Enterprises, promotion agencies and research units shared their experience in this field at a seminar on ‘Promoting hi-tech agricultural development in Hanoi’ on October 25.
Current status of high-tech application in agriculture in Hanoi
According to the report by Hanoi municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the application of high technologies in agricultural production in the city is not popular and has only been developed on a small scale. To date, Hanoi does not have any agricultural production areas using high-tech applications and the municipal People’s Committee has only approved two projects in this field. In addition, there are only five pig breeding establishments, three plant breeding production facilities, 160 pig farms, 254 chicken farms and seven facilities for processing and maintaining agricultural products with high-tech applications.
In terms of cultivation, Hanoi has 119 hectares in net house land, five vegetable processing factories with total area of 458 square metres, and 110 hectares in high-tech applied cultivation land of flowers, mainly for lilies, orchids and gerbera. Over 924 hectares have been used for fruit trees, while more than 309 hectares are for producing tea using high-tech applications.
The report also pointed out that the value of hi-tech agricultural products in the city now reaches 25%, which shows the great efforts made by the municipal authorities. The city set a target of increasing the share of high-tech agricultural production value to 35% of the total value of agricultural production by 2020.
The types of high technology applied in agriculture in Hanoi include greenhouse technology, net houses, agricultural films, automatic grids, hydroponics, new high-yielding varieties imported from foreign countries, bio-technology, automatic sensing technology and in vitro propagation techniques creating disease-free varieties with uniformity and stability in productivity and quality. Other types are nana technology used in managing and improving the usability of the products, remote sensing technology to manage the safety of agricultural products, new materials (which are lighter, more durable, recyclable and suitable for all weather conditions), and renewable energy to create stable and sustainable energy for the farms.
Nguyen Anh Phong, Director of the Centre for Agricultural Information and Rural Development, said that the high-tech application in agriculture has brought progress and more efficiency in production.
However, in reality, the application of high technology is not smooth or easy due to a lot of difficulties in mechanisms and policies. Director Phong also noted that many tax support policies have been issued, but it has been difficult for enterprises to access them. The cost of land is still high and the protection of ownership has not been tightened, resulting in risks of counterfeit goods. Moreover, enterprises face difficulties in gaining access to capital resources and mortgages for loan.
Sharing experiences
Many cooperatives and enterprises in the field of high-tech applied agricultural production shared their experiences at the seminar.
Thanh Van commune’s agricultural cooperative from Thanh Oai district, Hanoi is one of units applying high technologies in rice production since 2010. So far, the cooperative has attracted around 400 members; producing aromatic jasmine rice with a very high yield (the rate of rice reached 70%-90%). The characteristic of this rice variety is only suitable for the soil of Bo Nau field in Thanh Van commune. Joining the cooperative, farmers have been trained on rice cultivation techniques for high productivity, received support for fertiliser (in cash), and sought a stable output (although only in the district).
Meanwhile, Bao Minh Agricultural Products Processing and Business Company shared a different way to develop rice production. The company’s experts gathered 40 traditional rice varieties of Vietnam to make good their shortcomings, and supported farmers in breeding, techniques and output, while farmers only adjusted fertiliser and water. Growers did not have to make too much effort but can earn an higher income than by using the old farming techniques. Currently, Bao Minh cooperates with many provinces with specialty rice, incluidng Yen Bai, Dien Bien, Son La and Ninh Binh.
At the seminar, Sang Thien mushroom cooperative introduced their clean mushroom products. At present, it has six member households that are trained on techniques and supported in stable output.
The Fruit and Vegetable Research Institute, as well as several other units, also presented the high technologies that they have applied.
Clean and high-tech agriculture is one of the goals of Vietnam’s economy in the coming period. Many economic experts affirmed that high-tech agriculture and tourism are two sectors with great contributions to GDP growth. Therefore, seminars and forums are very useful for farmers, enterprises, scientists and policy makers.
HPA's Director Nguyen Gia Phuong noted: "The agency will try to regularly organise activities like that to support enterprises in seeking opportunities to apply high-technology in production and management as well as learning experience from other businesses, contributing to popularising high-tech agriculture."
