The world economy is becoming more uncertain. Food price has been continuously spiking up together with economic recession since 2008. In 2011, the world witnessed new record of high agricultural prices. The global population reaches to 7 billion of which one billion people still live without sufficient food and nutrition. The demand for food and foodstuff is growing as a result both of income growth and strong urbanization while the supply is threatened by climate change, natural disasters, diseases and bio-fuel development. In China, the most populous country, population comes over the threshold where urban population is higher than rural population. According to Professor Peter Timmer – outstanding agricultural economist, agriculture will play critical role for economic growth and social stability, and more importantly the sector will open opportunities for investment in the next 50 years. Therefore, world economic recession has driven more and more interests of investors in agriculture (even speculation on agriculture stock exchange). This constitutes a good chance for agriculture growth but also puts considerable challenges of price volatilities. In the aim of overcoming aforesaid challenges, important efforts at international level in terms of agriculture development should be put on the plan.

Vietnam experienced economic downturn together with high inflation, credit frozen, trade deficit losses of a great number of businesses in 2011. In this context, agriculture saved the whole economy, given its remarkable growth rate of 4%, employments generation and export turnover up to 25 billion USD (accounting for 22% of the total export). Agriculture was also the unique sector creating net export surplus of 18 billion USD in 2011. At the Davos World Economic Forum in January 2012, Vietnam’s agriculture performance was highly appreciated and regarded as the best practice of agriculture development in developing countries. Growth of agricultural production and export in Vietnam has attracted great interest from global investors. In the coming time, agriculture will still play important role for economic growth and social stability in Vietnam. The sector has been shifting from extensive to intensive growth with better efficiency, quality and sustainability.