[{"bbox": [96, 152, 1135, 445], "category": "Text", "text": "been widening since 2004¹². The poorest households are increasingly concentrated in low-income agricultural activities and these groups risk falling further behind and being less connected to the more vibrant sectors of the economy¹³. From a gender perspective, job opportunities have been mostly inclusive as the rate of women working in Viet Nam is 73%¹⁴, much higher than the regional peers. However, Vietnamese women are being incorporated into industrialization more as wage workers than as entrepreneurs. Women entering export-oriented manufacturing sectors are largely wage workers and tend to be younger and better educated than the women working in agriculture. Regarding women entrepreneurs, they report various forms of discrimination in accessing productive resources and networks, gender pay gaps, and lack of education, which may translate into limited knowledge of legal provisions, or simply less self-confidence¹⁵. With a much greater share of care responsibilities due to social norms and limited public support, women have less freedom to pursue more labour-intensive occupations, while family business income for women is lower than for men because of fewer hours worked."}, {"bbox": [96, 471, 1135, 658], "category": "Text", "text": "In general, there is a serious shortage of data on specific groups of persons with disabilities (PwDs) in Viet Nam, especially those who are most marginalized, including persons with hearing and print disabilities. The National Survey on PwDs (2016) found there were 6.2 million PwDs in Viet Nam. This represents 7 percent of the population. Of these PwDs, 58% were women. The report highlights the high incidence of poverty among persons with disabilities, high rates of unemployment, and 71% of employed stated they worked in the informal sector¹⁶. Common stereotypes about persons with disabilities from the community which lead to discrimination stem from deeply rooted cultural or religious concepts¹⁷."}, {"bbox": [96, 669, 1135, 803], "category": "Text", "text": "The agriculture sector, including agriculture, forestry, aquaculture and fishery, continues to affirm its important position as a key pillar of the economy, ensuring food security and contributing to macroeconomic stability. The sector grew at the rate of 3.83% in 2023, the highest level in the last 5 years, and contributed 12% of the GDP. Viet Nam has become one of the world's leading producers and exporters of many agricultural products, such as coffee, peanuts, rice, shrimp, pangasius, tuna, squid and others."}, {"bbox": [96, 814, 1135, 1001], "category": "Text", "text": "Decades of expansion and intensification of unsustainable agricultural practices, however, have resulted in declining agricultural productivity and degradation of biodiversity and environmental quality in Viet Nam. This “take-make-dispose” behavior leads to a series of problems. Viet Nam produced about 43.5 million tons of rice in 2023, but about 28.3% of straw were burned directly and 18.4% of that were left untreated on the fields. It is also reported that 30.5% of rice husks were burned, 31% of that were reused as fuel and only 16.5% of that were collected for producing bio-char¹⁸. The burning practice contributes to air pollution and does not optimize the value of agriculture residues and by-products."}, {"bbox": [96, 1012, 1135, 1249], "category": "Text", "text": "Agriculture is also one of the most water intensive sector, consuming about 100 billion cubic meter annually, accounting for approximately 88% of the total water consumption in the production sector. Waste water from agricultural activities often contains organic matters (such as protein, carbohydrate, lipid), nutrients (such as nitrogen, phosphorous, kali), non-organic matters (such as minerals, heavy metals), sediments, toxic chemicals (such as pesticide, chemical fertilizers) and pathogens (such as bacteria, virus). Most of the agricultural waste water is not collected and properly treated before discarding into the environment. In 2022, aquaculture generated about 1.2 million tons of waste sludge of which only 27% was pre-treated¹⁹. The sector produced 98,6 million tons of CO2e, accounting for 30% of the national GHG emission in 2016²⁰. It also generates a huge volume of waste and residues."}, {"bbox": [96, 1262, 1135, 1398], "category": "Text", "text": "Like the industrial sector, the agricultural policy framework also faces lots of challenges. Although the government strategies are ambitious, they have not been effectively translated into concrete policies and incentives to encourage agriculture economic actors to invest in circular economy business models. The traditional growth model, with a short-term vision, has prioritized productivity and rapid economic growth and in favors of immediate gains over sustainability and long-term benefits. For example, Viet Nam set target to be a top shrimp producing"}, {"bbox": [86, 1445, 816, 1470], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹² https://www-cdn.oxfam.org/s3fs-public/file attachments/bp-vietnam-inequality-120117-en.pdf"}, {"bbox": [86, 1468, 596, 1492], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹³ The World Bank, Viet Nam poverty and equity assessment, 2022"}, {"bbox": [86, 1493, 596, 1516], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁴ The World Bank, Viet Nam poverty and equity assessment, 2022"}, {"bbox": [86, 1516, 955, 1540], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁵ https://www.unido.org/sites/default/files/unido-publications/2023-11/UNIDO_ISID_The_Gender_Dimension.pdf"}, {"bbox": [86, 1540, 890, 1563], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁶ Source: Situational Analysis Report on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Viet Nam, UNDP 2023."}, {"bbox": [86, 1564, 1073, 1611], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁷ Source: https://www.undp.org/vietnam/press-releases/making-people-disabilities-more-visible-national-database-inclusive-socio-economic-policies-and-programs"}, {"bbox": [86, 1610, 521, 1633], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁸ Institutes of Agricultural Economics (IAE) report, 2023"}, {"bbox": [86, 1632, 637, 1654], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁹ Vietnam Institute of Fisheries Economics And Planning (VIFEP), 2022"}, {"bbox": [86, 1653, 577, 1676], "category": "Footnote", "text": "²⁰ Vietnam Biennial Update Report (BUR) No. 3, MONRE, 2020"}, {"bbox": [1035, 1678, 1144, 1703], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 8 of 26"}]