The assessment was made by experts at the "2026 Agriculture Forum: Creating New Development Space and Growth Drivers for Vietnamese Agriculture," organized by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Vietnam Business Forum Magazine in Ho Chi Minh City on July 16.
Tran Ngoc Liem, Deputy Secretary-General and Director of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in Ho Chi Minh City, citing data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, said there are currently more than 50,000 enterprises investing in agriculture.
Only 1–2% of Vietnam's nearly one million enterprises are engaged in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. "This is a modest figure, despite agriculture always serving as a 'pillar' of the economy," he said.
The adoption of scientific and technological advances also remains limited. The country has fewer than 300 enterprises applying high technology, accounting for less than 3%. Fewer than 50 have been officially recognized as "high-tech agricultural enterprises".

Mr. Tran Ngoc Liem, Deputy Secretary-General and Director of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in Ho Chi Minh City, speaks at the forum on July 16. Photo: Vietnam Business Forum 

Le Thi Anh Tuyet, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Dong Nai Province, said the locality has more than 300 agricultural enterprises applying high technology, but none has yet received official state recognition.
In terms of scale, Pham Viet Thuan, PhD, from the Institute of Natural Resources and Environment Economics of Ho Chi Minh City, said most leading companies involved in agricultural procurement and exports are foreign-owned. "Therefore, Vietnam needs sufficiently large domestic corporations to assume this role in the future", he said.
Experts pointed to a range of reasons why agricultural enterprises remain limited in both number and strength. Ngo Xuan Chinh, Director of the Center for Agricultural Technical Advances Research and Transfer, said large-scale investment remains limited due to difficulties in accessing land and capital. "There are enterprises capable of investing in thousands of hectares of bananas for export, but they cannot find the land," he said.
Nguyen Hoang Anh, Chairman and CEO of Nam Mien Trung Aquaculture Investment Company, said land consolidation remains a long-standing aspiration for businesses in the sector but is difficult to achieve. "When we went to Laos to explore opportunities, we learned that it is possible to lease tens of thousands of hectares there, but in Vietnam today, even finding 1,000 hectares for cultivation is very difficult," he said.
Pham Viet Thuan, PhD, said the Land Law has paved the way for land consolidation, but implementation remains challenging. Enterprises seeking to develop agricultural models on rice-growing land face complicated registration procedures at the commune level.
Ngo Xuan Chinh proposed establishing a land bank model in which the state leases and consolidates land before leasing it to enterprises.
Access to capital is another challenge. Investment in agriculture accounts for only around 11% of total outstanding credit, significantly lower than the real estate sector. The main reasons are a lack of collateral and barriers to accessing financing.
Pham Viet Thuan, PhD, pointed out shortcomings in banks' asset valuation practices. Agricultural land in Ho Chi Minh City is currently valued at around VND 450,000 per square meter, while infrastructure built on the land, such as livestock facilities, is often treated by banks as "wasting assets" and heavily discounted when collateral is assessed.
"As a result, even a 14-hectare farm with a modern pig-raising system can only secure a loan of around VND 2 billion", Thuan said. Therefore, the expert argued that a state-backed guarantee mechanism is needed to encourage banks to shift from traditional collateral-based lending toward cash-flow and value-chain-based financing.

Pham Viet Thuan, PhD, from the Institute of Natural Resources and Environment Economics of Ho Chi Minh City, speaks at the event on July 16. Photo: Vietnam Business Forum

According to Tran Ngoc Liem, more preferential credit packages are needed to provide agricultural producers with capital to invest in raw material production areas. In particular, public-private partnership (PPP) models should be encouraged to strengthen linkages among the state, businesses, and farmers.
Le Thi Anh Tuyet, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Dong Nai Province, said Decree 57 provides a framework for encouraging enterprises to invest in agriculture, but few businesses have actually received support under the policy.
"The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is currently reviewing the policy for adjustments, and we hope it will create more favorable conditions in the coming period," she said.Beyond land and capital, enterprises investing in agriculture also face inadequate logistics infrastructure in remote and rural areas, pushing up transportation costs. The sector's labor force is also becoming increasingly scarce.
Tran Dinh Ly, PhD, Vice Rector of the University of Agriculture and Forestry in Ho Chi Minh City, said the direct agricultural workforce is aging as young people increasingly move to industrial and service sectors in major cities. "Agriculture is facing a severe shortage of a knowledgeable next generation of workers," he said.
According to him, mechanisms for local authorities and businesses to commission training programs from universities should be expanded. Enterprises should be encouraged to establish scholarship and internship funds and co-invest in human resources. At the same time, mechanisms are needed to attract experts, scientists, and overseas Vietnamese to participate in training and agricultural development in different regions.
In 2025, agricultural, forestry, and fishery exports exceeded US$70 billion. In the first half of 2025, exports from these sectors continued to grow by 6%, reaching US$35.88 billion. The government has set a target of reaching US$100 billion in export turnover by 2027.
While exports continue to grow, agriculture's contribution to the economy is gradually declining. Thuan pointed out that the sector's share of gross domestic product fell from 12.34% in 2024 to 11.2% in 2025 and is expected to decline to around 10.38% this year. He said that reversing this trend requires urgently creating new development space based on an agricultural economics mindset rather than a purely output-oriented approach.

Source: https://vnexpress.net/