Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has asked the State Bank to
consider increasing credit quota to farming households, and work with
the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to improve farmers’
access to capital.
The Government official made
the request at a June 8 conference in Hanoi to seek solutions to
difficulties facing the rice production, animal husbandry and fishery
sectors.
He said financial assistance is
necessary to help farmers, including those involved in animal husbandry,
to maintain production.
Deputy PM Hai also told
relevant ministries and sectors to seriously implement the Prime
Minister’s decision on purchasing 1 million tonnes of rice for
stockpiling, which aims at stimulating demands on the market and
ensuring profits for rice farmers.
Representatives
from trade organisations urged the Government to soon take measures to
remove obstacles to investment, production and consumption, particularly
financial measures to help farmers and businesses maintain production.
They proposed higher credit quota for farmers in the Mekong Delta, and
freezing or scheduling debts to allow farmers and businesses to
re-invest. They also expressed hope that relevant organisations
accelerate trade promotion activities to help boost sales.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,
weakening demands and the downward trend in price are affecting rice
exports of all major rice export countries. In the January-May period,
Vietnam exported 2.79 million tonnes of rice, up 1.14 percent in
volume. However, by May 31, the total rice inventories of all businesses
amounted to 1.7 million tones, which put pressures on the domestic rice
price.
The ministry also reported that animal
husbandry has scaled down due to concerns of both breeders and consumers
about diseases. At the same time, lower purchasing power as a result of
the economic crisis and rising input costs have eaten into farmers’
profits. Difficult access to capital plus high interest rate is posing
more problems to this sector.
The situation is the
same in the fishery sector. The export of aquatic products also met with
difficulties such as technical barriers in developed markets.-VNA