On the occasion of the 95^th founding anniversary of the Vietnam Farmers’ Union (October 14, 1930-2025), Party General Secretary To Lam met with 95 outstanding Vietnamese farmers and agricultural scientists in Hanoi on October 14.

General Secretary To Lam commended the pioneering role of Vietnamese farmers and the companionship of VBSP in enabling farmers to access credit for production development

During the meeting, Party General Secretary To Lam emphasised the noble character of Vietnamese farmers in effectively using preferential credit. “Our farmers have used VBSP’s preferential capital efficiently. No one has broken their promises or misused the bank’s funds,” he said.

Lam highly appreciated the contributions of Vietnam’s farming class, affirming that farmers have created miracles during the renewal period, helping transform the nation’s destiny from prolonged poverty to ensuring food security and becoming one of the world’s leading agricultural exporters in many key products.

According to the general secretary, Resolution No.19-NQ/TW of the Party Central Committee on agriculture, farmers, and rural areas defines agriculture as a national advantage and the backbone of the economy.

Despite numerous challenges in recent years, agriculture has continuously achieved positive results, serving as a solid foundation for the country’s development.

Party General Secretary To Lam had a cordial meeting with 95 outstanding Vietnamese farmers and agricultural scientists on the occasion of the 95th Anniversary of the Vietnam Farmers’ Union

The general secretary expressed his joy and emotion upon listening to the reports and heartfelt ideas shared by the farmers and scientists in 2025.

He stated that the Politburo is directing a review of Resolution 19 to develop new policy directions for further promoting agriculture, farmers, and rural areas.

To achieve the goals of innovative agriculture, prosperous rural areas, and happy farmers, Party General Secretary Lam emphasised five key tasks, in which science and technology must become the core of production.

He called on scientists to go to the fields, farms, and processing factories, and urged enterprises and cooperatives to accompany farmers to standardise processes, ensure product quality, enhance traceability and food safety, and meet the requirements of demanding export markets.

Speaking further about innovative credit models, the Party general secretary once again praised VBSP’s collateral-free lending to poor households and policy beneficiaries, stressing that farmers have used these funds responsibly and effectively.

He noted the need for continuous innovation in agricultural development, noting that innovation lies in new seeds, new processes, new equipment, and new models of credit and agricultural insurance.

VBSP’s journey of “understanding the people’s hearts”

Over the past 23 years, with the motto “Understanding the people’s hearts and serving with dedication”, VBSP has cemented its role as the extended arm of the government, bringing essential preferential credit to millions of poor and policy households, helping them rise out of poverty, stabilise their lives, and achieve sustainable development.

Poor households and policy beneficiaries receiving VBSP preferential loans directly at commune transaction points

In early 2002, the national poverty rate was nearly 30 per cent of all households – this was the target group for VBSP. Most of VBSP's clients lived in remote and disadvantaged areas, where infrastructure was underdeveloped, and the 54 ethnic groups had diverse cultures and traditional farming practices that were still fragmented and outdated. This made the mission of “bringing government funding to every village” extremely challenging.

To overcome these difficulties, VBSP has closely cooperated with the Vietnam Women’s Union, Farmers’ Union, Veterans’ Association, and Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union to implement a unique trust-based lending management mechanism.

VBSP and its entrusted partners have continuously improved the quality of savings and credit groups, strengthened communication, encouraged people to borrow capital confidently, changed their mindset towards economic development, and integrated policy credit with local socioeconomic programmes. More importantly, they have monitored the use of funds to ensure effective and proper use, recover loans on time, and circulate capital sustainably to other eligible beneficiaries.

As of September 30, VBSP's total capital had reached approximately VND422.7 trillion (around $16.9 billion), an increase of VND419 trillion (around $16.8 billion) compared to 2002. Total outstanding loans under preferential credit programmes had reached VND398.1 trillion (around $15.9 billion). Currently, there are nearly 6.73 million poor households and policy beneficiaries with outstanding loans at VBSP.

The bank’s debt management remains effective, with total overdue and frozen debt at VND 2.17 trillion (around $87 million), accounting for only 0.55 per cent of total outstanding loans, reflecting the safe, efficient, and sustainable quality of VBSP’s social credit portfolio.

Over 23 years, VBSP has provided nearly 47.9 million preferential loans to poor and policy households. Over seven million households have overcome poverty; more than 7.6 million workers have found jobs; over four million disadvantaged students have continued their education; nearly 20.4 million rural safe water and sanitation works have been built; and around 784,000 houses have been built for the poor, low-income, and policy households.