Excellency Mr Phung Duc Tien, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour to join you at this High-Level Dialogue on Circular Agriculture.

Sincere congratulations to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for organising this important event.  

I also wish to commend the efforts of MARD for the recent promulgation by the Prime Minister of the National Programme “Applying Science and Technology Transfer to Promote Circular Economy in Agriculture by 2030”.

Today’s dialogue is testament to Viet Nam’s commitment to transforming agriculture in a way that protects the environment and boosts innovation and competitiveness. This will not only support the regeneration of natural ecosystems, but will also usher tangible improvements in people’s livelihood opportunities.

Distinguished guests,

‘Circular economy’ has gained momentum in the agriculture sector because it can deliver a myriad of benefits. I’d like to highlight three:

1.    Circular Agriculture for Climate Goals
2.    Circular Agriculture to Boost Economic Competitiveness; and 
3.    Circular Agriculture to protect human and ecosystem health.

Let’s look at Circular Agriculture in support of Climate Goals

Rice production accounts for almost half of GHG emissions in the agricultural sector in Viet Nam and 75% of total national methane emissions (MONRE, 2020). 
These high levels of emissions can be explained by inefficient irrigation, fertiliser application, energy use, and poor management of rice residue and livestock by-products. 
Given the scale and importance of the agriculture sector in Viet Nam, including its environmental impacts, its contribution to GHG emissions, and its vulnerability to climate change, it makes infinite sense to leverage the potential of circular models at scale.

UNDP is proud to have piloted the CE-NDC toolbox which considers how to best Build Circularity into NDCs.

The Toolbox aims to support Viet Nam identify, prioritise, implement, and track circular interventions in agriculture that contribute to the NDC 2025.

With our partners from IPSARD, we are conducting a deep dive into the rice and coffee value chains to estimate the potential of greenhouse gas emission reduction from adopting circular practices. That we hope can inform the formulation of NDC2025.

The second benefit is Circular Agriculture’s ability to Boost Economic Competitiveness

Agriculture is critical to Viet Nam’s economic development, food security, and livelihoods. The value added to the economy of the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sectors grew by an impressive 3.36% in 2022, the highest growth in recent years, and export turnover reached record levels of more than $53 billion USD. 
Our initial assessment shows that the total amount of residue and agricultural by-products from staple and industrial crops in Viet Nam is estimated at 95 to 98 million tons per year, including 52 million tons of straw and husk from rice production. This means that the potential for resource recovery during rice production is substantial, generating value-added products such as biomass, biofuel development, and organic fertiliser.
In fact, combining crop by-products with animal waste can generate approximately 85.4 million tons of soil organic matter, as well as dozens of millions of tons of fertilizers, exceeding the country’s total fertiliser demand.

And finally Circular Agriculture can help protect human and ecosystem health.

Viet Nam’s livestock population generates close to 72 million tons of solid waste and over 76 million tons of liquid waste per year. When left untreated, this waste can have significant negative impacts on water and soil, in turn affecting crop quality. The burning of waste and agricultural residues in particular during harvest season, contributes to worsening local air quality with disastrous impacts on health, especially for the most vulnerable, the children and elderly.

Accelerated resource recovery from agro-waste will contribute to reusing and producing materials, proteins, energy, and nutrients while strengthening the resilience of food systems and smallholders to rapidly increasing climate impacts.  Circular practices help to improve the strength of our ecosystem by restoring soils and limiting leakages of synthetic fertilisers into waterways.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I’d like to end with three recommendations for consideration:

First, we must streamline collaboration with partners to effectively prioritise, assess, and disseminate circular practices that hold strong potential to deliver climate and environmental benefits. This means accelerating partnerships for circular policy formulation and implementation, allocating adequate investments to transform waste into wealth, and data collection. The upcoming Agri CE-Hub will respond to this gap by fostering knowledge sharing and collaboration.

Second, we can all do our part to contribute to stimulating markets for circular products. From the supply side, we must build on the science, technologies, and successful pilots already taking place in Viet Nam to design farming systems that efficiently use natural resources at the farm level and along the whole supply chain. This includes involving all actors in processing, transport, and retailers, promoting responsible sourcing from farm to fork. From the demand side, we must leverage effective communication and awareness campaigns that invite consumers to make greener choices.

And finally,  we must deliver a quantum leap in terms of access to financing modalities for farmers and SMEs to support them in their circular transformation. To do that, we call on our national and international partners here today to re-affirm their commitments.

In closing, allow me to express our sincere appreciation for the strong collaboration with the Government of Viet Nam and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in advancing the country's transition towards green, sustainable, competitive and circular agriculture.  Agriculture that delivers co-benefits for the people of Viet Nam while preserving its precious natural resources.

We are proud to accompany the Government of Viet Nam on this journey.

Thank you! Xin cảm ơn!