Viet Nam is set to phase out small-scale agriculture through the introduction of new technologies to agriculture that are expected to result in higher yields and more competitive farm produce.

The plan, part of a newly approved Government scheme to industrialise the agriculture sector, has targeted an annual growth rate for the sector of more than 3.5 per cent up until 2020 – it currently stands at 3.2.

The Government is heralding hi-tech farming as the path to reaching these targets while ensuring national food security in both the short and long terms. Total value of produce from the high-tech sub-sector has been targeted to reach 10-15 per cent of total agriculture production in the next five years, and 30-35 per cent by 2020.

To meet the ambitious targets, the Government is encouraging businesses in various provinces to build hi-tech agricultural parks. Between three to five are already planned for 2015. The parks will specialise in producing regional staples.

To assist in reaching the targets, a service network to cater for hi-tech agriculture would be established, with brokerage, technical consultancy, equipment supply and product consumption support services.

Agricultural specialist Professor Nguyen Lan Dung commended the measures, saying agriculture must grow with application of advanced technology as Viet Nam industrialises. "It’s an inevitable trend in a nation where farmers make up 45 per cent of the population", Dung said. The application of new technology to agricultural production should result in an increase of productivity and economic profit of at least 30 per cent, he added.

Under the scheme, the Government will offer incentives to businesses involved in developing hi-tech agriculture: preferable rates on corporate income, value added and import-export taxes, and access to government subsidies.

Owners of projects who engage in research and development of hi-tech agriculture would also be eligible to receive preferential treatment for land tax. The Government has also offered support in the form of subsidies to import technology and incentives to train and employ human resources in the high-tech sub-sector.

Under the scheme, 10-15 Ph.D and 20-25 Masters students will be trained overseas. Training courses will also be offered to 15-20 researchers, technology specialists, and 300-500 engineers, technicians and managers annually.

While concerns have been raised over potential markets for products with high technology and skilled human resource inputs, Professor Dung said businesses judged these issues to be minor problems.

According to the director of the Tropical Flower Corporation, Pham Ngoc Tuan, who owns 9ha of vegetables and flowers grown using the new techniques in Moc Chau District of northern Son La Province, the biggest concern was the of land required to implement the projects.

"It should be large enough, spanning on an area of at least 3-5ha. This is difficult in Viet Nam since most farming land comprises of small plots." Tuan also said businesses were in need of State support to develop infrastructure in areas marked for hi-tech agriculture.

This support could come in the form of an irrigation network for organic vegetables. However, "Prices should not be higher than those traditional products since investors would save a large amount of money on fertilisers and pesticide, while enjoying a guaranteed level of quality," Tuan said.

Over the past few years, a number of models to develop hi-tech agriculture have been piloted across the country. The projects employed various techniques of agricultural production, including husbandry, cultivation and aqua-culture farms.
Flower and vegetable farms in Da Lat, dairy cows in Ha Noi’s Phu Dong Village, and grapefruit and oranges in Ha Noi’s Van Canh Village are just a few examples. But to date most projects have failed to meet hi-tech farming standards.

This, according to Prof Dung, was because Viet Nam lacked hi-tech agriculture models and tight connections between production, processing and post-harvest preservation. Hi-tech agriculture must link closely with biological technology if the high-tech sub-sector is to take off, he said. "The problem is that bio-technology in Viet Nam is underdeveloped, and that can be partly attributed to legal restrictions, for example the Law on Bio-diversity", Dung said.