The development of high-quality crop seeds and seedlings as part of HoChi Minh City's agricultural restructuring programme has significantlyincreased productivity and production value in recent years, cityofficials have said.
In recent years, different crop andanimal varieties were provided to farmers in HCM City's outlying areasas well as to farmers in other cities and provinces, according to DuongHoa Xo, deputy director of the city's Department of Agriculture andRural Development.
However, he said the agricultural seedsector has not kept pace with those in other regional countries.Limitations exist in management as well as in technology and equipment.
In addition, the domestic seed industry is faced with competition from imported seeds.
Asmany as 47 enterprises are active in producing and trading crop seedsand seedlings in the city. Most of them are private companies.
Lastyear, they produced 15,400 tonnes of seeds, up 6.5 percent compared to2013, serving about one million hectares of cultivation, with ricevarieties accounting for 56.1 percent, maize 33.6 percent, andvegetables 5 percent. Besides supplying the domestic market, about 451.4tonnes of crop seeds were exported last year. Thanks to new strains aswell as suitable production technology, vegetable productivity hasincreased significantly in recent years, from 19.07 tonnes/ha/crop onaverage in 2006 to 23.8 tonnes/ha/crop last year.
Averageproduction value on each hectare of land rose to 325 million VND (14,921USD) /ha/year last year, two times higher than the figure in 2010.
Orchidsare one of the key plants under the city's agricultural restructuringprogramme, which plans to shift from traditional to urban agriculture,Xo said.
In recent years, the HCM City Bio-technologyCentre and the Centre for Animal Genetics and Seeds Evaluation andManagement have preserved genetic sources of more than 334 orchidvarieties, including wild orchids, Mokara, Cattleya, Vanda, andOncidiumm.
The city has also identified ornamental fish asa spearhead industry under its restructuring plan for the agriculturalsector until 2020.
Ornamental fish have a higher value produced on the same area compared to other plants and are suitable to urban agriculture.
The city produced 90 million fish last year, with 11.2 million heads exported.
Underthe city's ornamental fish development plan until 2020, the city willstrive to produce around 200 million heads a year and earn about 30-50million USD from exports.
The city has advantages in cultivation conditions, but management and trading experience remain limited.-VNA
In recent years, different crop andanimal varieties were provided to farmers in HCM City's outlying areasas well as to farmers in other cities and provinces, according to DuongHoa Xo, deputy director of the city's Department of Agriculture andRural Development.
However, he said the agricultural seedsector has not kept pace with those in other regional countries.Limitations exist in management as well as in technology and equipment.
In addition, the domestic seed industry is faced with competition from imported seeds.
Asmany as 47 enterprises are active in producing and trading crop seedsand seedlings in the city. Most of them are private companies.
Lastyear, they produced 15,400 tonnes of seeds, up 6.5 percent compared to2013, serving about one million hectares of cultivation, with ricevarieties accounting for 56.1 percent, maize 33.6 percent, andvegetables 5 percent. Besides supplying the domestic market, about 451.4tonnes of crop seeds were exported last year. Thanks to new strains aswell as suitable production technology, vegetable productivity hasincreased significantly in recent years, from 19.07 tonnes/ha/crop onaverage in 2006 to 23.8 tonnes/ha/crop last year.
Averageproduction value on each hectare of land rose to 325 million VND (14,921USD) /ha/year last year, two times higher than the figure in 2010.
Orchidsare one of the key plants under the city's agricultural restructuringprogramme, which plans to shift from traditional to urban agriculture,Xo said.
In recent years, the HCM City Bio-technologyCentre and the Centre for Animal Genetics and Seeds Evaluation andManagement have preserved genetic sources of more than 334 orchidvarieties, including wild orchids, Mokara, Cattleya, Vanda, andOncidiumm.
The city has also identified ornamental fish asa spearhead industry under its restructuring plan for the agriculturalsector until 2020.
Ornamental fish have a higher value produced on the same area compared to other plants and are suitable to urban agriculture.
The city produced 90 million fish last year, with 11.2 million heads exported.
Underthe city's ornamental fish development plan until 2020, the city willstrive to produce around 200 million heads a year and earn about 30-50million USD from exports.
The city has advantages in cultivation conditions, but management and trading experience remain limited.-VNA
