Promoting the agricultural and forestry strengths of the new province

After the merger, Thai Nguyen province will have a large area of agricultural and forestry land (over 700 thousand hectares), of which more than 150 thousand hectares of agricultural land including land for rice cultivation, annual crops, perennial crops... These will be potentials and advantages for Thai Nguyen to promote its strengths in agricultural and forestry development, bringing higher economic value.

For many years, Thai Nguyen people have boldly introduced new rice varieties for cultivation.

"Roll call" of strong crops

It can be affirmed that after the merger, tea continues to be the main crop and strength of Thai Nguyen province. Before the merger, Thai Nguyen province had 22.2 thousand hectares of tea, Bac Kan province had nearly 1,800 hectares of tea. In Thai Nguyen province (old) alone, the average tea yield is estimated at 127 quintals/ha, the output of fresh tea buds in 2024 is estimated at 272.8 thousand tons, the output of processed tea is estimated at 54.6 thousand tons, the value of tea products is estimated at 13.8 thousand billion VND.

Most of the concentrated tea production area in the province is applied according to GAP and organic standards with about 17,800 hectares, of which the area certified with VietGAP standards is about 6,000 hectares, the area certified with organic standards is 120 hectares. Currently, the area of new tea varieties with high productivity and quality is estimated at over 18,400 hectares, accounting for 82.8% of the total tea area in the province.

For Bac Kan province (old), up to now, the whole province also has hundreds of hectares of tea certified to meet VietGAP, organic standards, and certified for food hygiene and safety.

In addition to tea, the production of commercial rice is also a strength of Thai Nguyen province after the merger. From July 1, the area of rice production in Thai Nguyen province is about 10 thousand hectares, with an expected output of over 50 thousand tons per year.

Thanks to suitable soil and climate conditions, Thai Nguyen's bao thai rice is not only rich in nutrients, white rice grains, when cooked into rice has a characteristic sweet taste, but also processed into vermicelli, dry pho... which are favored by consumers. Each year, the value obtained from producing bao thai rice can reach several hundred billion VND, contributing to increasing people's income.

Some other strong crops of Thai Nguyen include oranges and tangerines. For many years, Bac Kan province (old) has successfully developed and built the brand of these specialty fruits. Up to now, the province has more than 4,200 hectares of oranges and tangerines, bringing in hundreds of billions of VND in revenue each year. Along with that, seedless persimmons, fragrant squash, apricots, “western” bananas… are also crops that bring income to Thai Nguyen people.

Thus, after the merger, Thai Nguyen has many potential crops. If these potentials are well exploited, increasing the value of agricultural and forestry production in the province is no longer a difficult problem to solve…

Hao Dat Tea Cooperative is one of the units actively applying science and technology in production to improve product quality.

Promoting forest economic development

Before the merger, Thai Nguyen had more than 185 thousand hectares of forestry land, and Bac Kan had more than 400 thousand hectares of forestry land. After the merger, developing the forest economy in a sustainable direction, associated with improving quality, economic efficiency and environmental protection according to the functions of each type of forest continues to be the right direction for the province.

In particular, planting large timber forests and granting sustainable forest management certificates, creating stable raw material areas to supply factories and processing facilities in the area will continue to be of interest. Expanding cinnamon growing areas in areas with suitable soil and climate towards commodity production, increasing added value, sustainable development, and creating high-quality products is also focused on.

To date, Thai Nguyen province (old) alone has developed nearly 16 thousand hectares of large timber forests, more than 5,000 hectares of cinnamon and granted FSC sustainable forest management certification (SA-FM/COC) to more than 11.3 thousand hectares of forest.

To increase the economic value of forests, the development of afforestation and wood processing from planted forests is the direction that Thai Nguyen should continue to pay attention to after the merger. In particular, functional levels and sectors need to base on terrain, climate, and actual production of people and localities to review and zoning of crop types. At the same time, assess the potential and needs of forest owners to convert in a concentrated direction, meeting the needs of large-scale processing. Proactively research and select high-value forestry trees, especially native trees with market value for planting...

Application of science and technology in production

Fortunately, before the merger, people in Thai Nguyen and Bac Kan provinces had promoted the application of high technology, advanced science and technology, expanded the area of greenhouses and net houses, applied sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation technology with semi-automatic control systems; growing media techniques; safe production technology according to VietGAP standards; and organic production.

The highlight is that farmers have shifted the rice variety structure towards increasing the area of high-yield, high-quality rice varieties, promoting the application of technical advances in rice cultivation to increase product value, increase productivity and output; shifting the crop structure on rice land towards increasing product value and production efficiency. At the same time, developing a number of specialty rice production areas towards concentrated, specialized commodity production with product brands.

In tea production, people not only focus on expanding tea acreage, shifting the structure of new planting varieties, replacing them with high-yield and high-quality varieties, increasing product value and food safety, but also promote safe tea production applying GAP and organic standards; forming concentrated tea production areas applying technical advances and high technology in tea production and processing.

As for fruit trees, along with the transformation of the variety structure, people have applied water management technology, watering with water-saving irrigation systems; applied safe fruit tree production processes according to VietGAP standards... into production. A number of concentrated fruit tree production areas have been built, improving the quality, design and value of fruit products with high economic value, with good consumption markets...

In fact, after the merger, although there are still many challenges such as uneven educational level, lack of synchronous rural infrastructure... but certainly the development of agricultural and forestry economy of Thai Nguyen province will have new steps forward when we effectively exploit the strengths of key crops, invest with focus and key points...

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/kinh-te/202507/phat-huy-the-manh-nong-lam-nghiep-cua-tinh-moi-73e18cc/