On the morning of August 2, in Can Tho City of Vietnam , the Steering Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Mekong Delta region reviews its activities in the first 6 months of 2022 and puts forward a plan for the last half of the year.

Established in February 2022, the Steering Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Mekong Delta (under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam) has effectively implemented projects linking production chains in the Mekong Delta. There are 2 prominent projects at national-level, aim at developing standard material areas.

Specifically, under the pilot project to build areas of agricultural and forestry raw materials meeting standards for domestic consumption and export in the period of 2022 - 2025, the Mekong Delta region is supported to build 4 logistics centers to promote cooperatives to develop material areas. These 4 centers are An Giang Province of Vietnam Rice Chain Logistics Center, Kien Giang Province Organic Rice - Shrimp Logistics Center, My Hiep Fruit Logistics Center (Dong Thap province), and Soc Trang Province Shrimp Processing Logistics Center. The total investment for establishing these center is about VND 259 billion.

Currently, the Steering Committee is developing a training plan for cooperatives, farmers and community agricultural extension groups under the project on developing planting area codes. At the same time, the Steering Committee coordinates with a number of technology companies to develop a plan to deploy technology application in the project.

In addition, the infrastructure investment project aims to support cooperatives in developing raw material areas, implemented in Dong Thap, Long An, Tien Giang, Kien Giang and An Giang provinces. This project has the goal of supporting the development of infrastructure in raw material areas, strengthening the value chain between enterprises and cooperatives.

The above two projects are linked together to develop raw material areas for the 5 provinces.

Mr. Le Thanh Tung, Chief of the Administrative Office of the Steering Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Mekong Delta region informs that since its launch, the Committee has regularly coordinated with provinces and cities in the region, implemented a series of activities on digital agriculture, integrated planning of key regions, chaired seminars and forums agriculture and rural development.

About the tasks in the last 6 months of 2022, the Steering Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Mekong Delta region focuses strongly on inter-provincial and inter-regional infrastructure projects. At the same time, a series of seminars on innovation in the rice value chain and vocational training for rural workers will be implemented. In particular, the special highlight is accompanying in the series of activities of the international event Agritechnica Asia Live 2022 on "synchronous mechanization towards sustainable agricultural production" taking place from August 24 to 26, 2022.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam Tran Thanh Nam assesses that coordination activities in the Mekong Delta do not only go into one area, but also coordinate regional activities, overcoming the fragmented and small directive thinking. In the coming time, the Steering Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Mekong Delta needs to closely coordinate with other ministries, departments and sectors to promote key areas of the region's development. In particular, it is necessary to pay attention to livelihood support, circular livelihood models, use of renewable agricultural by-products, increase income for farmers, reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions.

The Deputy Minister also notes that from now until the end of 2022, members of the Steering Committee need to work closely with localities to develop projects to build raw material areas and help cooperatives to respond to climate change, to build a project to develop 1 million hectares of high-quality rice, pilot vocational training for rural workers, production centers, link each region to promote the key strengths of each locality.

The Deputy Minister emphasizes that these are major projects of the Government, creating a linkage motivation to promote the development of agricultural production in the whole Mekong Delta.

In addition, the three issues of plant and animal varieties, mechanization, and digital technology in agriculture are also worth paying attention to and focusing on in the coming time.