A reliable and trusted companion for farmers.

Hà Nội Mới•17/04/2023

(HNM) - Over the past 30 years, Hanoi's agricultural extension system has successfully fulfilled its mission as a reliable partner for farmers, receiving and transferring new scientific and technical advancements into production, supporting farmers with capital, seedlings, and livestock... to form agricultural models with high economic efficiency. To better understand this issue, a reporter from HanoiMoi Newspaper had an interview with Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dai, Director of the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The black grape cultivation model, implemented with support from the Hanoi Agricultural Extension Center, has yielded high economic efficiency. Photo: Anh Ngoc

- Over the past 30 years, how has agricultural extension in Hanoi been implemented in accordance with the central and city-level agricultural development orientations and objectives, sir?

- On November 7, 2008, the Hanoi People's Committee issued Decision No. 1902/QD-UBND on the establishment of the Hanoi Agricultural Extension Center, based on the merger of the Ha Tay Agricultural Extension Center and the Hanoi Agricultural Extension Center.

The former Ha Tay Agricultural Extension Center, in its first 15 years before the merger, implemented the "People's Rice Seed Production" program, producing tens of thousands of tons of high-quality seeds for production, meeting over 80% of the province's demand for first-grade seeds for mass production. Programs such as "Sindization of Cattle Herds," "Leaning of Pig Herds," along with expanding the area for winter soybean cultivation, safe vegetable production, fruit tree cultivation, intensive aquaculture, and rice-fish farming...

Meanwhile, the former Hanoi Agricultural Extension Center, during this period, implemented a comprehensive range of activities to support the development of demonstration models, focusing on three key crops (safe vegetables, specialty fruit trees, and high-quality flowers); three livestock (lean-meat pigs, dairy cows, beef cattle, and various aquatic specialties); and two key industries (agricultural product preservation and processing, and rural industries, protecting the sustainable agricultural ecological environment).

From 2009 to the present, the Hanoi Agricultural Extension Center has focused on implementing tasks, including building models aimed at improving productivity and quality to develop sustainable production and alleviate poverty; and effectively fulfilling criteria 10 and 13 in the 19 national criteria for building new rural areas.

- Agricultural Extension Centers act as a "bridge" to bring scientific and technical advancements, as well as support for plant and animal breeds, to farmers. So, how effective have agricultural extension programs been in recent times?

- The Hanoi Agricultural Extension Center has been actively promoting the development of organic farming, livestock breeding, and aquaculture models, applying high technology. From 2008 to the present, it has organized 3,952 seasonal training courses for 216,000 farmers to transfer new scientific and technical advancements in all areas of agriculture. The Hanoi Agricultural Extension Center is the only unit in the country with an Agricultural Extension Fund. In 20 years of operation (2002-2022), the fund has disbursed loans to 4,332 households, with a revolving capital of 925.236 billion VND...

- It can be said that agricultural extension work has contributed to promoting the development of the Capital's agricultural sector. However, what difficulties and obstacles have been encountered during its implementation, sir?

- Over the past 30 years, Hanoi's agricultural extension services have contributed to the development of agriculture, farmers, and new rural areas in Hanoi. This has helped alleviate poverty, transform cropping patterns and livestock structures, promote agricultural production in Hanoi, increase productivity, output, and quality of agricultural, forestry, and aquatic products, and boost the sector's GDP.

Despite the achievements, agricultural extension activities still face difficulties, such as: the vast geographical area for agricultural extension activities, the large and diverse investment needs for agriculture and rural areas, while funding is limited, and many policies on agriculture and rural areas are not yet synchronized. In particular, weather, climate, natural disasters, and diseases are unpredictable; the prices of agricultural inputs are rising; and the connection to agricultural product markets is unstable, leading to difficulties in expanding agricultural extension models.

- To meet the new requirements, what solutions do you think the Hanoi Agricultural Extension Center needs to implement?

- First and foremost, a change in mindset and approach is needed, shifting from a "supportive" role for agricultural extension to a "connecting" role (connecting science, technology, and production, and connecting production with the market). Accordingly, the Agricultural Extension Center needs to coordinate and integrate agricultural extension activities to improve operational efficiency. This involves combining successful models and best practices with training, education, information dissemination, and public awareness campaigns to sustainably spread and replicate them in production. Furthermore, agricultural extension officers need to be equipped with additional skills in information technology; knowledge of production linkages, markets, integration, climate change, etc.

Furthermore, it is necessary to build a multi-value agricultural extension model, one that links the transfer of technological advancements with the reorganization of production in the form of cooperatives, enhancing product value, and accessing markets through a chain of production reorganization and business linkages. Along with this, it is necessary to promote the role of agricultural extension as a "bridge," receiving and transferring technological advancements, implementing high-tech application models; organizing training courses and field trips to help farmers access and creatively apply these technologies in a way that suits their practical needs...

Thank you very much, sir!

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