This is the first study to make the multi-faceted assessment of the impact of integration on Vietnamese agriculture and rural areas. The study is conducted with advanced methods, helping improve capacity for the research team and form a database for other research and for evaluation of policies and the impact of integration in the coming time.

Participating in the project were Vietnamese and world leading experts in the Computable General Equilibrium model (CGE), MONASH-VN model and Global Computable General Equilibrium model (GTAP), along with micro-simulation model (MS) to evaluate the impact of integration on Vietnamese agriculture and rural areas. This study has evaluated and made some findings: Assessing the sensitivity of some agricultural commodities of Vietnam against external shocks; analysis and assessment of integration impacts on some agricultural commodities; assessment of pressures of structural adjustment on a number of agricultural commodities; and research and evaluation of livelihoods, poverty reduction and rural enterprises in the process of integration.

The assessment of the integration impact is very important and practical for the industry. The project’s findings are an important source of information and provide groundwork for building the draft bill of international strategic integration of agriculture to 2020, submitted to the Prime Minister in 2013, helping to implement Directive 01/CT-TTg dated January 9, 2012 of the Prime Minister on a number of measures to implement the policy on positive international integration and Resolution 22/NQ-TW dated April 10 2013 on international integration by the Politburo.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has introduced the evaluation and findings to policymakers, scientists, researchers, associations and enterprises from ministries, central and local agencies. The project brings new approaches on the use of advanced models in the analysis and evaluation of the impact of economic integration policies on agriculture and rural development.

At the announcement of the results, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu appreciated the comments of the experts and showed the necessity of globalisation for Vietnam agriculture. Besides, she evaluated the potential and advantages for agricultural development in Vietnam. However, Vietnam has not fully exploited the advantages of integration for the agricultural sector. The expansion of Vietnam’s production market is an important step to keep up with trends on the world market.

Source: VCCI