Đà Nẵng to invest in clean vegetables

Nguyễn Thắng at his greenhouse vegetable area. — Photo danviet

ĐÀ NẴNG — Đà Nẵng City’s agricultural sector plans to develop greenhouse vegetable projects in the coming years.

The goal is to create clean products, ensure large-scale production, link production and consumption, and improve the lives of farmers.

Local initiative at the core

Despite having a huge property in Đà Lạt City in the Central Highlands (Tây Nguyên) province of Lâm Đồng, Nguyễn Thắng decided to return to his homeland (Hòa Sơn Commune in Hòa Vang District, Đà Nẵng) to invest billions of đồng in growing greenhouse vegetables.

Thắng told danviet.vn online newspaper that he received support from the local authorities and cooperated with local farmers to start greenhouse vegetable production in the two communes of Hòa Phú and Hòa Ninh.

Thắng started growing greenhouse vegetables since June 2017. After investing in machinery, infrastructure and the first production line, he established the VietGAP-certified Hòa Vang Vegetable and Flower Cooperative.

He was determined to grow high-quality vegetables and flowers. Since water source was important, he invested in an irrigation system in Hòa Ninh Commune. The quality of water was tested at Đà Lạt City’s examination centre.

Thắng has grown greenhouse vegetables such as cucumber, melon, Japanese-seed pepper and Đà Lạt bellpepper.

He supplies clean agricultural products to the local market.

Some areas specialising in clean vegetables in Hòa Vang, such as Túy Loan, La Hường and Hòa Tiến, also supply a large amount of clean agricultural products to consumers.

Call for investment in high-tech agriculture

Nguyễn Đức Tân, chairman of Hòa Ninh Commune Farmers’ Association, said the model of growing clean vegetables using advanced technology was bringing about economic efficiency.

“However, wide application is not easy as it requires investors to meet certain economic criteria. Currently, local authorities are calling for more investment in high-tech vegetable models,” he said.

According to him, developing greenhouse vegetable areas in Hòa Ninh Commune in future needs an investment of VNĐ3 billion, besides local financial support.

“The commune plans to develop a 5ha greenhouse vegetable area in future. Hòa Ninh will be the centre of high-tech vegetables and agricultural products,” Tân said.

Nguyễn Phú Ban, director of Đà Nẵng City’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the city had the strategic advantage of being located at the centre of Việt Nam’s central region and being a tourism hub, it had a huge demand for clean agricultural products.

As a result, every year the city purchased some 75,000 tonnes of fruits, 55,000 tonnes of vegetables, 35,000 tonnes of poultry and 10,000 tonnes of aquaculture products from the nearby provinces.

To keep a check on the origin of products, the city has cooperated with the five provinces of Lâm Đồng, Tiền Giang, Gia Lai, Quảng Nam and Bình Định to successfully implement the supply chain of safe vegetables, fruit and meat.

“The city is also encouraging enterprises to invest in high-tech and safe agricultural production with many preferential policies to form areas specialising in clean agricultural products.

“The investors will get up to 50 per cent support in the cost of land clearance and investment cost of production facilities (including factory, equipment, production, preservation and irrigation system).

“Investors will be supported 100 per cent of the loan interest rate for three years, with a maximum loan of VNĐ10 billion per project,” Ban said.

Reportedly, the city People’s Committee has approved the planning of seven hi-tech agricultural development zones. These include a hi-tech safe vegetable production area in Hòa Ninh Commune (35ha), Hòa Phú Commune (22ha) and Hòa Phong Commune (20ha); livestock and poultry breeding areas in Hòa Bắc Commune (320ha) and Hòa Khương Commune (30ha); herb planting area in Hòa Phú Commune (3ha); and a mushroom production and medicinal plant area in Hòa Quý Ward (1ha)