(VNF) – The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in association with Global Initiatives, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and World Wide Fund for Nature kicked off the second responsible business forum on food and agriculture on June 23rd, in Hanoi.

The two-day event, themed ‘ASEAN Beyond 2015: Collaboration for Equitable Growth’ convened 350 leaders from ASEAN governments, international businesses, financial institutions and agricultural associations to help shape a more sustainable future for food and agriculture in ASEAN.

The forum is expected to generate proposals for increasing the supply of sustainably produced commodities, in ways that improve rural livelihoods and reduce any negative impact to the environment.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Le Quoc Doanh said Vietnam is among the world’s biggest agriculture and seafood exporters, however, the country has low competitive capacity. The biggest challenge posing Vietnam and ASEAN countries is meeting the increasing demand and sustainable production. To solve this problem, countries in the region need to further speed up cooperation and investment in building sustainable agriculture.

VCCI Chairman, Vu Tien Loc said that the country should find new modes of production which focus on improving productivity and quality of agricultural products and farmers’ livelihoods but reduce food waste and environmental impacts to agriculture.

Enterprises will play the key role in connecting and promoting sustainable agricultural development through initiatives for hi-tech and high-quality production modes, especially connection with farmers in the value chain, the VCCI chairman stressed.

Experts from each of the commodity sectors led discussions on the transformational changes required in the world’s farming systems to create equitable opportunity for smallholder farmers.

In addition, delegates explored innovative and collaborative approaches to improving agricultural productivity in a region where up to 40% of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods./.

( Hoang Quan )