Blessed with rich natural resources, fertile soil and temperate climate, Lam Dong province aims to closely combine production and science and technology to boost labour productivity, quality and competitiveness of products to have sustainable agricultural development. Therefore, the province has focused very much on hi-tech application to agricultural production.
Agricultural production, especially hi-tech agriculture, is now the key economic sector of Lam Dong as it makes important contributions to GDP growth and promote other economic sectors such as processing and tourism industries. On that basis, on May 11, 2011, the Lam Dong Provincial Party Committee adopted the Resolution 05/NQ-TU on promotion hi-tech application to agricultural development in the province in the 2011 - 2015 period. The objectives of the resolution are to promote the application of scientific and technological advancements to boost production, productivity and product quality, and appropriateness to national and international standards and to develop Lam Dong agriculture towards vast commerciality, modernity and sustainability.
After more than one year of implementation, the provincial agricultural sector has achieved initial encouraging results. Nguyen Quang Son, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Lam Dong province, said the province now has 13,039 ha of hi-tech farming land, including 3,675 ha of vegetable and fruit area, 2,095 ha of flower area, 3,545 ha of bean area, 124 ha of strawberry area, 1,503 ha of high-quality tea area, 2,055 ha branch tea area, and 42 ha of nurseries. Watering-automated greenhouse and screen house area is rapidly expanding while the VietGAP production area continues to enlarge. Presently, the province has 1,894 ha of greenhouses, 980 ha of screen houses, and 5,015 ha of film-covered area, and 5,150 ha of outdoor-watering area.
Seeding technology makes a great leap thanks to the application of plant cell culture technologies to vegetable and flower production. For the time being, the province has 48 tissue culturing facilities which supply about 35 million units of tissue-cultured seedlings a year. For industrial crops and fruit trees, the province now has more than 20 coffee, fruit and tea farms supplying qualified seedlings for farmers. Technologies, qualifications, and cultivation techniques of farmers are enhanced. More and more companies invest in hi-tech cultivation and agricultural processing. They effectively organise their production activities and make significant contributions to the province’s economic development while transferring technologies to local farmers. Two Lam Dong province-based companies, Da Lat Flower Forest Biotech Joint Stock Company and Agri VINA Co., Ltd, are granted hi-tech application certification by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Hi-tech agricultural production has boosted up productivity. Production value of high-tech applied vegetables reaches VND400 million per ha a year, doubling the overall average. The production value of high-grade flowers is VND400 million, VND800 million, and VND1 billion per ha a year, 1.6 times higher than the average. The production value of high quality tea is VND200-250 million per ha and generates a profit of VND70 - 90 million, much higher than tea grown with traditional practices. Brand names of agricultural products like tea, coffee, vegetables, temperate flowers, cashew nuts, cold-water fish, dairy cows and cattle have established their positions in the domestic market and reached out to Asian markets and the world.
The Resolution 05/NQ-TU of the Lam Dong Provincial Party Committee sets targets till 2015 when more than 10 per cent of arable land in the province will be cultivated with hi-tech applications in order to raise the export value of agricultural products to 74 per cent of the province’s total exports. To achieve this goal, the province will continue promoting in-vitro production technologies, importing, researching, and hybridising new species to match natural conditions and increase economic value. The province will focus on promoting hi-tech applications to harvesting, preservation and processing of agricultural products in order to reduce losses and improve product quality and value. It will invest more in research, application and transfer of scientific and technological advances in production and trading. Especially, it will step up the construction of Da Lat Biotech and High-tech Agriculture Zone in Lac Duong district to create breakthroughs in research, application and development of hi-tech agriculture in the province.
Hoang Lam
Vietnamese
