Vietnam farm firms seek high-tech

Inside a laboratory for tissue cultivation in the Agricultural Hightech Park of HCM City. - VNA/VNS Photo Manh Linh

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that the bottleneck of the agriculture sector was technology. He said his ministry was promoting connections with leading farming technology companies from Switzerland, the Netherlands and Israel as well as other countries with a developed agriculture sector to provide opportunities for Vietnamese agricultural firms to look for appropriate technologies.

Many Vietnamese firms are now aware of that they should not import outdated machinery and technologies but look for advanced technologies. However, the most difficult thing is how to find the appropriate technologies.

Luong Minh Tung, Chairman of Yen Phu Beef and Dairy Cattle Breading Joint Stock Company in northern Ninh Binh Province, said that his company had a worry about how to preserve meat.

In many countries, beef-preserving technologies were very good which could ensure meat quality up to three months, Tung said, adding that his company was looking for a partner with such technology.

Nguyen Van Linh, Chairman of Bac Giang Province People’s Committee, said that the Northern Province which was known for lychee as a specialty and was promoting export of this type of fruit, expected to find a suitable preservation technology.

The lychee harvest lasted only one month, inserting large pressure on consumption. Thus, lychee preservation technology was very important.

A number of companies from Israel, the Netherlands, and Switzerland were also looking for providing technologies and cooperating high-tech agricultural production in Viet Nam recently.

Recently, more than 30 Israeli companies visited Viet Nam to look for co-operation opportunities.

Vu Kien Trung, general director of Khang Thinh Irrigation Technology JSC, sole agent of Israel-based Netafim in Viet Nam, was quoted by the Dau Tu (Investment) newspaper that drip irrigation technology was initially completely strange to Viet Nam’s agricultural production but now gaining more popularity.

The newspaper quoted Ambassador Duong Chi Dung, Head of Viet Nam’s Permanent Mission to the UN and other international organisations, as saying that many Swiss corporations wanted to co-operate with Vietnamese firms in agricultural production, especially in processing.

Swiss companies were especially willing to study and develop appropriate technologies for Viet Nam and co-operate in technology transfer, according to Dung.

The agriculture ministries of Viet Nam and Holland were also looking to connect firms from both sides with the aim of promoting high-tech agricultural production.