Economist Le Dang Doanh warned that Vietnamese farm produce would face fiercer competition from other countries in the region when the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is born at the end of this year.
“The pressure [on local produce] would be much higher when imports from other ASEAN countries to Vietnam become tax-free starting January 1, 2016 [thanks to the AEC],” Doanh said at a forum held in Can Tho city on October 1-2.
But local farmers seem unprepared for the regional integration.
Nguyen Thanh Tam, who owns a one-hectare mangosteen and durian farm in Xuan Hoa Commune in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang, said he had no idea about the AEC or the fact that his produce would face more competition from neighboring countries next year.
Ho Viet Hiep, deputy chairman of the people’s committee of the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, said this makes sense.
“We are very passive and have no specific strategy. Even provincial leaders do not know much about the regional integration due to the lack of information from the central government.”
Hoa of the Southern Horticultural Research Institute told Phap Luat TP.HCM (HCMC Law) newspaper that the country needs to set up fruit cooperatives and areas by bringing together farmers and invest in processing and preservation technologies to improve quality and produce stable quantities of fruits.
Doanh said, “It’s urgent to restructure [the agricultural sector], switching to farming on large fields, turning farmers into trained and skilled agricultural workers.”