Fishery & Forestry Exports to hit $40b by 2020

Of this $40 billion, farm produce will account for $22 billion, fisheries products for $11 billion, and forestry products the remaining $7 billion. The plan envisages an annual growth of 3.4 to four per cent for the farming, forestry and fisheries sectors, reports VietNamNewsAgency.

It also targets production value of one hectare of land under agricultural cultivation to reach VND70 million ($330) per year.

Mr Dung said that in order to achieve the set targets, the area under stable rice cultivation must be maintained at 3,812,000 ha while an additional 1.1 million ha of land would be reclaimed for agricultural, forestry and aquaculture purposes.

According to figures from the General Staticstics Office (GSO), in January 2012, the country's fisheries production reached 364,200 tonnes, a year-on-year increase of 2.2 per cent.

Aquaculture production was 172,000 tonnes, up 6.5 per cent compared with the same period last year, while seafood catch dropped by 1.4 per cent to 192,200 tonnes. Higher demand for aquaculture products during the Tet (Lunar New Year) festival season had given the sector a boost, the office said in a report.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Viet Nam exported agro-forestry and fisheries products worth $25 billion last year, a year-on-year increase of 27.9 per cent. Of this, the export of agricultural produce reached $13.7 billion, up 33.2 per cent; fisheries, $6.1 billion, up 21 per cent; and forestry products $4.1 billion, up by 12.7 per cent compared with 2010.

The value of Viet Nam's agroforestry and fisheries exports for last month is estimated at $1.8 billion, a year-on-year drop of 16.3 per cent.

Viet Nam also shipped $370 million worth of seafood products in January.

The country's total agro-forestry and fisheries export is expected to rise from $40 billion per year in 2020 to $60 billion by 2030, according the masterplan.