Hanoi boosts agricultural promotion

Through efficient, practical models, agricultural promotion activities in Hanoi have enabled farmers in the capital city’s outlying districts to develop many new plant and animal varieties.

A Kim Cuong 111 rice variety field in Lien Ha Commune of Hanoi’s Dong Anh District

Van Thang Commune in Hanoi’s Ba Vi District is an aquaculture center. The production in the commune was spontaneous for many years but has changed since 2017 with assistance in biological safety-oriented aquaculture development from the Hanoi Agricultural Promotion Center. Under that project, the district’s agricultural promotion station has gotten commune households to farm unisexual Novit tilapia (Norwegian - Vietnamese Tilapia) together with V1 carp in accordance with bio-safety processes on two hectares of water surface. Farmers have access to the center’s technical assistance in fish feeding and disease prevention and environmental treatment. Each household is expected to earn a profit of more than VND70 million after harvests.

The center also assisted Quoc Oai District’s Tuyet Nghia Commune to farm crispy carp on 2,000 square meters of water surface. Each household participating in the project received 300 baby fish for free and had 30 percent of their feed cost funded by the project. After five months, the average weight of the fish reached 3-3.5 kg/head, and the survival rate was 99 percent. Crispy carps from Tuyet Nghia have attracted consumers. They are sold at a price of VND150,000 per kilogram, 2.5-3 times that of conventional ones.

Agricultural promotion models have enabled Hanoi farmers to access and develop many new plant and animal varieties, access technical and financial assistance to update production methods, and take the initiative in plant and animal structure transformation and forming product sales chains.

The center said that in 2017, it worked with organizations and localities to implement effectively 22 cultivation, production mechanization, husbandry, and aquaculture models, 15 cultivation and mechanization models of which were implemented with 106 demonstration sites, attracting more than 5,500 farmer households.

In 2017, when pork price decreased considerably causing farmers to suffer losses, the center suggested that the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development halt the safe pig farming model to set aside funding for cattle raising in Ba Vi, My Duc and Thach That districts. All 90 cows have grown 6-7kg monthly to reach an average weight of 200 kg per head. The cattle farming model has contributed to the localities’ fulfillment of poverty reduction and rural development targets.

In 2018, the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will direct the Hanoi Agricultural Promotion Center to continue the program for agricultural and new rural area development, and farmer income improvement, and accelerate agricultural restructuring, contributing to developing and modernizing the capital’s agriculture on a sustainable basis.

In 2018, Hanoi will continue expanding efficient agricultural promotion models to reduce poverty and improve farmer incomes.