Bac Giang (VNA) - The northern province of Bac Giang will continueinvesting in, developing, and duplicating hi-tech agricultural productionmodels, Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Duong Thanh Tung has said.
It will step upresearch and application activities, transfer scientific and technicaladvances, mechanise and automate production phases, and apply more advances inseedlings and breeding, advanced production processes, green and organictechnologies, and bio-products, he added.
The province willalso expand technological application in technical transfer, productionmanagement, and trade promotion, while building brands and expandingconsumption markets for local farm produce.
Attention will bepaid to concentrated cultivation areas and upgrading infrastructure to serveproduct semi-processing, processing, preservation, and consumption, he stated.
In the time tocome, he went on, Bac Giang will expand the cultivation area that followsVietGAP and GlobalGAP standards, strengthen State management over agriculturalmaterials, and strictly control the use of additives and banned substances inthe production and preservation of farm produce.
The province isencouraging the engagement of the collective economy in hi-tech agriculturalproduction, with priority given to the development of cooperatives.
After five years implementingthe provincial Party Committee’s Resolution No. 130-NQ/TU dated August 16,2016, Bac Giang has mobilised 593 billion VND (25.5 million USD) from differentsources to invest in hi-tech agriculture. The investment has proven effective,contributing to increasing the productivity, quality, and value of agriculturalproducts as well as raising local incomes.
A total of 716hi-tech agricultural models have been built. Many local agricultural products nowmeet VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards and have become popular in the domesticmarket and shipped to other countries, such as lychee, vegetables, chicken, andpork.
The value ofagricultural production with hi-tech application averages 220-250 million VNDper hectare per year, or 2-2.5 times that of the traditional production. Ofnote, safe vegetable farms in Yen Dung, Lang Giang, Hiep Hoa, and Luc Namdistricts enjoy an average annual production value of 500-800 million VND perhectare.
High-qualityflower production models in the provincial capital of Bac Giang city, whichhave consumption links with businesses and cooperatives, earn revenue of 3-5billion VND per hectare per year, or 2-3 times that of normal planting.
Meanwhile, eachhectare at orange orchards in Luc Ngan district that apply VietGAP productionprocesses records average annual turnover of 500-700 million VND. The mostoutstanding is a 5-ha farm belonging to Bui Duc Long in Hong Giang commune,which records annual revenue of 5.4 billion VND.
Using drip irrigationtechnology, biological fertiliser, and pesticides and following VietGAPstandards, a tea production model in Yen The district also enjoys a 20-30percent annual increase in productivity and revenue. The success of the modelhelped expand the district’s tea growing area to 530ha, with a combined outputof over 4,300 tonnes a year.
Bac Giang has alsoapplied VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards in cultivation on 39 percent of fruit orchardsand used QR Codes for tracing product origin, together with the smart weatherstation iMetos, the VietGAP app, and drip irrigation technology.
The province hasrecently expanded its VietGAP-standard lychee coverage to 14,300ha and itsGlobalGAP-standard coverage to 258ha. It also has 218ha of lychee with cultivationcodes granted for export to the US, Australia and the EU.
Bac Giang isgrowing 50ha of lychee this year that meet requirements for export to Japan.
Lychee orchardsfollowing VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards have an average productivity 20-30percent higher and an average price 2-3 times higher than those using traditionalcultivation methods./.