The application of high technology in orchid plantations has offered farmers higher profits. (Photo: VNA) HCMCity (VNA) - The production value per hectare of land in Ho ChiMinh City reached 450 million VND (19,736 USD) last year, an increase of 10.9percent compared to 2016, largely due to hi-tech methods, according to thecity’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The growth in the city’s total agriculturalproduction value last year was 2.2 times higher than the country’s averagefigure.
The Saigon Agriculture Biotech Corporation is oneof many hi-tech companies that have seen increased production value.
Nguyen Hoai Nam, the company’s director, told theSai Gon Giai phong (Liberated Saigon) that the company had applied biofloctechnology to shrimp farming in the outlying district of Can Gio since 2013.
Biofloc is waste water treatment system developedto mitigate disease in water in aquaculture facilities and farms.
Before breeding, water in the system is filteredand treated, and microorganisms are grown to maintain water quality by theuptake of nitrogen compounds. Shrimp grow for 30 to 60 days and then arecultured in ponds in a closed system.
Micro nanobubble oxygen generators, which are anew generation of efficient, energy-saving water treatment technology, are usedin shrimp farms. The generators help provide a standard volume of oxygen forshrimp, which helps it breed successfully, Nam said.
Hi-tech applications in shrimp farming have helpedproduce profits since 2016, Nam said, adding that nearly 50 tonnes of shrimphave been harvested per hectare per crop.
The company’s foreign clients took test samplesbefore harvest, which showed that no antibiotics or banned chemicals were usedduring the breeding period.
Trang Quoc Dung of the Nong Phat Company said thetechnology had helped raise productivity and quality of the company’s honeydewmelons, which are grown in membrane houses and watered by drip irrigationsystems in Hoc Mon district.
The company plans to use hi-tech applications formore vegetables such as asparagus this year, Dung said.
According to the city’s agriculture department,hi-tech methods are being used on 390ha of vegetable, flower and fruitcultivation.
The economic value from these kinds of vegetablehas been 1 billion VND to 1.4 billion VND per ha every year. Nearly 2 billionVND is earned from each ha of orchids annually.
Speaking at a recent conference on agriculturalactivities last year, Le Thanh Liem, vice chairman of the city People’sCommittee, said that such farms should be expanded into hi-tech agriculturalzones.
He said the city should provide low-interest loansto encourage enterprises to invest in hi-tech agriculture. But many of themcomplain that they have difficulty accessing low-interest loans due to lackingof collaterals.
Moreover, companies must be certified to usehi-tech agricultural techniques in order to apply for loans for hi-techagriculture purposes.
The Saigon Agriculture Biotech Corporation, forexample, applied for the certification in 2016 but has yet to receive it.
Liem said that the city has policies to encourageenterprises and individuals to invest in this sector.
He instructed the city’s agriculture department towork with the agriculture ministry and give guidance to enterprises on how theycould benefit from these policies and receive certification.-VNA
