Despite not making great breakthroughs, productivity of some crops and animals in Dong Nai increases annually thanks to local people’s bio-technology application in their production activities. However, the application is not wide spread.
In the agriculture sector, the bio-technology application focuses on creating good-quality crops which can be adaptable to drought and able to resist diseases. Many local farmers have applied bio-technology in cultivation and poultry breeding such as the use of biotech products for disease prevention and the stimulation of blooming, aiming to gain high productivity. Thanks to the bio-technology application, mangoes at Suoi Lon mango cooperative in Hau Loc district bloom out of season, earning selling prices two times higher than the main crop. Several cashew nut growers in Tan Phu district, Dinh Quan, Xuan Loc use biotech product Trichoderma to gain productivity of between 5 and 10 tonnes per hectare.
A farmer in Dinh Quan district said his family grew 1.5 hectares of pepper which previously generated output of over 2 tonnes per hectare. However, after using Trichoderma and applying advanced technologies, the output has reached over 5 tonnes per hectare, posting profit three times than the old method. Many other farmers in the districts of Xuan Loc, Cam My and Tan Phu have launched new varieties and biotech products for taking care of cabbage, therefore, productivity of the winter-spring reaches 10 - 14 tonnes per hectares, up 2 – 2.5 times compared to previously. Other different crops such as rice, vegetable and fruits are used with biotech products to reduce input costs and increase productivity. As for the crop cultivation, farmers in Xuan Loc district has applied biotech quickly and effectively to boost cabbage productivity to 1-2 tonnes per hectares per year.
In addition, in terms of breeding, the majority of Dong Nai farmers have applied biotech for raising pigs and cows by vitro fertilisation technique to create high-quality pigs which have high rate of lean meat. According to Dr Nguyen Van Bac from the National Centre for Aqua-Agriculture Promotion, the country’s current vitro fertlisation rate of cows is 55 per cent. The technique has helped cow weight to increase to VND250-280 kilogrammes from the previous 180 kilogrammes. Besides, farmers have applied biotech in composting and processing animal feed to take advantages of agricultural wastes and lower input costs.
At present, the biotech application in agricultural production in Dong Nai has become popular. However, many local people still ignore this. Therefore, on the same land area, some households can earn hundreds of million of VND per year but some can obtain only tens of million of VND. As for rice, many farmers have applied the method "3 downs, three ups” and used biotech products such as micro fertilizer and pesticides to boost output to 5.5 - 8 tonnes per hectare per crop. However, farmers who use chemical fertilizer and pesticides for dealing with rice diseases, will have to spend high investment costs but gain the output of 3 – 3.5 tonnes per hectare/crop. The Dong Nai centre for agricultural development cooperates with localities to deploy pilot models of biotech product application for taking care of and protecting crops. However, in reality, many farmers, many farmers are not interested in using biotech products instead of chemical fertilizer. Furthermore, micro fertilizer is much affected by environment and is even not effective in case facing unfavorable condition.
According to Dr Hoang Chi Buu, Head of Institute of Agricultural Sciences for Southern Vietnam (IAS), prices of domestic agricultural products still depends much on the world market. Thus, to sell goods and make profit, farmers must apply biotech to reduce costs for cultivation and ensure quality of crops and animals.
Nhue Giang
Vietnamese
