Developing a green, clean agriculture, Tien Giang province has nearly 140 ha of rice field certified with VietGAP standards and has nearly 3,200 ha of rice field applying the “community uses ecological technologies to control brown plant hopper and viruses on rice” model. Many farmers are trained in sustainable agriculture and a lot have joined the programme.
Tien Giang is the first province in the Mekong Delta to achieve Global GAP standard certificates for fruit tree planting. In 2008, the province had 7.7 hectares of Lo Ren star apples produced under Global GAP standards. Since then, Tien Giang’s agricultural sector cultivated fruit trees under Global GAP and VietGAP standards like Hoa Loc mango, dragon fruit, acerola and pineapple. The agricultural sector has deployed a plan to develop 500 ha of organic vegetables in all districts and cities since 2007 to promote its advantages in vegetable farming. To date, 42 ha has been certified VietGAP. From the fund of Quality and Safety Enhancement in Agricultural Products and Biogas Development Project (QSEAP), the agricultural sector planned organic vegetable and dragon fruit farming area for the period until 2020. This is the groundwork for developing sustainable organic vegetable and dragon fruit production areas, increasing incomes for farmers and protecting the environment.
In the livestock sector, Tien Giang has carried out 8,500 biogas projects to reduce indoor air pollution, improve farm hygiene and generate an energy source for household livelihoods. Biogas is generated from residues in livestock farming and crop cultivation. The agricultural sector has deployed safe livestock models to ensure food hygiene and safety for consumers.
In the fisheries sector, the province has 50 ha of fish farming meeting SQF 1000CM, ASC and Global GAP standards. It has carried out models that minimises the use of medicines and chemicals in an attempt to protect the ecological environment as in shrimp – rice rotational farming. To create a clear legal framework for implementing GAP-standard production, the Tien Giang Provincial People’s Committee issued Decision 26/2013/QD-UBND dated June 19, 2013 to specify the Prime Minister’s Decision 01/2012/QD-TTg on some policies supporting the application of the method of good agricultural practices to agriculture, silviculture and aquaculture. Mr Nguyen Thanh Can, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tien Giang province, said, “Apart from its efforts, the agricultural sector has also received financial support from the Provincial People’s Committee and the Provincial Party Committee to encourage GAP-standard production practices. Other sectors and local governments have also encouraged farmers to adopt new farming practices.”
He added that despite achieving initial encouraging results, Tien Giang province still faces many difficulties in deploying and expanding green, clean agricultural production models because farmers do not usually take into account food safety and hygiene in agricultural production and small individual farming units are not fit for modern farming. In addition, GAP-based products usually have higher production costs because of applying many quality control methods but the selling prices are almost the same as those not subjected to non-GAP products. As a result, farmers are not interested in safety-based farming. To improve the situation, the province is seeking ways to increase incomes for farmers by restructuring crops and speeding up scientific and technological applications to raise product value.
Viet Trung
Đăng ký: VietNam News
