Long An is one of the localities with a large rice production area, with an average output of 2.8 million tons/year (Photo: Le Ngoc)
Build and specify appropriate programs
Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) - Nguyen Thanh Truyen shared that the Program for Developing High-Tech Agriculture in association with restructuring the agricultural sector (period 2021-2025) has been planned and specified to suit each locality. After more than 2 years of implementation, the program has achieved certain results. Long An is one of the localities with a large rice production area, with an average output of 2.8 million tons/year.
In recent years, the provincial Department of Agriculture has coordinated with enterprises and farmers to build rice production areas that meet export standards based on the application of scientific and technical advances (sowing with cluster seeders, using drones to spray pesticides, etc.). Up to now, the area of UDCNC rice production is 46,929 hectares (according to the plan of 60,000 hectares, reaching 78.2%). In addition, the provincial Department of Agriculture, enterprises and cooperatives have also organized training, field trips and experience sharing for farmers participating in UDCNC rice production for replication.
According to the assessment of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the construction of high-yield rice areas meeting export standards has been guaranteed by many enterprises, farmers feel secure in production and have higher profits than growing rice in the traditional way. In the province, there are 25 enterprises and branches participating in rice export. Currently, enterprises participating in rice export, in addition to maintaining traditional markets, also approach and penetrate large, demanding markets.
According to Deputy Director of Phuoc Thanh II Company Limited (Tan Khanh Ward, Tan An City) - Nguyen Tuan Khoa, the great advantage of rice exporting enterprises is that Long An has an abundant area of high-quality raw materials through the program of applying high-quality rice cultivation techniques. Currently, many enterprises are diversifying their markets and gradually shifting from common rice to high-quality rice, focusing on increasing product value through quality, thereby approaching and penetrating large, demanding markets.
Implementing Directive No. 10/CT-TTg, dated June 18, 2022 of the Prime Minister on a number of tasks to promote sustainable agricultural and rural development in the Mekong Delta (MD), proactively adapting to climate change, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is implementing and developing the project "Sustainable development of 1 million hectares of high-quality rice cultivation associated with green growth in the MD".
According to the project, Long An province has registered a high-quality specialized rice cultivation area of 60,000 hectares by 2025 and 120,000 hectares by 2030. This project is consistent with the province's focus on developing high-quality rice areas, contributing to the formation of large-scale, stable, and long-term concentrated commodity material areas, meeting the goal of increasing value, increasing the rice chain and people's income. Furthermore, the project contributes to ensuring food security and serving the processing and export of rice with high efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to climate change.
Strengthening support for high-tech application production
Lemon is one of the crops that bring economic value to growers. The whole province has over 11,700 hectares of lemon cultivation, mainly concentrated in the districts of Ben Luc, Duc Hue, Duc Hoa, Thu Thua and Thanh Hoa. The area of lemon fruit is over 10,300 hectares, the average yield is 18 tons/ha, the output is 173,828 tons, lemon growers have a profit of 250-350 million VND/ha/year. The reason lemon growers have high income is because in recent years, lemon is one of the agricultural products that enterprises purchase, process and export. In addition to the Chinese market, lemon is exported to many countries around the world, including Europe.
As of July 2023, the whole province has 2,290 hectares of lemons applying high technology (Photo: Le Ngoc)
In order for lemons to develop sustainably and become a key agricultural product of the province, the provincial Department of Agriculture has coordinated with enterprises to organize many vocational training courses, training courses, and transfer new technical advances in lemon cultivation to farmers. In addition, lemon trees are also evaluated, given a growing area code, and applied with growing processes according to VietGAP, GlobalGAP, organic standards, and the process of establishing and monitoring growing areas associated with the export requirements of enterprises and purchasing cooperatives. The provincial Department of Agriculture has also supported pilot cooperatives to apply mechanization and automation to lemon production; built 2 models of growing and intensively cultivating lemons in a sustainable direction, adapting to climate change.
Ben Luc district has 5,782 hectares of fruit-bearing lemons, with an output of 97,713 tons/year. The district has promoted the dissemination of UDCNC production on lemon trees, which has been agreed and supported by farmers. To date, the district has 460 hectares of UDCNC lemons (the plan is 445 hectares, reaching 103.4% of the plan assigned by the province). According to the plan, by the end of 2023, the whole province will have 3,000 hectares of UDCNC lemons; as of July 2023, there were 2,290 hectares.
According to the Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ben Luc district - Le Van Nam, when UDCNC is put into production, practicing clean production, lemons have stable output through enterprises and cooperatives. In addition, UDCNC with advanced irrigation systems helps farmers save costs (labor, fuel) and regulate the amount of irrigation water more appropriately than traditional methods. In Ben Luc district, farmers and cooperatives participating in UDCNC production are given priority in financial support for seedlings, investment in automatic irrigation systems, etc.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, from 2021 to present, the provincial agricultural sector has focused on supporting enterprises, cooperatives, and cooperative groups to participate in the production of hi-tech agricultural products. In particular, the sector has granted hi-tech agricultural enterprise certificates to Hoan Hao Vina High-tech Livestock Trading Company Limited, specializing in raising egg-laying chickens, and HG Food Joint Stock Company, specializing in dried fruits.
To date, the province has 6 enterprises recognized as agricultural enterprises applying the high-tech agriculture model. Localities have also focused on implementing support policies for cooperatives, cooperative groups, and enterprises in granting VietGAP certificates, organic vegetable production certificates; product traceability stamps; building 6 agricultural, forestry, and fishery supply chains and supporting 300,000 QR code traceability stamps for supply chain products. To date, the province has built 28 chains of vegetables, dragon fruit, lemon, rice, chicken, pork, beef, and seafood; supporting 2,061,000 traceability stamps for these units.
In addition to rice and lemon, the province also focuses on developing high-tech applications on vegetables, dragon fruit, shrimp, and beef (Photo: Le Ngoc)
At the same time, the province also focuses on capital investment in infrastructure for the UDCNC production area, ensuring the transportation of materials and production goods. Accordingly, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development coordinates with the People's Committees of districts, towns and cities to review the list of investment projects for the UDCNC production area in the period of 2021-2025. In 2022, 47 projects were arranged for the UDCNC agricultural production area with a budget of about 163 billion VND.
In 2023, the industry will deploy 40 categories with a budget of about 244.8 billion VND. After being invested, the projects will contribute to serving the UDCNC production area in preventing floods, high tides, and providing irrigation water. In addition, these projects will serve both agricultural production needs and travel and goods transportation needs, contributing to reducing production costs and increasing profits for people in the area. The investment projects will also help the commune achieve new rural criteria in terms of irrigation and transportation.
According to the plan from now until the end of 2025, the province will continue to promote awareness raising, participation and application of high-tech agriculture in agricultural production. In addition, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will focus on implementing and building raw material areas for export; continue to support the development of cooperatives, cooperative groups, and linkages in agricultural product consumption; focus on digital transformation of the agricultural sector and invest in irrigation works to serve high-tech agriculture production areas./.
| In addition to rice and lemon, the province also focuses on developing high-tech applications on vegetables, dragon fruit, shrimp, and beef. |
Mai Huong
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