Overcoming hardship, Gia Lai agriculture on the rise

It must be said that, after a very complicated time of the pandemic, Gia Lai's agricultural industry has now affirmed its pillar of the economy, reflected in the production capacity of people and businesses, step by step bringing Gia Lai agriculture to higher ground.

Sharing with the Vietnam Agriculture News, Director of Gia Lai Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Luu Trung Nghia said, “The agricultural industry’s growth over the past time remains secured. Particularly after the pandemic Gia Lai has restored the chain of export industries, well satisfying people’s consumption of agro-products.”

Gia Lai agro-products have increasingly improved in terms of quality, meeting the demand of export markets to other countries Overcoming difficulties, Gia Lai agro-products have risen to penetrate strict markets, thus resulting in very high economic efficiency.

Dear sir, could you elaborate on the recent rise of Gia Lai's agricultural industry' in agro-product export?

It can be seen through the province's export turnover in the past year reaching over USD 500 million, with nearly 90% of which comes from agro-products. According to the set orientation, Gia Lai will develop approximately 80,000 ha of fruit trees and 40,000 ha of vegetables. These two commodities have confirmed their position in the market and are also very suitable for the province’s conditions.

Gia Lai has strong fruits ready for further development. The first one is banana. As a crop that showcases high economic efficiency thanks to suitable climate conditions and appropriate development orientation, in the near future Gia Lai will become one of Vietnam’s provinces with the largest banana acreage.

Passion fruit is Gia Lai’s second strength. Vietnam currently has approximately 12,000 ha of passion fruit in total, and more than half of it is located in Gia Lai. The province can be said to meet all factors when there are leading factories in production, as well as in export.

Doveco and Quicornac are among the world's top exporters of passion fruit products. They have built factories in Gia Lai. These two companies are planning to increase the processing capacity of the factories to approximately 300,000 tons/year.

Gia Lai also has enterprises producing high-tech passion fruit varieties. The provincial agriculture sector will support businesses as well as people to expand passion fruit planting areas and at the same time diversify the crops. The goal is to secure the raw material source for factories to build product brands and planting area codes. Gia Lai's passion fruit will then enter China and other markets more easily.

We are also strong in avocado and some other fruits. The strategy in the next period will focus on implementing the provincial resolutions on vegetables and fruits, improving the value of agro-products in the area.

With favorable climate and land conditions, Gia Lai is also becoming a destination for high-tech livestock investors. So what is the development direction in this field, sir?

In the field of husbandry, the provincial People's Committee has granted investment policies for 17 projects in accordance with the linkage chain. The fiscal space for livestock development in Gia Lai province can be four times larger than its present state.

Gia Lai has it focuses on some main livestock at the moment. The first is to develop the cow herd. It is possible to double the size of cow herd in Gia Lai, not to mention many businesses have strongly invested in the livestock industry in the past two years. Thanks to Truong Hai Group (Thaco) investing VND 2,000 billion to grow more than 60,000 Australian cows, Gia Lai has become the land with the largest high-quality Australian cow herd in Vietnam.

Regarding pig herd, Gia Lai has nearly 500,000 heads. In the livestock development plan, Gia Lai determined to develop approximately 2 million pigs in the direction of high technology and quality. There are businesses that are pioneering to realize this goal such as the livestock chain of C.P Group. Vietnam, Ricky Farms and Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group.

Upon the rise of the agricultural industry, how has Gia Lai supported businesses in the process of developing planting area codes and geographical indications for future exportation?

Over the years, Gia Lai has called for businesses to invest in agroproduction according to standards which are controlled openly and transparently from the beginning to the end. The province’s agriculture sector itself has actively supported businesses and provided essential information.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Plant Protection Department, the agriculture sector of Gia Lai has issued 55 planting area codes for crops. As for the livestock industry, we also express ample support in the issuance of planting area codes to ensure products have clear origin, publicity and transparency when exporting to markets.

We also promote coordination with the Department of Science and Technology to deploy production according to standards. We are also proposing the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development assist organizations operating under certifications to perform agroproduction in chains. The business is the center, the satellite consists of cooperatives and cooperative groups.

Through this model the agricultural industry can have a profound impact on each farmer household, changing farmers’ mindset to produce certified products. This will thus ensure economic benefits as the people can have their products bought at higher prices, while enterprises also get better prices when exporting.

Thank you, sir!