Ninh Thuan turns sun heat into potential for high-tech agriculture development

That is the affirmation of Mr. Le Huyen, Vice Chairman of Ninh Thuan Province’s People's Committee while speaking with the Vietnam Agriculture newspaper about policy on attracting investment in local agriculture.

Grape is suitable for growing in Ninh Thuan’s hot climate so it brings in very high value. Photo: Ngoc Khanh.

Ninh Thuan is known as the land with the most fierce climate conditions in the country. Each year, the rainy season lasts only about three months while hot and sunny take the rest. Water evaporation is always greater than raining resulting in unfavorable conditions for agricultural production. Regular high shortage of water resources and drought often occurs.

Has a fierce climate with sun and wind all around the year become an advantage for Ninh Thuận to develop specific crops and livestock that bring high value and competitive capacity?

Although Ninh Thuan has the harshest climate conditions, the sun and wind are surely the advantages for Ninh Thuan to develop in the direction of high-tech agriculture.

This is also an advantage approaching good agricultural production (GAP) to create food safety and hygiene products by minimizing the use of pesticides and veterinary drugs in disease prevention. The productivity of crops and livestock in the province is also higher than in other regions due to its large growth potential and increased production due to shortening the growth cycle period.

When the Tan My and Song Than irrigation systems are put into use, they will directly irrigate a large area that was previously lacking water, helping Ninh Thuan's agricultural industry to "take off". So, what direction does the province determine for agricultural development and what are the products?

Following the resolution of the province's XIV Party Congress, term 2020 – 2025, we have set a goal to develop high-tech agriculture, serving well the task of agricultural restructuring in association with building a new countryside model; contributing to the development of agricultural production in the province towards modernity, friendly environment and effective adaptation to climate change.

Large irrigation systems which are about to be put into use, along with more than 20 previously invested reservoirs, are expected to basically solve the issues of drought and water shortage, helping the agricultural sector to take many advantages for development. Accordingly, in the coming time, we will continue to focus on key crops such as grapes, apples, garlic, asparagus, and aloe vera. These are crops that bring very high economic value and have great competitive capacity. In addition, we will also expand some potential crop areas according to market demand.

A focus on attracting investments in high-tech agriculture

How do you analyze the fact that some of the enterprises among more than a dozen enterprises in the province can earn billions of dong/ha since they invest in agriculture applying high technology?

After more than 4 years of implementation the provincial Party Committee’s resolution on researching, applying, transferring, and replicating high technology in agricultural production, Ninh Thuan’s agriculture has developed quite comprehensively, both in terms of scale, productivity and output.

The deployment and replication of models in scientific and technical advances application, the transformation of crop structure associated with a focus on building business linkages for consumption have become a focus of the sector.

In fact, enterprises investing in high-tech agricultural production models all have got a production value of more than VND300 million per hectare. Many models have achieved profits from VND500 million -3 billion/ha/year such as those of growing cantaloupe, grapes, apples, green asparagus, orchids, white leg shrimp, and sweet snails.

In addition, we also create favorable conditions for many enterprises inside and outside the province to invest in hi-tech agriculture and develop stable and long-term production. Up to now, Some 15 projects have been effectively put into operation.

Enterprises have not invested much in agriculture, especially high-tech agriculture in Ninh Thuan due to limited infrastructure and many inadequate policies, is it right, sir?

Despite some initial results, we still have many limitations to attract investment in high-tech agriculture.

High-tech application in agriculture in Ninh Thuan is just at the beginning, on a small scale, and has not played a central role in the local agricultural production. Most of the investors are small and medium enterprises but not the large ones to be a nucleus to connect with local businesses.

Technical infrastructure and market conditions are not favorable while land area is small, scattered and capital investment sources are not adequate. We do not have yet hi-tech agricultural zones meeting the operation standard.

Moreover, the province's potential and capacity to apply and transfer science and technology into hi-tech agriculture is still very limited. The implementation period for the Resolution of the Provincial Party Committee had only been four years, so there was not enough time to have a clear impact on production.

Most investors who propose to register for investment in hi-tech agricultural projects in the province are interested in land support policies and site clearance, but currently there are still many shortcomings that affect the attraction of investments according to land law.

Ninh Thuan has many specific products, but it only stops at preliminary processing but not much in deep processing, so it has not achieved high economic efficiency. Ninh Thuan province must take into account the deep processing stage, is it right, sir?

That's right. We just stopped at the stage of preservation and preliminary processing but deep processing is not much of a focus, so the added value of the product chain has not been improved. To overcome this situation, one of the goals and tasks of agricultural and rural development in the coming time is that we will promote the development of high productivity, quality, competitive and effective commodity production along with processing and consumption in the value chain, in which enterprises are the core and center.

To accomplish this goal, we promote cooperation links from production - processing - consumption in the value chain. We will focus on trade promotion, expansion of consumption and export markets. We are interested in and have supportive policies to prioritize attracting businesses, cooperatives and households to invest in developing the deep agricultural processing of forestry and fishery products associated with the OCOP Program.

What should Ninh Thuan do to attract more businesses, especially large enterprises to invest in high-tech agriculture in the coming time?

Currently, we are advising the Provincial Party Committee to issue the Resolution "Promoting the development of hi-tech agriculture in Ninh Thuan in the period of 2021 - 2025, with a vision to 2030", which sets out many key tasks for implementation in the near future. We are mobilizing all resources and attracting investment in infrastructure such as irrigation, transportation, electricity, etc. Hi-tech agricultural areas, hi-tech agricultural zones have been planned in the province.

We will orient to technology selection with priority for high-tech application in association with key, specific and potential agricultural products of the localities.

Supportive policies to attract and encourage businesses, cooperatives and households to invest in developing hi-tech agriculture will continue to be a focus. Every year, we allocate funds from the provincial budget, equal to 8-10% of the agricultural added value to implement these policies.

We will invite more businesses to invest in agricultural product processing, cooperation model of production - processing - consumption in the value chain, trade promotion, and expansion of product consumption and export markets. At the same time, we develop a mechanism to attract and encourage enterprises to participate in the implementation of high-tech agricultural projects. A boost of reform, simplifying administrative procedures, and improving provincial competitiveness will also be of interest.

Thank you, sir!

Ninh Thuan is focusing on building centers for research, technology transfer, seed supply service and materials and equipment for hi-tech agriculture. It encourages enterprises to invest in research, technology transfer, seed supply service, equipment and materials. At the same time, it will attract high-tech agricultural enterprises or large-scale enterprises outside the province to invest and operate as a nucleus in the province's agricultural development.