Farming imports up 20% this year   Employees work on a shrimp processing line at Minh Phu Seafood Corp in southern Ca Mau Province. Experts have urged the country's agriculture sector to attract more investment. - VNA/VNS Photo Huynh The Anh HA NOI (VNS) - Viet Nam's agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector had a year-on-year increase of 20.1 per cent in imports in the first five months of this year. This announcement was made by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, adding that the increase was a total US$8.56 billion in imports of material and products for production. During the first five months, Viet Nam imported pesticide worth a total of $337 million, 5.6 per cent higher than the same period last year. Almost all the pesticide products used in the domestic market were imported, with an annual volume of 70,000 tonnes, stated Bui Si Doanh, deputy head of the Plant Protection Department. Imports of animal feed products material for producing animal feed had a light surge of 0.1 per cent to $1.2 billion against the same period last year. Of which, imports had a year-on-year increase of 49 per cent in volume to 809,000 tonnes and also the same percentage in value to $474 million for soybean. Imports of corn surged by 3 times in volume to 2.24 million tonnes and 2 times in value to $576 million compared with the same period last year. Viet Nam must pay $200 million each year to import varieties of plants, including fruit, vegetable and rice, the ministry said. Meanwhile, in the first five months of this year, imports of fertiliser had a reduction of 14.9 per cent in volume to 1.31 million tonnes and 35.8 per cent in value to $405 million against the same period last year because the domestic supply increased to meet the demand at home market. Experts reported that the agricultural sector should reduce imports of products and materials for production to gain sustainable development of the sector in the future. To achieve the target, the sector should promote attraction of investment from both domestic and foreign enterprises with modern technology for increased output and quality of farming products to avoid dependence on imports. - VNS