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Communist Vietnam's Great Leap Forward in Agricultural Production


I remember reading through Third World to First by the late Lee Kuan Yew. It's very easy to use the book to badmouth the Marcoses but not to learn from the rest of it. The book also talks about Vietnam and LKY's encounter with the late Nguyen Duy Cong aka Do Muoi. It's often said that Singapore only opened because of its lack of natural resources. On the contrary, Do Muoi decided to learn from Singapore how to turn the Communist Party of Vietnam into a powerhouse. Do Muoi, though a communist, was impressed by Singapore during his October 1993 state visit. Vietnam, unlike Singapore, is a country rich in natural resources. The third-world mentality said that MNCs are there to rape the resources. 

A very huge misconception especially if you know Singapore's history

Some Filipinos on social media even say that FDIs will destroy agriculture and nature. This is a meme by the Philippine Anti-Fascist League on Facebook. They say that FDIs equals environmental degradation. Yet, I'm seeing so many of their kind protesting on the roads and guess what? They leave huge amounts of litter left and right. I remembered how often I told such people, "People like you are why the Philippines will never progress! Look at Singapore!" They say that my pyramid of learning is "Go tell that to Singapore." Well, I challenge them to tell all of their absurd claims to the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Publicy (LKYSPP). It's founded by what they'd call a "stinky Bumbay" named Kishore Mahbubani. Yet, that "stinky Bumbay" knew better how to make a country prosperous than Hilario Davide Jr. 

Instead, Vietnam has had its land reform laws. Now, farmers were encouraged not just to manufacture but to use modern equipment when necessary. It was a far cry from Mao Zedong's disastrous Great Leap Forward to oblivion. Mao tried to self-industrialize China and failed miserably. Not surprisingly, Vietnam in 2023 had become a rising star in agriculture, according to the Vietnam Briefing.

These are interesting tidbits about Vietnamese farming from Vietnam Briefing as stated by Uyen Nguyen:
Foreign investment in Vietnamese farms 
As far as investment goes, plant-based agriculture does not carry any conditions for foreign investors. The establishment and registration of a foreign company wishing to invest in agriculture simply needs to comply with the standard investment, enterprise, and company laws.

That said, the 2013 Land Law, does not permit foreign investors to acquire land to build farms in Vietnam. Therefore, in order to establish a farm in the country, foreign investors can only rent the land. To do this they must establish a foreign invested enterprise, either alone or with a local partner.

Foreign investors and local partners may enter into an investment cooperation agreement in either the form of a joint-stock company or a limited liability company. They can also enter into a Business Cooperation Contract without having to establish a legal entity in Vietnam.

Foreign investors in Vietnam’s agricultural sector

A number of foreign investors are already making headway in Vietnam’s agricultural sector and many of them have been operating in the country for quite some time.

With the aforementioned limits on land ownership for foreign investors, international firms tend to be concentrated in either ancillary services or high-value goods, such as nuts, coffee, or fresh cut flowers.

Three firms that have been relatively successful in the Vietnamese market are Cargill, Olam, and the Louis Dreyfus Company. 

This reminds me that I also wrote about how the prices of onions in FDI-friendly countries have been lower. Vietnam's price of onions last Christmas 2022 was only PHP 35.00 per kilo. Would you want to use Vietnam as an example that how national industrialization works? On the contrary, Vietnam already gave up on it years ago. Last year, according to the Vietnamese Investment Review, there are more plans in the boost of agriculture from Le Van Thanh, Vietnam's deputy prime minister (though Vietnam isn't a parliamentary government):

In the first five months of 2022, all economic sectors have witnessed quite high growth on-year, of which the most prominent is agricultural exports, which reached $23.2 billion, up 16.8 per cent.

The key agricultural exports have continued to maintain their positions and brands in the international market, such as pepper (first ranked in the world, up 25.7 per cent); coffee (second, up 54 per cent), rice up 10.3 per cent; seafood up 46.3 per cent, wood products up nearly 7 per cent, and more. These are very encouraging results.

In order to further develop the agricultural sector, firstly, the government will direct the renovation of the organisation of production and business in agriculture, from investment in research, selection and breeding to the planning and construction of standard raw material areas, and forming large-scale agricultural production areas. It is also needed to promote the application of science and technology to produce clean and high-quality agricultural products to meet domestic and international consumption demand.

Secondly, the government will direct the expansion of trade promotion and negotiate conditions on technical barriers and trade barriers so that agricultural products that have no market can soon be officially exported to major markets such as Europe, the US, and China. This will contribute to gradually reducing small-scale exports across the northern border while limiting the congestion of goods taking place at border gates.

Next, there will be a stronger mechanism to support credit, exempt and reduce fees and taxes in order to attract businesses into investing in the production of agricultural materials and fertilisers. The government will also direct the review and assessment of the overall demand for raw materials for animal feed processing, from which we can make plans and build production areas to serve the feed industry and gradually ensure our own supplies.

Finally, the government will focus on proposing amendments and supplements to the Law on Land; formulating mechanisms and policies to promote land resources; forming and developing a market for land use rights in agriculture; and creating conditions to support farmers in exploiting and effectively using land.

LKY also wrote about greening Singapore in his book Third World to First. FDIs with proper environmental laws, can work. We need new technology to help clean up pollution. If there's no money then how can one pay the workers to remove pollution or buy the necessary equipment? Yes, it's possible to make profits without destroying the environment. That's what Vietnamese agriculture is doing. Meanwhile, I must ask how North Korea and Venezuela faring in their agriculture now? Communist Vietnam has proven the claims of "foreign imperialism in FDI" to be downright wrong with its great leap forward in agriculture 

What excuses does a more democratic Philippines have now? Just think that Vietnamese rice has become a staple export. If the Philippines decides to be more open to FDI, it could really end up having more exports than imports in the long run. The Philippines would have better production of agricultural products with newer technology. Instead, it's been so stuck with absurd solutions that will never work. Some stupid Filipino anti-reform idiots (and some of them even support communist leaders) still think Mao's Great Leap Forward will work. No, it didn't work and Communist Vietnam has proven it. 

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