Strength of agriculture, farmer and rural area

After 25 years of construction and development, Binh Duong has reached a vigorous change in economic structure with industry and services accounting for a high proportion, agriculture only accounting for about 3.1%, but with great value. Binh Duong has always attached special importance to fostering hi-tech agriculture, effectively implementing new rural construction, increasing incomes and improving farmers' lives.

Towards high-tech agriculture

In the period of 2017-2020, the province restructured the local cultivation sector towards developing urban and high-tech models, building specialized areas for rubber trees and specialty fruit trees, safe vegetables in association with processing and consumption under the value chain... Up to now, the province’s total area for ​​hi-tech application in cultivation has reached about 5,763.5 hectares while the local area for ​​urban agriculture is about 172.2 hectares with many valuable crops.

Binh Duong's agriculture has strongly shifted to high-tech application at market demand. In picture: Products with Unifarm brand in Phu Giao district have high quality are available in the international market

The application of high technology in the production of valuable crops such as netted muskmelon, citrus fruit trees and bananas has been boldly invested by organizations and individuals in intensive farming, designing automatic drip irrigation systems, growing plants by hydroponic method, applying production processes under VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards to bring about the highest productivity and product quality. As of now, the whole province has about 80 production facilities granted production certificates under VietGAP standards in the field of cultivation with a total area of ​​about 500 hectares. The local average value of agricultural production reached nearly VND100 million per year. Some models on pomelo growing with high technology have the average income of over VND1 billion VND per hectare.

Along with that, the province's livestock sector has maintained stable development with structure changed strongly from household-scale farming to high-tech application farm scale. So far, the province’s total pig herd has had about 912,000 heads, 60% which are raised under high-tech models while total poultry herd has about 13.9 million heads, over 70% of which are under high-tech application. Since 2016, the province’s total pig herd has increased by an average of 9% per year while the total poultry herd has increased by an average of 7% per year.

In 2018, Binh Duong was the first locality in the country to have 4 breeding areas recognized by the Department of Animal Health as ones free from avian influenza and newcastle disease in chickens in Bau Bang, Phu Giao, Dau Tieng and North Tan Uyen districts. In 2020, the province had one more breeding area recognized as an avian influenza -free area in Ben Cat town.

Modern rural construction

With the development of agricultural economy, the process of electrification and modernization for agriculture and rural areas in the province has taken place rapidly. The program on new-style rural construction over the past 10 years has made important contributions to the development of agriculture, farmers and rural areas. It has completely changed the image of agriculture, rural areas and farmers. By 2020, all 49 communes in the province were recognized as new-style rural ones, one year earlier than planned. Currently, the province has 19 communes recognized as advanced new-style rural ones, 1 district and 2 towns recognized as new-style rural ones. The per capita average income in new-style rural communes in 2021 reached VND71 million.

Promoting potentials and advantages, along with supporting the local mechanisms and policies, after more than 2 years of implementation, the "One Commune One Product" (OCOP) Program has helped  improve the local value of agricultural products. Up to now, the province has gradually created brands, identified agricultural products, and built value chains. As a result, there were  28 OCOP products in the phase 1 of  2021, including 8 with 4 stars and 20 with 3 stars.

Pham Van Bong, Director of provincial  Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that the “OCOP” program is considered as a lever to promote economic development in rural areas while contributing to building up new-style rural areas in depth and sustainable efficiency.

He added that restructuring the agricultural sector will follow the direction of upholding advantages, improving quality and developing sustainably. Entering a new phase, Binh Duong's agricultural sector will continue upholding its existing foundation, more creatively apply the Resolution No.26-NQ/TW on "agriculture, farmer and rural area" in association with the new orientation of the Binh Duong Smart city - Innovation Zone project. On this basis, the sector will focus on tapping and making the best use of the local advantages, developing agricultural products with competitive strength; build cooperation forms in production, forming up hi-tech agricultural zones associating with production, processing and consumption; build a favorable environment to attract enterprises to invest in agriculture, restructuring labor and rural economy; maintain and improve the quality of new-style rural communes, develop advanced new-style rural communes, build "Smart Villages", ensuring prosperous rural areas and rich farmers.

In 1997, the province’s economic scale was only more than VND3.91trillion. The proportion of agriculture - industry - service sectors in the local economic structure was 22.8% - 50.4% - 26.8%, respectively. The province’s agricultural production value reached VND935billion. The figure in the following years continuously increased at an average rate of 7.6% per year. In 2001, the sector's production value was more than VND1.25 trillion, accounting for 16.7% of the local economic structure. The proportion of the agricultural sector by the end of 2021 was 3.1%. Although decreasing in proportion, the sector saw increase by 14.2 times compared to 1997. The per capita average income in rural areas grew continuously. The figure in 2021 was VND71 million per year (much higher than the national average level of VND41.76million per year).

Mai Hung Dung, member of provincial Party Committee, Permanent Vice-Chairman of provincial People's Committee: The agricultural sector will continue upholding achievements in the new-style rural construction program towards advanced and model standards under the proposed plan, especially speed up the construction of Bach Dang Smart Village. Along with that, the sector will develop infrastructure, focus on irrigation development and improve capacity for natural disaster prevention and control, and climate change adaptation; be proactive in integrating into the world, promote the application of sci-tech advancements and transform digital agriculture.

Reported by Thoai Phuong-Translated by Kim Tin