef, as importers take advantage of higher domestic prices.

Frozen meat imports arriving at HCM City ports in recent months have increased by 20-30 per cent over the same period last year as importers take advantage of price hikes in the domestic market, reports an official source.

Nguyen Xuan Binh, director of the Animal Health Centre region 6, said 25,905 tonnes of frozen meat were imported in the first four months of the year, mostly poultry meat.

The increase in the price of pork and chicken in the domestic market offers excellent opportunities for importers to ship a large volume of meat for higher profits.

According to the HCM City Sub-Department of Animal Health, the volume of imported frozen meat that the sub-department controls has sometimes increased two- to three-fold compared to normal times.

In April, the department supervised nearly 10,000 tonnes of imported meat, including 786 tonnes of beef, 8,219 tonnes of poultry meat and 456 tonnes of pork, Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper reports.

After Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, the price of pork and chicken on the domestic market fell strongly, outselling imports.

However, when pork and chicken prices surged strongly in the domestic market, the price of imported meat also increased, although the global price remained unchanged or only slightly increased, bringing huge profits for meat importers.

For instance, the global price of chicken wings is about US$2,300 per tonne currently, with the cost including tax and other expenses at 65,000 dong (VND) per kilo when it arrives in Viet Nam. However, a kilo of imported chicken wings is being sold for VND90,000.

Similarity, the cost of a kilo of imported pork is about VND60,000 including tax and other expenses, while its retail price in the domestic market is VND70,000 to VND80,000 per kilo.

Imported frozen meat is usually VND10,000 cheaper than that of local meat, according to the source.

Information ThePigSite News Desk

VIETNAM – PM greenlights rural development policies – 17 May, 2011

Prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung has called on the Vietnam Farmers Association to roll out rural development policies during 2011-20.

The move aims to promote the association’s role in establishing new rural areas, developing agriculture production and creating opportunities for farmers to contribute to and benefit from national industrialisation and modernisation.

Vietnam Farmers Association vice Chair Nguyen Duy Luong said that “Until recently the association had operated as a political and social organisation which kept it from taking part in economic activities.”

The association recently appealed to the prime minister to let it take part in policies to improve the role of farmers in the national industrialisation and modernisation process, he said.

As part of the new policies, the association plans to invest and upgrade 19 vocational training and support centres throughout provinces and cities and annually build 4-5 new centres where farmers could undergo three-month courses on farming and breeding.

Dung called on the National Farmer Support Fund to support the association in its work.

As scheduled, the fund will receive a total amount of 300 billion dong (US$14.5 million) as part of the national budget this year.

The fund will continue receiving support from the national budget during the 2012-20 period each year.

The People’s Committees of provinces and cities have been called upon to provide annual funds to the National Farmer Support Fund in support of farmers.

The association plans to cooperate with the ministries of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Agriculture and Rural Development and Industry and Trade in order to develop new operational models on agriculture production and product consumption.

Information Intellasia.net