Ninh Thuận plans mega hi-tech agriculture boost

Ninh Thuận plans mega hi-tech agriculture boost.

The south-central province of Ninh Thuận plans to have hi-tech agriculture become a key industry with value growth of between 30 to 40 percent each year.

Towards this, it has been issuing policies to attract investment into hi-tech agriculture and helping businesses, as well as co-operatives, apply such technologies.

Trương Khắc Trí, deputy director of Ninh Thuận Province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, told Việt Nam News that the province passed Resolution 5 of the Party Central Committee in 2017 that aimed at providing policy support to the industry, particularly in promoting research and technological transfer.

This had seen the application of technological advances like a sprinkler system in agriculture that save water, soilless farming as well as research and development of new, more disease-resistant fruit varieties with higher yields, he said.

The province had 18 hi-tech crop farming projects in operation at present, he added.

“Hi-tech agriculture increases value yielded in each plot of farming land, and farmers are realizing that it can help them overcome challenges related to weather and soil quality,” Trí said.

Viticulture, or grape cultivation, that the province is famous for, has seen an application of effective hi-tech farming methods under the cooperative model that enables farmers to reap economies of scale.