Bắc Giang to pour $66 million in hi-tech agricultural

Vegetables grown with hydroponic technology at the Bắc Giang Science and Technology Application Centre. — Photo baobacgiang

HÀ NỘI — The northern province of Bắc Giang plans to spend VNĐ1.5 trillion (US$66 million) to develop high-tech agriculture areas growing or rearing the locality’s key products such as vegetables, flower, mushrooms, tea, lychees, citrus, chickens and pigs.

Twenty per cent of the investment will be sourced from the State budget, with the rest mobilised from banks, enterprises, organisations and individuals.

As many as 35 hi-tech areas will be formed, aiming to raise high-tech agricultural product value to 30-32 per cent of the total value of the agriculture sector by 2030.

Bắc Giang also targets two or three enterprises in the province being recognised as high-tech agricultural firms.

Specifically, the province will establish 17 hi-tech areas for vegetable farming with a total area of 1,710 hectares in Lạng Giang, Lục Nam, Hiệp Hòa, Yên Dũng and Tân Yên districts, two areas for flower cultivation in Hiệp Hòa district and one tea production area over 300 hectares in Yên Thế district.

Three lychee areas will also be formed in Lục Ngạn, Tân Yên and Lục Nam districts, along with two areas for citrus, three for mushrooms, two for pig breeding and five for chickens.

An area will also be developed for the research of new agriculture technology, with close partnerships with agricultural production businesses.

To implement the plan, Bắc Giang will promote information dissemination on technology and models of high-tech application, while introducing high-tech farm produce to markets and retail systems.

Additionally, the province will strengthen inspection of farm produce quality, while creating a favourable legal framework for the development of high-tech agricultural areas and supporting the promotion of the products.

Bắc Giang will also hold training courses on high-tech applications for agriculture, while associating high-tech farms with eco-tourism and calling for investment in the field.

In the first half of 2017, Bắc Giang formed 22 hi-tech agricultural models.