Excerpted from an interview with Mr. Trần Đức Thắng, Minister of Agriculture and Environment, published by VNEconomy
A key highlight is the strong shift toward green agriculture and the circular economy. Minister, what have been the most concrete and substantive developments in recent times?
In recent years, the implementation of green agriculture and the circular economy has shown clear progress. This can be summarized across three major dimensions, from mindset and production models to governance and management approaches.
First, a strong shift in mindset and the institutional framework for green development. Requirements related to ecological agriculture, the circular economy, and emissions reduction have been increasingly and consistently integrated into sector strategies, plans, programmes, and systems of standards and technical regulations. Crucially, we are no longer approaching the environment through a passive, end of pipe response after pollution occurs. Instead, we are proactively steering production in a greener direction from the planning stage through to implementation.
Second, a transition toward green and circular production models in key commodity sectors. Across crop production, forestry, fisheries, and new rural development, many models that save resources, reduce chemical inputs, reuse by-products, and link production with processing and markets have been piloted and scaled up. These models not only help protect ecosystems and reduce emissions, but also increase added value and improve farmers’ incomes and livelihoods.
Third, accelerated application of science, technology, and digital transformation. Digital technologies, big data, remote sensing, traceability, and smart farming solutions are being adopted more widely in managing production, natural resources, and the environment. These are key tools to optimize inputs and outputs, measure and control emissions, gradually close product life cycles, and realize the circular economy in agriculture.
A major milestone is the official launch of the Vietnam Agricultural Product Traceability System in late 2025. This is not only a technological solution, but also a modern management instrument that enhances transparency, protects consumer rights, prevents trade fraud, and strengthens the reputation of Vietnamese agricultural products in international markets.
In the context of deeper integration, traceability has become a mandatory requirement for participation in global supply chains, because the value of agricultural products today lies not only in volume, but also in quality, transparency, and responsibility toward the environment and society.
It can be affirmed that green agriculture and the circular economy have moved from orientation to substantive action. In the coming period, the Ministry will continue to refine institutions, develop the carbon market and green credit, and encourage businesses and farmers to expand green production models. This will enhance the competitiveness of Vietnamese agricultural products and gradually realize the commitment to net-zero emissions.
Resource management is increasingly strategic for sustainable development. Over the past year, what notable achievements has this field recorded?
The year 2025 was particularly significant for resource management, especially in building and improving national databases, with a focus on the national land database. This is a difficult and complex area, directly tied to the rights and interests of citizens and businesses, as well as the effectiveness of state governance.
Under tight timelines, with a very large workload and adverse impacts from natural disasters in many localities, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment concentrated its efforts to complete the data system and successfully implement the nationwide 90-day campaign to enrich and cleanse land data. This was not only a technical campaign, but also a comprehensive review to ensure land data reflects reality and truthfully represents land management and land use.
After 90 days of implementation, more than 61 million land parcels nationwide were reviewed, updated, and corrected. Among them, over 24 million parcels met the criteria of being “accurate, complete, clean, and live,” meaning they were eligible for real-time operation and ready for connection, sharing, and common use. Compared with the previous period, data quality improved markedly, creating a solid foundation for more modern and transparent management.
Alongside data enrichment, synchronization work was carried out decisively to ensure the data is truly “live, clean, consistent, and shared.” To date, 100 percent of provinces and cities have synchronized land data to the central level, covering over 61 million parcels, equivalent to about 98 percent of total parcels in local data systems. Of these, more than 24 million parcels have fully completed information blocks and are ready for use and sharing.
These results reflect strong political commitment from leadership, coordinated engagement across ministries, sectors, and localities, and close collaboration throughout the system. More importantly, this is a core data foundation serving socio-economic development, enabling more effective and transparent resource management, and strongly advancing the national digital transformation process.
The article notes: “See the full interview here.”
