Flowers are planted in Sa Đéc City in Đồng Tháp Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Văn Trí

ĐỒNG THÁP — Đồng Tháp Province earns a production value of VNĐ6.1 trillion ($252 million) a year producing flowers and ornamental plants in a total growing area of more than 3,000ha.

The area has expanded four times after the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province restructured the flower and ornamental plant production sector eight years ago.

Nguyễn Văn Vũ Minh, Director of Đồng Tháp Province's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the province has reorganised the sector towards developing co-operation among stakeholders and value chains.

It has used advanced farming techniques to create new varieties and transferred them to growers, and applied advanced techniques such as growing flowers and ornamental plants in green, net and polygreen houses, and efficient irrigation to reduce production cost and improve production efficiency and product quality, he said.

It has the largest growing area of flowers and ornamental plants in the delta.  

Flower and ornamental plant production is one of the province’s five key sectors in developing its agricultural economy.

The sector has increased its value as the province develops it in combination with tourism services.

The province’s flower and ornamental growing areas attract a large number of tourists year round, especially during holidays and the Tết (Lunar New Year) festival.

In 2020-23 period, the sector attracted 1.7 million tourists, including 33,200 foreigners.

The province has developed flower and ornamental plant products under the country’s “One Commune-One Product” (OCOP) programme, and developed brand names for Sa Đéc flowers and ornamental plants.    

The province’s Sa Đéc flower village in Sa Đéc City has been approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to implement an exemplary model of promoting the value of flower and ornamental plant production in combination with tourism services that meet the criteria of OCOP tourism products.

The village, which is more than 100 years old, has 950 ha of flowers and ornamental plants, up 222ha against 2022, mostly in Tân Quy Đông Ward and Tân Khánh Đông Commune.  

It has about 4,000 households participating in producing flowers and ornamental plants, accounting for half of the city’s farming households. 

It has 200 establishments that buy and sell flowers and ornamental plants. It has four cooperatives, a credit fund, 10 cooperative groups and three farmers’ clubhouses which operate in flower and ornamental plant production and trading.

It grows about 2,000 varieties of flowers and ornamental plants, including a large number of rose, marigold and chrysanthemum varieties.

It has more than 200 rose varieties.

Nguyễn Phước Lộc in Tân Khánh Đông Commune grows more than 130 indigenous and imported rose varieties.

The imported rose varieties are mostly climbing and shrub roses from France, the US, Thailand, and Taiwan. 

Besides rose flowers, he also sells rose seedlings and receives tourists in his flower garden, he said.

Many farmers in the village get high incomes from growing yellow ochna, ornamental plants and bonsai.

The village’s flowers and ornamental plants are sold nationwide and exported to Laos and Cambodia.

Trần Văn Bình, chairman of the Làng Hoa farmers’ clubhouse, said the export of flowers and ornamental plants still faces difficulties because it has to meet many standard requirements.

It needs to have many producers that produce organic fertilisers and bio chemicals, and farmers need to change their farming techniques from using chemical fertilisers to organic fertilisers to produce clean products to meet export requirements, he said.

The province is registering for industrial ownership for its two brand names “Sa Đéc flower village” and “Made in Đồng Tháp” and developing geographical indications for representative flowers and ornamental plants.

Minh, director of the province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the province aims for flower and ornamental plant production to reach an annual value of VNĐ7 trillion ($290 million) next year and a growing area of more than 3,500ha. 

To reach the targets, the province is taking various measures to develop the sector, including seminars on developing value chains and linkages among stakeholders, and festivals to promote flowers and ornamental plants and honour growers. — VNS