Expanding 3 agricultural development solutions

Continuing to promote the potential and strengths of each typical ecological region, Lam Dong's agricultural sector has chosen to simultaneously expand three solutions for developing high-tech agriculture, smart agriculture and circular ecological agriculture.

High-tech chrysanthemum export production of Dalat Evergreen Company Limited in Da Ron commune, Don Duong district achieves outstanding annual profits

Welcoming the new year 2024, the whole Lam Dong province has developed 66,873 hectares of high-tech agricultural area, accounting for 20.4% of the total cultivated area and an increase of 1,565 hectares over the same period last year. Of which, vegetables account for the largest high-tech production area with 25,830 hectares; followed by coffee (20,400 hectares), fruit trees (8,302 hectares), rice (5,045 hectares), flowers (3,166 hectares); the remaining are medicinal plants (167 hectares), mushrooms (20 hectares), raspberries, strawberries, and nurseries (166 hectares). The general assessment of the Lam Dong Department of Agriculture is that "high-tech agriculture continues to expand to many regions, many different subjects and crop varieties, affirming a breakthrough solution in agricultural production in the province...".

Accordingly, high-tech agricultural solutions in Lam Dong province are being applied in a variety of effective and advanced techniques, corresponding to different levels. Specifically, up to now, Lam Dong province has applied water-saving irrigation on 48,910 hectares, an increase of 1,990 hectares compared to a year earlier. The optimal irrigation solutions here are: sprinkler irrigation (42,889 hectares), drip irrigation (4,971 hectares), and recirculating hydroponic processes (50 hectares). In addition, 700 hectares of crops use 3-5 layers of PE film to prevent UV rays, diffuse light, and dust with a durability of up to 7 years; mechanize the sowing and nursery of vegetables and flowers, increasing labor productivity 5-7 times compared to manual methods. In addition, Lam Dong province has expanded the area of vegetable and flower production on substrates to more than 750 hectares. 56 facilities alone produced 73 million tissue-cultured seedlings of various types, of which 35 million were exported, achieving a turnover of over 9 million USD.

In addition to high-tech agriculture, smart agriculture is assessed to have "strong development in the scale of crops and livestock, helping producers set up data on electronic software for microclimate, environmental, nutritional factors...". Statistics show that Lam Dong province has implemented smart agricultural development solutions on a crop scale such as: 369 hectares using domestic IoT technology, 257 hectares of Hortimax Cileme production technology from the Netherlands, 6 hectares of Taiwanese sensor technology. Thereby, helping producers reduce up to 50% of irrigation water, 20% of fertilizer and pesticides, increasing profits by 15-20%. In smart livestock farming, Da Lat Milk Joint Stock Company and Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company operate automatic rotary milking systems; attach electronic chips to monitor and care for 3,700 dairy cows.

“The development of high-tech agriculture and smart agriculture is oriented by the Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee to be associated with the formation of concentrated agricultural areas. The Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee has also recognized 8 areas that meet the criteria for high-tech agricultural production with a total area of 1,640 hectares and 13,850 dairy cows in 2 livestock areas in the area. The proportion of high-tech agricultural production and smart agriculture accounts for 45% of the total production value of the crop industry. The application of IoT technology has an annual value of more than 2 billion VND/ha of vegetable production, 3-5 billion VND/ha of flower production...", the Lam Dong Department of Agriculture added.

In addition, with ecological and circular agricultural solutions, businesses, cooperatives and farmers in Lam Dong province have recycled and served the production of more than 1.6 million tons of waste from cultivation. Typical models include: Dalat Hasfarm Company Limited annually recycles 35,000 - 36,000 m3 of agricultural by-products from vegetables and flowers on over 200 hectares in Da Ron commune, Don Duong district, creating a fertilizer output of 24,000 - 25,000 m3, equivalent to 12,000 - 12,500 tons of fertilizer; Don Duong Wormwood Women's Cooperative processes 160 tons of wormwood compost from agricultural waste, providing farmers in the surrounding area to effectively cultivate 14 hectares of various crops. Thereby, the cooperative achieves a revenue of 1 billion VND/1,000 ^m2 /year.

In 2024, Lam Dong Agriculture will integrate 3 solutions of high-tech agriculture, smart agriculture, and circular ecological agriculture on a large scale associated with a sustainable chain, rapidly increasing productivity and product quality. From there, strive to reach 69,000 hectares of high-tech agriculture, including 700 hectares of smart agriculture. At the same time, expand the circular organic agriculture solution with 1,600 hectares of crops, 2,000 dairy cows, 20,000 egg-laying hens, etc.

Source