State invests in high tech agriculture

HA NOI — The rural technology transfer initiative for the 2011-15 period would aim to help farmers apply modern technology at broader and deeper levels compared to the previous project period, said Bui Manh Hai, deputy chairman of the standing committee for the Rural and Mountainous Areas Programme.

The proposal, which was submitted to the Government for approval, asked for VND1.2 trillion (US$62.4 million) in funding to be used to transfer at least 900 types of rural technology to farmers in order to boost socio-economic development in the countryside, he said.

Hai said unlike the activities that took place in the previous period from 2004-10, which focused on introducing new technology to a limited number of farming groups, the new programme would focus on large-scale teaching of technological applications.

The programme would help to redevelop agricultural production by increasing farm productivity – particularly on products that still rely heavily on imported products – developing industrial livestock farming, incorporating processing activities into aquaculture systems, preserving the traditional trade, utilising clean alternative energies sources - such as solar energy, wind and biogas – and promoting wider application of information technology.

The technological changes are expected to contribute to poverty reduction in economically challenged areas and synergise the value chain in the areas that have a lot of agricultural production potential in order to enhance the competitive advantage.

Hai said a new element to the programme was a call for stronger involvement from enterprises. The programme seeks the establishment of at least 60 small and medium-size enterprises specialising in technology application in rural and mountainous areas.

"The new technologies are based on research by scientists from Vietnamese academic institutions nationwide which have been developed to fit the particular conditions of Viet Nam," Hai told Viet Nam News.

Hai said programme criteria called for project participants to be selected based on whether or not their farm met with the typical ecological pattern of their surrounding region.

"The type of technology that would be transferred to a particular area varies depending on the capacity of both farmers and local authorities to ensure they can absorb the knowledge," he said.

A capacity building component for at least 1,000 local leaders, 1,800 support technicians and 40,000 farmers is also included in the proposed programme.

According to Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan, implementation of the programme during the 2004-10 period made positive impacts on agricultural production.

Hai said 288 projects had been implemented in 60 provinces with a total of VND744 billion ($38.7 million) in funding to the benefit of 35,000 farming households. About 850 types of technology were successfully transferred.

Ha Van Que, director of the Department of Science and Technology in the northern province of Bac Giang, said that the project made remarkable contributions to changing the obsolete cultivation traditions in the remote areas of the province by introducing new varieties of trees and livestock.

Dang Kim Son, chairman of the Institute of Strategy and Policy for Agriculture and Rural Development, said a World Bank report concluded that investment in scientific research on agriculture appeared to have a high return on investment, coming in at 35 per cent in Africa and 50 per cent in Asia, which was much higher than investment in irrigation. — VNS