Lam Dong Province Focusing on Hi-tech Agricultural Projects
The agriculture sector of Lam Dong province has seen positive changes in intensive farming techniques and scientific transfer in recent years. Lam Dong in particular has successfully promoted hi-tech agriculture projects for vegetable, flower and tea production.
Funding for improving production
The province’s agriculture sector reports an increasingly high production value, economic efficiency and consumption thanks to the expansion of husbandry and organic vegetable production over the past three years. More specifically, 10,733 and 1,322 hectares of low yield coffee and tea plantations respectively were transferred for higher value crops, while another 3,861 hectares were transformed into tea plantations. Some 3,420 hectares of mulberry and 2,078 hectares of cashew were newly grown while an additional 1,643 hectares were set aside for vegetables and flowers. The program to develop its dairy cow herd to supply milk for processing has helped push up the operation of cooperatives and rural craft production. The province has reportedly 364 cooperative groups, 16 cooperatives that have recently changed following the Cooperative Law, and 26 newly established ones. Furthermore, it has also formed 91 private pig raising farms, 24 cow farms and one dairy cow farm.
The province is developing some major projects, such as the pilot production of a craft tea plant (suitable for the sloping terrain), construction and development of a hi-tech agriculture model, and experimental tea strains imported from China and Indonesia. Meanwhile, it has also organised training courses on tea product standards for 35 tea processing enterprises and 120 IPM experts, distributed information on guiding Asian Development Bank funds and has built a website for the Lam Dong tea projects with their aggregate disbursement of over VND6.2 billion for 207 hectares of 269 tea cultivation projects. The agricultural production value is up 29 per cent compared to 2002.
Applying high technology to production
The sector plans to focus on high yield and value plants and animals in the coming year, especially products that have a high competitive advantage in the market. The organic vegetable area is expected to expand to 500-600 hectares. It will also conduct detailed planning of a hi-tech agriculture area and introduce favourable policies to call on investors in all economic sectors.
Furthermore, it will change the ineffective coffee areas to develop Catimor strains and other plants, as well as employ high quality tea strains such as TB14 and Shan, cashew seeds such as PN1 and BO1, and strawberry seeds such as Sa Nhi Luan 109.
The sector will also plan zones for pulp, artificial plywood, home appliance and construction wood production, aiming to accelerate the project to grow five million hectares of forest. It strives for a growth of 12-13 per cent in the production value of agri-forestry-fishery and a reduction of poverty households to less than 20 per cent.
Vietnamese
October 2024
Hanoi