Bac Giang developing hi-tech agriculture to foster economic growth

Bac Giang (VNA) - The northern province of Bac Giang will continue investing in, developing, and duplicating hi-tech agricultural production models, Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Duong Thanh Tung has said.

It will step up research and application activities, transfer scientific and technical advances, mechanise and automate production phases, and apply more advances in seedlings and breeding, advanced production processes, green and organic technologies, and bio-products, he added.

The province will also expand technological application in technical transfer, production management, and trade promotion, while building brands and expanding consumption markets for local farm produce.

Attention will be paid to concentrated cultivation areas and upgrading infrastructure to serve product semi-processing, processing, preservation, and consumption, he stated.

In the time to come, he went on, Bac Giang will expand the cultivation area that follows VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards, strengthen State management over agricultural materials, and strictly control the use of additives and banned substances in the production and preservation of farm produce.

The province is encouraging the engagement of the collective economy in hi-tech agricultural production, with priority given to the development of cooperatives.

After five years implementing the 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 different sources to invest in hi-tech agriculture. The investment has proven effective, contributing to increasing the productivity, quality, and value of agricultural products as well as raising local incomes.

A total of 716 hi-tech agricultural models have been built. Many local agricultural products now meet VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards and have become popular in the domestic market and shipped to other countries, such as lychee, vegetables, chicken, and pork.

The value of agricultural production with hi-tech application averages 220-250 million VND per hectare per year, or 2-2.5 times that of the traditional production. Of note, safe vegetable farms in Yen Dung, Lang Giang, Hiep Hoa, and Luc Nam districts enjoy an average annual production value of 500-800 million VND per hectare.


High-quality flower production models in the provincial capital of Bac Giang city, which have consumption links with businesses and cooperatives, earn revenue of 3-5 billion VND per hectare per year, or 2-3 times that of normal planting.

Meanwhile, each hectare at orange orchards in Luc Ngan district that apply VietGAP production processes records average annual turnover of 500-700 million VND. The most outstanding 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 irrigation technology, biological fertiliser, and pesticides and following VietGAP standards, a tea production model in Yen The district also enjoys a 20-30 percent annual increase in productivity and revenue. The success of the model helped expand the district’s tea growing area to 530ha, with a combined output of over 4,300 tonnes a year.

Bac Giang has also applied VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards in cultivation on 39 percent of fruit orchards and used QR Codes for tracing product origin, together with the smart weather station iMetos, the VietGAP app, and drip irrigation technology.

The province has recently expanded its VietGAP-standard lychee coverage to 14,300ha and its GlobalGAP-standard coverage to 258ha. It also has 218ha of lychee with cultivation codes granted for export to the US, Australia and the EU.

Bac Giang is growing 50ha of lychee this year that meet requirements for export to Japan.

Lychee orchards following VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards have an average productivity 20-30 percent higher and an average price 2-3 times higher than those using traditional cultivation methods./.