Organic agricultural production head for sustainability

Currently, organic agriculture is considered an optimal production method, bringing economic benefits to producers, health benefits to consumers, and environmental protection. Binh Duong agriculture sector has been implementing solutions to support farmers and cooperatives in building organic production models, initially achieving high economic efficiency.

The model applies the organic agricultural production process on leafy vegetable plants in Hoa Loi Ward, Ben Cat City.

To elevate position of agricultural products

Organic agriculture, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, not only brings higher economic efficiency but also helps farmers improve their knowledge, skills, and shift their mindset, methods, and production thinking from traditional to safe and responsible, meeting the increasing demands of consumers. The important thing is that the products meet the distribution standards at supermarkets, clean agricultural product stores, exports, and solve the current output problem for agricultural products.

Capturing market demand, recently, establishments in the province have developed an organic production model associated with key products such as oranges, pomelos, bananas, and durians... Kim Long High-tech Agricultural Cooperative (An Binh commune, Phu Giao district) is one of the units that has strongly developed agriculture in the direction of VietGAP. Mr. Nguyen Hong Quyet, Director of the cooperative, said that compared to traditional production, strict cultivation in greenhouses has produced clean and high-quality products. Therefore, the market for consumption is wider, bringing higher income and efficiency per unit of area... However, when people are not concerned about the issue of clean product quality, it is a big challenge, because the cost of producing clean agricultural products is several times higher than that of conventional products. The products grown outside the greenhouse are usually not attractive, so there are difficulties in terms of output. However, with the initial criteria set, the cooperative will not forget the goal of bringing the products to consumers, ensuring cleanliness and quality.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, organic agriculture development is one of the key tasks of the agriculture sector in Binh Duong province. Currently, the province's agriculture mainly focuses on high-tech agriculture in the direction of VietGAP.

Multi-side companionship

The provincial People's Committee has approved the plan for implementing the organic agriculture development project in the period 2020-2030 in the province. The plan sets the target of maintaining the certified organic farming area by 2025; about 2% of the area for growing fruits and main vegetables in concentrated production areas will be ensured to follow organic agriculture practices, increasing the organic farming area by an additional 1%; organic livestock products account for about 1% of the total production output of the province.

Mr. Pham Van Bong, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that to achieve the set goals, it is crucial to have the cooperation and support of producers, management agencies, authorities at all levels, and the sharing, guidance, and assistance from experts in the field of organic agriculture. Accordingly, specialized units at provincial, district, and city levels base their annual organic farming plans on practical conditions and production areas, taking into account feasibility when implementing them, such as the types of crops, livestock, area scale, and selection of participants in the model... Especially, districts and cities must develop their own organic farming plans for their respective localities, as currently only 3 out of 9 districts and cities have issued plans.

At the same time, districts and cities need to enhance propaganda, training, and training to raise awareness of producers, consumers, and officials at all levels about organic agriculture through various forms. Propaganda work needs to be diverse in content, rich in topics to ensure the effectiveness of propaganda. On the side of producers, it is necessary to change traditional production habits and practices, apply and convert production processes according to VietGAP, GlobalGAP, organic standards to ensure safe products for consumers, contribute to protecting human health and improving the quality of the living environment, enhancing the value of Binh Duong agricultural products and affirming the brand. In addition, producers need to access existing agricultural development policies such as VietGAP policy, production linkage, trade promotion, and organic agriculture policy.

Up to now, many high-tech agricultural areas have been formed in the province, applying technological advances to crop production such as smart irrigation systems, greenhouses, hydroponics, tissue culture... Currently, the whole province has about 600 hectares of production area applying organic standards to various crops.

Reported by Thoai Phuong - Translated by Vi Bao