The success of the current national industrialization and modernization process largely relies on agricultural production. State President Truong Tan Sang made the remarks at the annual Ploughing the Rice Field festival in Doi Son commune in the northern province of Ha Nam today/Sunday. He added that although global integration poses numerous challenges, agricultural development remains the cornerstone of maintaining social stability and food security. President Sang noted that in all circumstances, agriculture, farmers and rural areas lay the basic foundation for developing politics, economy and social affairs, looking back over the course of Vietnamese history. Mr. Sang said: "The 7th Party Central Committee Resolution on agriculture, rural areas and farmers has been well implemented. More attention for food security is needed especially in the context of international economic integration. Our country’s industrialization and modernization process depends largely on agricultural development. The festival is of great significance to remind us of our country’s fine agricultural traditions while helping educate the younger generations to love working for the country’s development."
The festival originated in AD 987 when King Le Dai Hanh ploughed a field in Doi Son Commune of Duy Tien District, Ha Nam Province in order to encourage farmers to work hard and pray for a prosperous year.
The same day, President Truong Tan Sang launched the tree planting movement in commemoration of Uncle Ho’s teaching of planting more and more trees to make our country more beautiful, especially in spring. With this year's theme “Planting trees to reduce natural calamities”, President Sang stressed the importance of socio-economic development in accordance with environmental protection, especially as climate change and rising sea level are threatening Vietnamese people’s lives.