6 below 30% in the last decades (Nguyen, 2013) With the slow uptake of advanced technologies for energy production, and the inflexible and undiversified energy supply mix, Vietnam will face the risks[.]
6 below 30% in the last decades (Nguyen, 2013) With the slow uptake of advanced technologies for energy production, and the inflexible and undiversified energy supply mix, Vietnam will face the risks of low energy efficiency, higher energy-import dependency and energy intensity for meeting future demand for socio-economic development Lack of innovation in energy policy and institutions would pose serious challenges in the future as the country commits to a fundamental transformation - from monopoly and subsidization in energy production and consumption to privatization and market-oriented operation by 2020 in accordance with Decisions No 26/2006/QD-TTg and 63/2013/QD-TTg (Prime Minister, 2016; Prime Minister, 2013) Food security under the pressure of population growth, urbanisation and water stress Vietnam presently meets most of its basic food needs from domestic production; it is also a net food exporter, especially of rice, coffee, pepper, cashews, etc The food production and productivity has rapidly increased since “Đổi Mới” in 1986 Since the global food price crisis of late 2007, food security has become an issue of concern for many countries, and an integral part of the long-term pathways for their development Vietnam has been the world’s second-largest exporter of rice and a net exporter of many other agricultural commodities for the last three decades; still, food security is always a priority in the country’s economic development at both of national and household levels (World Bank, 2016) In 2009, Vietnam’s Government issued its Resolution No 63/NQ-CP on national food security, which aims to end food shortages and hunger by 2012, and to increase food production by 2020 by 2.5 times; and even more fundamentally to guarantee the availability and sufficiency of 3.8 million hectares of land for cultivating rice and other agricultural products (Resolution No 63/NQ-CP, 2009) Despite the food security levels achieved, many rural households in Vietnam are net buyers of food The food prices in Vietnam have increased as the world fastest since 2008 This fact has made Vietnam being categorized as one of the ‘hunger hot spots’ in Asia and the Pacific (Van Dijk, M., H Hilderink, et al 2013; AAAHM, 2013) Thus, the Vietnamese government’s food security policy primarily focuses on self-sufficient rice production and its price stabilisation (Resolution No 63/NQ-CP, 2009)