With agricultural, forestry, and fishery exports reaching USD 62.5 billion in 2024, Vietnam has secured its place among the world’s top 10 agricultural exporters. To maintain this position, the country must continue to innovate its growth model, enhance value chains, and swiftly adapt to the increasingly stringent demands of global markets.

Growth Driven by Science and Technology

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, over the past decade, Vietnam’s agriculture sector has maintained an annual growth rate of 2.5–3.5%. In 2024 alone, the sector’s export turnover reached USD 62.5 billion, up nearly 19% from 2023, placing Vietnam among the top 10 global agricultural exporters.

Notably, in the first nine months of 2025, despite persistent challenges from tariff and technical barriers in major importing markets and severe impacts of natural disasters, the agricultural sector still recorded impressive results with an export value of USD 52.31 billion, an increase of 14% year-on-year.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Phung Duc Tien emphasized that science and technology are not only growth drivers but also the cornerstone of sustainable agricultural development. Alongside structural shifts toward greater processing capacity, technological advancements have helped reduce post-harvest losses by 5–10% and ensure uniform quality in line with international standards. Mechanization in soil preparation has surpassed 95%, while drones, IoT, artificial intelligence, and robotics have begun to be applied in production, boosting productivity and reducing costs.

However, several “bottlenecks” remain in agricultural production and exports, including uneven adoption of advanced technology, high post-harvest losses in fruits and seafood, disconnected mechanization stages, and a prevalence of small-scale processing enterprises with weak value-chain linkages.

In response, the Ministry has outlined five key strategies: improving institutional frameworks to encourage research, development, and technology transfer; establishing regional innovation centers linking institutes, universities, and enterprises; expanding international cooperation in deep processing, logistics, and smart mechanization; promoting socialized research; and developing transparent, high-tech agricultural value chains.

A noteworthy trend is the rise of “green standards” from markets such as the EU, Japan, South Korea, and the United States. These create both pressure and opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises to upgrade their products and elevate their market positioning through proactive transformation.

According to Dr. Nguyen Anh Phong, Deputy Director of the Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Policy and Strategy (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment), circular economy models offer multifaceted benefits. However, at present, these models are mainly adopted by large enterprises and have yet to form strong value-chain linkages, while research, technology transfer, and scientific investment remain limited.

Building Green Agricultural Value Chains

To ensure sustainable exports, Vietnamese agricultural exporters have proactively embraced technology, penetrating major markets with high technical and quality standards. Many enterprises have also restructured their operations, developing green agricultural value chains that specialize in each link—seed production, raw material zones, processing, and trade—thereby maintaining control over quality and traceability to meet the requirements of premium markets.

A prime example is DOVECO Group, which recently launched a Swedish-technology paper-packaging production line. According to the company’s Chairman, Dinh Cao Khue, this new technology enables processed fruit products to be packed in environmentally friendly, internationally certified packaging that preserves flavor and nutrients while ensuring stable output for raw material regions. This serves as a model for deep processing aligned with “green standards,” helping enhance brand value and competitiveness.

However, adopting advanced technology remains a challenge for many enterprises, with several obstacles requiring policy support from the Government and relevant ministries. Businesses have called on the State to invest in infrastructure such as inland ports and smart cold storage facilities, while enterprises themselves focus on technology adoption, management improvement, trade promotion, and building national branding for key agricultural products.

Dr. Nguyen Anh Phong suggested that the Government should update post-harvest technical standards, traceability, and food safety regulations; offer green credit incentives for smart logistics and cold storage systems; and encourage public-private partnerships (PPPs) to develop cold-chain infrastructure.

Most importantly, the transition toward a green and circular economy must be goal-oriented—by establishing circular production criteria, developing a national database on the circular economy, and prioritizing green-certified enterprises in access to capital, trade promotion, and brand development.

Source: Kinh te Do thi