High-Tech Agricultural Park leads, orients agriculture in HCMC: President

At a meeting with the Management Board of HCMC High-Tech Agricultural Park on the morning of April 12, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc agreed with the orientation to 2030, in which the unit is the place to lead and orient the agriculture of HCMC and the region to develop toward the modern direction.

Mr. Nguyen Van Nen, Politburo Member, Secretary of the HCMC Party Committee; Mr. Nguyen Trong Nghia, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central Propaganda and Education Department; Mr. Le Khanh Hai, Chairman of the President's Office; Mr. Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Planning and Investment; Mr. Nguyen Van The, Minister of Transport; Mr. Phan Van Mai, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the HCMC Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of HCMC; Mr. Vu Hai Quan, Director of Vietnam National University HCMC; Mrs. Nguyen Thi Le, Deputy Secretary of the HCMC Party Committee, Chairwoman of the People's Council of HCMC, attended the meeting.

Leading role in the agricultural transformation

Speaking at the meeting, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc expressed his happiness at the achievements of the High-Tech Agricultural Park in HCMC (AHTPHCMC) in recent years, especially in the production of seedlings and breeding stocks. Food plants and fresh flowers have been put into production. The AHTPHCMC has contributed to bringing the agriculture of HCMC and the Southeast region to a step of development in both quality and quantity.

Initially, the AHTPHCMC was a pioneer in the fields of crop production and fisheries, aiming to develop sustainable urban agriculture, overcome seasonality, and adapt to weather and climate change. This is also an unavoidable road for Vietnamese agriculture.

The President emphasized that the mission of the High-Tech Agricultural Park in Ho Chi Minh City is not only to promote high-tech agriculture in the city but also to play the leading role in the agricultural transformation of the East and the Southwest regions toward quality, value, and environmental friendliness.

According to the President, this is a huge mission, not only in the area of greenhouses or on a small scope. Although agriculture in HCMC accounts for only an extremely low proportion of the city's GRDP, at a broader vision, the AHTPHCMC is one of the top ten high-tech agricultural zones in the country, with the leading role. Therefore, the mission of AHTPHCMC needs to be clear with more specific activities.

President Nguyen Xuan requested the HCMC Party Committee, the People's Committee of HCMC, and the Management Board of the AHTPHCMC to be more proactive in mobilizing all resources, in which, focusing on socialized resources for the development of modern urban agriculture, researching to form hi-tech agricultural models by attractive mechanisms, attracting all participants. At the same time, it is necessary to continue to strengthen infrastructure to develop high-tech agricultural zones, establish multi-functional high-tech agricultural zones, develop high-tech agricultural tourism, and replicate high-tech agricultural models in Can Gio and Binh Chanh districts in the coming time. HCMC also needs to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of management for the AHTPHCMC and strictly punish enterprises that do not implement the project as committed and on schedule. The President also noted that the AHTPHCMC should continue to promote cooperation with domestic and foreign institutes and universities to improve the value chain and train many good scientists in the field of high-tech agriculture. In addition, it is necessary to advise on policies to develop hi-tech agriculture. For instance, which policies should be adopted to apply in practice for new products and varieties with high value. Especially, the President emphasized the replication of high-tech agricultural research, putting these studies into production, popularizing, and creating efficiency in practice because, at present, 60% of the population are farmers, and they are looking forward to high-tech methods and applications in agriculture. “It is essential to research to serve the people. The more the efficiency is multiplied, the greater practical significance the value of research has. That is exactly what the people want,” the President suggested. The President agreed with the vision for 2030, in which the AHTPHCMC will be the place to lead and orient the agriculture of HCMC and the region to develop in the direction of modernity. "What starts from the AHTPHCMC will contribute to changing HCMC's agriculture and Vietnamese agriculture," President Nguyen Xuan Phuc said confidently.The pioneer in the field of crop production and aquaculture Reporting to the delegation, Mr. Pham Dinh Dung, Head of the Management Board of the AHTPHCMC, said that the AHTPHCMC is a pioneering high-tech agricultural park in Vietnam in the fields of crop production and fisheries. The AHTPHCMC aims to develop urban agriculture and sustainable agriculture in the face of the requirement of restructuring the agricultural industry toward reducing the scale but increasing the value in the economic structure of HCMC, deserving the leading position in the field of high-tech agriculture.

The AHTPHCMC has established a genetic resource bank to preserve and store rare and precious plant varieties and livestock for the purposes of scientific research, crossbreeding, and farming, and to create new varieties with outstanding features and high economic value. The AHTPHCMC has completed more than 100 technical processes, ready to transfer to units, organizations, and individuals that need to develop in the field of high-tech agriculture. By the end of 2021, businesses operating in the AHTPHCMC and its affiliates had produced and supplied more than 369 tons of F1 seeds of all kinds, more than 6 million F1 cantaloupe seeds, 10-20 million orchid seedlings annually, and 3-5 million fingerlings annually. All these products have high productivity and high quality, ensure food safety, have good resistance to diseases, and meet supply standards for domestic market and export. The AHTPHCMC has transferred technology to more than 65 organizations, enterprises, and farming households in HCMC, Southern provinces, the Central Highlands, the Central Coast, and Northern provinces with many models and automation application processes for vegetables, flowers, and ornamental plants, such as drip irrigation systems, and edible and medicinal mushrooms. Over the past time, the AHTPHCMC has attracted and connected with more than 30 experts in many different fields to advise on scientific research orientation, support enterprises to perfect technology, consult market research, and build business models and distribution channels.