Developing low-emission growing zones is becoming a strategic direction for Vietnamese agriculture in the green transition process. Not only contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, this model also creates leverage to raise added value, competitiveness, and the position of Vietnamese agricultural products in the international market.

In a context where climate change increasingly exerts powerful impacts on agricultural production, along with importing markets continuously tightening environmental and sustainable development standards, the Vietnamese agricultural sector is standing before requirements to alter its growth model. From the goal of guaranteeing output volume, the agricultural sector is progressively shifting toward a development mindset based on quality, efficiency, and environmental responsibility. Within that process, constructing low-emission growing zones is considered a focal solution to enhance the competitive capacity for Vietnamese agricultural products in the global value chain.

Realizing this goal, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development promulgated the Project “Emission-reduced production in the cultivation sector for the 2025-2035 period, with a vision to 2050.” This is viewed as a strategic step to restructure the cultivation sector in a direction of greening production, adapting to climate change, and satisfying the increasingly strict requirements of the international market.

Immediately after the project was approved, multiple localities quickly constructed action plans and deployed practical models. Up to now, 22 provinces and cities have issued implementation plans at the local level. In Quang Tri, the emission-reduced rice production model is deployed across 13 communes with an area of more than 6,000 hectares. In Hue, the model applying the “Three reductions, three gains” technique, irrigation water management, and straw treatment oriented toward low emissions is being deployed on an area of 20 hectares. These initial results demonstrate that the awareness of local authorities, enterprises, and citizens regarding green production is embracing positive transformations.

Notably, emission-reduced production currently no longer merely constitutes an environmental protection solution but has become a new competitive advantage for the agricultural sector. Major markets such as the European Union, the United States, Japan, or South Korea are increasingly placing emphasis on carbon footprints, traceability, and sustainable development criteria throughout the entire supply chain. That means products satisfying green standards will possess more opportunities to access markets, increase value, and elevate competitive strength.

According to the orientation of the agricultural sector, by 2030, low-emission cultivation production zones will step-by-step be formed according to each commodity sector and ecological zone. The focus is placed on commodity sectors possessing export advantages and large production scales, such as rice, coffee, fruit trees, and maize. These are commodity sectors with large room to reduce emissions, while concurrently creating added value through satisfying the green production standards of the international market.

For rice plants, technical solutions such as alternate wetting and drying (AWD) irrigation, reducing the volume of sowing seeds, utilizing fertilizers reasonably, managing straw after harvest, and stepping up mechanization will continue to be replicated. Not only helping to reduce the volume of methane gas generated from wet rice cultivation, these solutions also contribute to cutting input costs, raising production efficiency, and increasing profits for farmers. This is also the core content during the process of deploying the Project on 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice in the Mekong Delta.

With the coffee commodity sector, the development orientation concentrates on the circular economy model through utilizing organic fertilizers, water-saving irrigation, reusing by-products, and rehabilitating cultivation soil. The Central Highlands and Son La are identified as key zones to construct low-emission coffee models tied to traceability and sustainable export. This serves as an important condition to raise the added value for the Vietnamese coffee commodity sector against a backdrop of increasingly fierce international competition.

For core fruit trees such as durian, dragon fruit, mango, pomelo, and passion fruit, the agricultural sector concentrates on efficient irrigation water management, utilizing by-products, and applying environmentally friendly cultivation processes. These solutions not only help reduce emissions but also elevate product quality, satisfying the technical standards of high-value export markets.

One of the vital tasks of the project is constructing and standardizing the system for measurement, reporting, and verification of emissions (MRV) synchronously from the Central to local levels. When this system is finalized, the volume of reduced emissions will be determined transparently and on scientific bases, creating conditions for the cultivation sector to participate in the carbon credit market. This is viewed as a new source of value, opening additional growth room for Vietnamese agriculture in the future.

The agricultural sector sets the target that by 2035, the cultivation area will contribute to reducing at least 15% of the total greenhouse gas emission volume compared to the base year of 2020. Concurrently, constructing a “Low Emission” label for cultivation products, widely deploying emission-reduced production models, and piloting models qualified to develop carbon credits according to international standards.

However, to achieve these targets, there needs to be tight coordination among the Central, localities, enterprises, and citizens. Within this, localities hold a pivotal role in planning production zones, reorganizing production according to linked chains, mobilizing social resources, and replicating efficient models. Only when low-emission production zones are formed on a large scale and operated synchronously can the green transition process of the agricultural sector generate substantial and sustainable impacts.

In the global trend where green agricultural development is becoming a standard, constructing low-emission growing zones not only helps Vietnam execute its greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments but also opens up opportunities to raise added value, increase competitive power, and affirm agricultural brands in the international market. Therefore, low-emission growing zones are and will continue to serve as an important leverage for Vietnamese agricultural products to break through, reach far, and develop sustainably in the new phase.

Source: Tap chi Kinh te - Tai chinh