The leader made the request at the opening ceremony of the union’s seventh congress in Hanoi, which drew 999 delegates representing more than 10 million farmers nationwide.
He said that over the past 88 years since its founding, the VFU has grown strongly and made great contributions to the country’s revolution.
In the previous tenure, the union made a number of steps to reform its operation methods to maintain its central role in farmers’ movements and the building of new-style rural areas, he said.
The leader also pointed to a number of shortcomings by the union, including the slow innovation in its operation process as well as industrialisation and modernisation of agriculture and rural areas.
He stressed that the Party and State have defined agriculture, farmers and rural areas as strategic factors in the national industrialisation, modernisation, construction and defence, as well as an important force for socio-economic development and environmental protection.
In order to meet requirements in the new period and maintain sustainable development, it is necessary for the union to continue reforming its operation and fostering solidarity among farmers, turning them into a great revolutionary, economic, political and social force of the Party and State, the leader stated.
He also asked Party organisations, local administrations, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and political-social organisations to create favourable conditions for the union to operate effectively.
According to a report at the congress, in the 2013-2018 period, the union held 130,000 agro-forestry-fishery training courses for more than 15 million officials and farmers, while building and transferring over 14,000 models of technology application to agro-forestry-fishery production to farmers.
The union has held more than 410,000 technology training courses for nearly 25 million members, along with 62,000 production models involving nearly 6.32 million farmers.
In the next tenure, the union aims to have at least 60 percent of members accessing the Internet, and 100 percent of union’s officials receiving training on new agricultural knowledge and communication skills
