Food security-a great worldwide challenge
The 3rd International Rice Festival was held at the Vietnam National convention Centre in Hanoi on November 9.
The festival drew the participation of more than 1,000 leading scientists, managers and businessmen around the world.
Participants heard more than 300 reports on scientific, technological and political solutions to boost agriculture production and help poor farmers and consumers improve their lives as well as solving global food issues.
Speaking at the opening ceremony Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung stressed that ensuring food security is not only an economic and humanitarian issue but also contributes greatly to national and global socio-economic stability. Many countries are engaged in rice production to feed more than half of the world’s population and feel very proud of their thousand-year-old farming practice.
Prime Minister Dung also highlighted great international and domestic achievements in rice production and pointed out that food security is and will soon become a tremendous challenge as there are still more than 925 million malnourished people around the world because of the shrinking agricultural land, climate change, and diseases.
The PM said Vietnam acknowledges that ensuring food security is one of the most important targets in the country’s socio-economic development. Vietnam is doing its best to tackle limits and weaknesses in rice production and marketing. The country’s main focuses are on maintaining agricultural land, improving drainage systems, improving the methods of production and marketing and applying advanced technologies in cultivation to prevent crop diseases. Reorganising production lines to raise farmers’ incomes in rural areas and helping them cope with the effects of climate change are considered to be primary objectives.
Vietnam is willing to cooperate and share its experiences in the field with the international community and will actively contribute to ensure global food security, he added.
Every country, especially the developed ones and international organisations should work closely together to reach the goal of reducing fifty percent of poverty by 2015, the PM said. He praised the international rice festival for its practical discussions.
On the occasion, the PM asked to receive more support from rich countries with the aim of developing agriculture and rural areas in general and Vietnam in particular, as the country’s rice export amounts to 20 percent of total global export.
At the conference, he awarded the State President’s friendship medals to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.
The same day, PM Dung met with Kanaya Nwanze, Chairman of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFDA) and heads of the delegations attending the festival.