(VOVworld) – The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development chaired working group meetings of the Oceans and Fisheries and APEC Policy Partnership on Food Security as part of the APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM 1) in Nha Trang city. Vietnamese delegates shared their experience on climate change response for agriculture development.

Fishery has been the main job of the coastal people of many APEC members. Climate change - bringing intensified droughts, saltwater intrusion, typhoons, and floods -  has severely affected people’s lives, particularly poor people in coastal areas.
Nguyen Thi Trang Nhung, Director of the International Cooperation Department of Vietnam’s Directorate of Fisheries, said sustainable measures for fisheries development are needed to preserve people’s livelihood, protect natural resources, and ensure food security. “It’s necessary to combine fishery issues and food safety. Vietnam has orientations and national policies to support sustainable fishery development, protect resources, and ensure food security. This will benefit future generations.”

Responding to climate change, Vietnam has shifted about 100,000 hectares of saline rice fields to aquaculture farms. Some provinces grow two rice crops, instead of three as in the past, and one crop of something else to save water and increase added value.
Doctor Tran Dai Nghia of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development said: “We share national studies and strategic solutions. The more discussion the more solutions we have to deal with extreme weather phenomenon such as prolonged droughts, floods, storms, and freezing cold. If the soil is not suitable for growing rice, we raise shrimp. Ninh Thuan province has shifted from growing rice to other plants and raising sheep.”
Food security, sustainable agriculture, and climate change response are high on the agenda of APEC 2017. Other discussions have covered the APEC strategic framework on urban and rural sustainable development to guarantee food safety and quality of growth and the APEC program on food safety and climate change.