Hanoi (VNA)- The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) will continue todevelop breeding sources for the agriculture sector according to the needs ofthe market, said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong ata workshop held on June 24 to review the seed production plan.

Breeding and seedstocks are very important to farmers, and Vietnam has gained many achievementsin breed development as well as the application of scientific advances inagriculture sector, according to the minister.

He said thatwhile Vietnam was integrating into the international economy, the transferof breeds needed to be encouraged. He said agriculture units needed to haveplans to export breeds.

The minister saidthere was still an imbalance between State-owned firms and theprivate sector in this area.

“The State-ownedagriculture institutes and schools have a lot of professors and doctors, withrelatively adequate facilities while the private sector has a shortage ofthese," he said. "But coordination among the parties in breeddevelopment is ineffective."

Market adaptation hadnot been high, he said, and had focused too much on rice varieties,while many other crops such as vegetables, potatoes and flowers were stillimported in large quantities. The Government and agriculture businesses shoulddo a better job of integrating into international systems in this area, headded.

According to NguyenVan Viet, Director of the MARD’s Planning Department, many new breeds have beencreated and applied on a large scale, helping to increase productivity,quality, efficiency and incomes for farmers.

Nearly 10 years afterthe development scheme began nearly 1,000 varieties of plants and animalshave been put into production.

Productivity of manycrops and livestock has been increased beyond the scheme's target of15 percent. Over the course of the scheme, maize productivity increased by16 percent, oranges by 25 percent, longan by 26 percent, tea by 22 percent,coffee by 20.5 percent, tra fish by 22 percent, and pork by 32percent.

The agricultureminister said that while progress had been impressive, there was more work todo.

In order to improvethe nation's capacity for research, production and management of plant andanimal breeds and encourage investment in this area, MARD had asked thePrime Minister for permission to develop another development scheme for the2021-30 period, Cuong said.

The aim of theproject was to increase the use rate of advanced technical varieties inagricultural production to improve productivity and quality and allow theindustry to continue to grow.

The planwas expected to help put 500-700 new breeds of plants and animals intoproduction.

The ministry wouldalso increase investment in research institutes, enterprises, agencies,organisations and individuals to produce seeds with high productivity, qualityand adaptation to climate change.-VNA