High-tech agriculture in the sunny and windy land

Earn billions from high-tech agriculture

Mr. Dinh Cong Quang in Tan Lap 2 village, Luong Son commune, Ninh Son district (Ninh Thuan), who has stuck with cantaloupe trading for the past 10 years and realized the great market potential of cantaloupe products, has always cherished the desire to build a cantaloupe farm.

To grow cantaloupe successfully, it is impossible to grow them in the traditional way, like watermelons or other melons, and it requires growers to invest in high technology. However, the initial investment capital to grow high-tech cantaloupe is not small. The cost of building a greenhouse alone is about VND 350 million/1,000 m². The entire investment, including the irrigation system, automatic fertilization, and other materials, must be up to VND 450 million.

By the end of 2022, having accumulated a sum of capital and being facilitated by Agribank-Ninh Son Branch to lend VND 1.7 billion, Mr. Quang boldly invested in three greenhouses with automatic irrigation systems, automatic fertilization, etc. to produce cantaloupe on an area of 7,000 m².

Thanks to the automatic irrigation and fertilization systems and information technology, Mr. Quang can both manage his family's farm and buy cantaloupes everywhere. No matter where he is, Mr. Quang just needs to turn on his phone, connect to the 4G network or via wifi, and open the app, and then he can monitor all activities on the farm or perform watering and fertilizing tasks.

After the success of the first cantaloupe crop, Mr. Quang is actively investing in and taking care of the cantaloupe farm to ensure regular harvests to meet market demand. Currently, the demand for cantaloupes is very large, so in addition to the melon output harvested at his family's farm, Mr. Quang continues to purchase cantaloupe from approximately 20 farms and farmer households in Ninh Son and Bac Ai districts to supply wholesale markets and fruit stores with a total output of about 50–60 tons/month.

Thanks to the automatic irrigation and fertilization systems and information technology, Mr. Quang can both manage his family's farm and buy cantaloupes everywhere. No matter where he is, he just needs to turn on his phone, connect to the 4G network or via wifi, and open the app, and then Mr. Quang can monitor all activities on the farm or perform watering and fertilizing tasks.

After initial success, Mr. Quang has plans to expand the high-tech cantaloupe production area to increase output. The reason is that even though he is supplying 50–60 tons of cantaloupe each month, Mr. Quang has not yet been able to approach companies specializing in fruit business because the output required to supply companies must be 150–200 tons/month.

In addition to cantaloupe, in Ninh Son district, many other models of high-tech farming have also appeared. A typical example is Ms. Diep Hong Trang's phalaenopsis orchid farm in Luong Son commune, with high-tech applications such as a drip irrigation system and controlling irrigation via an app on the phone.

The investment capital for greenhouses and equipment for high-tech phalaenopsis orchid growing is quite large, at an average of VND 3.5 billion/greenhouse (1,300 m²). Thanks to Agribank-Ninh Son Branch creating favorable conditions for a loan of VND 2 billion, Ms. Trang not only used it as working capital but also invested in a greenhouse to grow phalaenopsis orchids in Duc Trong district (Lam Dong).

Despite the large investment, high-tech phalaenopsis orchid production on Ms. Trang's farm brings much higher efficiency than conventional production because this model minimizes risks from weather and climate, making the yield higher and the quality of flowers better. In 2022, Ms. Trang earned a profit of about VND 1.8 billion from phalaenopsis orchids.

High-tech agriculture is growing rapidly

Mr. Nguyen Duc Hoa, Vice Chairman of the Ninh Son District People's Committee, said that to achieve the goal of completing the construction of a new rural district by 2025, Ninh Son District is promoting the implementation of many solutions, especially reorganizing agricultural production to improve people's lives. Accordingly, in addition to improving the economic efficiency of traditional agricultural production, the province and district are implementing policies to encourage and support new production models, including high-tech agriculture.

Mr. Hoa assessed that, with the companionship of businesses and banks, especially Agribank, in recent times, high-tech agriculture has gradually developed in Ninh Son district. In the first six months of this year, the district has had more than 102 hectares of high-tech agricultural production, of which the main product is cantaloupe; the rest are orchids and some other crops that can be produced in the greenhouse.

In general, high-tech agricultural models in Ninh Son bring much higher economic efficiency than conventional production. With 1 hectare of high-tech cantaloupe production, the grower can achieve a profit of about VND 600 million/year, 20 times higher than growing rice. Therefore, Ninh Son district will continue to promote the implementation of policies to encourage and support the development of high-tech agriculture in the coming time.

Mr. Hoang Quang Sieu, Director of the Agribank-Ninh Son Branch, shared that the bank is always ready to facilitate capital support for high-tech agricultural projects to ensure adequate capital for production and consumption. As of now, many farms and farmer households in Ninh Son have received capital support from Agribank to develop high-tech agriculture.

The Ninh Thuan Provincial People's Committee has set a goal of increasing the value growth rate of the agriculture sector in 2023 to 4–5%/year. In particular, the value growth rate of high-tech agricultural production is set to reach 30–40%/year. The Provincial People’s Committee has also set a goal of increasing the total area of high-tech agricultural production to 500 hectares with a production value of VND 700 million/ha.

Ninh Thuan prioritizes attracting businesses from outside the province to participate in high-tech agricultural production, aiming to support the formation of 1–2 agricultural businesses in the area that are recognized as high-tech agricultural businesses.

Currently, in this province, there are 31 high-tech agricultural projects in operation, including 18 cultivation projects, 3 livestock projects, 8 aquaculture projects, and 2 agricultural product processing projects.