An organic vegetable farm in Hà Nội's Đông Anh district. — Photo hanoimoi.vn

HÀ NỘI — Despite the development of several organic agriculture models in Hà Nội, which have shown promising outcomes, the city encounters challenges in scaling these models up to large-scale commercial production.

The city has over 197,000 ha of agricultural land but organic farming has just been practiced on about 2,000 ha of crops and over 10 ha of aquacultural areas.

Vũ Thị Hương, director of the Hà Nội Agriculture Promotion Centre, said that the economic efficiency of organic agricultural production models is usually 10-20 per cent higher than conventional production.

By participating in the models, farmers have their knowledge and skills improved. They also change the way of thinking and working to better meet consumers’ demand, she said, noting that qualified organic products can enter supermarkets, convenience stores, and collective kitchens more easily.

Talking about the difficulties that organic agriculture is facing, Trịnh Thị Nguyệt, director of Đông Phú Organic Agriculture Cooperative in Hà Nội’s suburban district of Chương Mỹ said that the costs of organic agriculture production remain high, making organic products less competitive than conventional ones.

Moreover, organic products don’t look good or yet have differences to attract consumers, which results in instable consumption.

General Director of Bảo Minh Agricultural Processing and Trade Joint Stock Company Bùi Thị Hạnh Hiếu said that to overcome difficulties and expand organic agricultural areas, farmers need support in accessing scientific and technological applications and meeting organic production standards.

Authorities also need to pay more attention to building brands for local organic products and helping farmers connect with businesses and boost trade promotion.

In efforts to limit the negative impacts of agricultural production on the environment, Hà Nội has been implementing a project on organic agriculture development in the 2021-25 period, under which organic agriculture will be combined with eco-tourism and hi-tech organic production.

Deputy Director of the city’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyễn Mạnh Phương said that to promote organic agriculture, localities need to strengthen communications to raise public awareness of organic products, particularly among producers, businesses and consumers.

Meanwhile, localities need to focus on developing concentrated organic agricultural production areas and key products, creating favourable conditions to attract investors to organic agricultural models in closed chains from production, processing to distribution. — VNS