Bình Phước Province prioritises calling for investment in high-tech agriculture and environmentally friendly production. — VNA/VNS Photo

BÌNH PHƯỚC — The southeast province of Bình Phước is focusing on developing high-tech agriculture to improve productivity, profits and optimise production.

According to Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Phạm Thụy Luân, the province has a lot of room to develop high-tech agriculture.

The province possesses a variety of high-quality agricultural products such as durian, red-fleshed guava, green-skinned grapefruit, mangosteen, avocado, jackfruit, bird's nest and melon.

Most products meet VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards, and the One Commune One Product (OCOP) certification.

Bình Phước has abundant agricultural land of nearly 425,000 hectares to develop raw materials for large-scale cultivation and livestock farming. Of this land, rubber trees account for 26 per cent of the country's area, cashew trees account for more than 50 per cent of the country's area and pepper trees account for 10.7 per cent.

The livestock sector has attracted many large livestock corporations with about 480 farms.

The province has also been approved by the Prime Minister to plan many investment projects in the agricultural sector such as building modern technology slaughtering and processing factories for livestock and poultry, projects to develop eco-tourism areas and plan areas for cashew and rubber.

Along with that is a project to develop five fruit tree areas with about 5,000 hectares, pepper growing areas with an area of 3,000 hectares, and an area for high-tech livestock farming of about 9,500 hectares.

The province also has five high-tech agricultural zones including Đồng Xoài, Thanh Lễ, Đồng Phú, Hải Vương and Chơn Thành.

Huỳnh Thị Mỹ Nương, director of a company specialising in the provision of leadership training services, said that Bình Phước has great potential to develop high-tech agriculture thanks to suitable climate and soil conditions that not all localities have.

At the "EuroCham High Technology Agriculture, Industrial & Commercial Enterprises Connection Forum – Bình Phước Province 2024" organised in the province last week, Gabor Fluit, chairman of EuroCham and general director of De Heus Group in Asia, said that the province is strategically located in the southern key economic region, serving as an important gateway connecting Việt Nam, Cambodia and the region.

With abundant land resources, Bình Phước offers attractive investment opportunities in agricultural development projects, high-value crops, aquaculture, food processing and large-scale production, according to the chairman.

In the coming time, the EU - Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) promises to be a positive development step for Bình Phước. At the same time, with a nearly 99 per cent tariff reduction over the next decade, the province is well positioned to benefit from expanding access to the EU's 500 million consumer market.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phùng Đức Tiến believes that EuroCham businesses not only have technological strengths but also financial capacity and potential consumer markets for the province's agricultural industry. Therefore, the presence of European businesses would not only help Bình Phước change the face of agriculture towards sustainability but also contribute more positively to the local economy and society.

Since Bình Phước promoted the application of high technology in agricultural production, the value of high-tech agricultural production increased 40-50 times compared to traditional agricultural production models.

Therefore, Luân affirmed that the locality identified the development of high-tech agriculture as an inevitable trend. To gradually increase the added value of agricultural products, agriculture applying high technology and scientific and technological innovation would be considered key solutions.

“The application of high technology can solve challenges in agricultural development such as saving costs, increasing productivity, lowering prices, improving the quality of agricultural products and protecting the environment. It also helps farmers be proactive in production, overcome seasonality, reduce dependence on weather and climate, and meet market demand for high-quality agricultural products," Luân said.

Bình Phước aims to increase the area of agricultural production applying high technology to 10,800 hectares by 2030, the proportion of pig and poultry farms applying high technology to 90 per cent, while forming at least one new high-tech agriculture zone, organic agriculture with an area of about 1,000 - 2,000 hectares and developing 100 agricultural cooperatives that apply high technology.

Regarding attracting investment in high-tech agriculture, the province is also calling for investment in growing vegetables, tubers, fruits, and tissue culture on 200 hectares in Đồng Phú High-Tech Agricultural Park.

The province will prioritise attracting investment in sectors such as food processing, livestock and poultry slaughtering, woodworking, packaging, and tire and rubber mattress processing.

In addition, the province also calls for investment in other fields serving agriculture such as organic and microbiological fertiliser processing factories, preliminary processing and packaging factories, cold storage and fruit processing.

To achieve this goal, the province orients agricultural development with three key tasks including creating raw material areas, processing and forming value chains.

At the same time, there are overall support solutions such as re-planning raw material production areas, and policies to attract and support investors.

Enterprises investing in high-tech agriculture would enjoy incentives such as land rent exemption and reduction, technical infrastructure investment incentives, corporate income tax incentives and import-export tax incentives, Luân said.

The province would also synchronously develop infrastructure to serve agricultural production, implement digital transformation in agriculture, promote support for individuals investing in agricultural production to apply high technology and build brands.

At the same time, the province would train and attract high-quality human resources into high-tech agricultural production.

In 2023, Bình Phước's growth rate reached 8.34 per cent, ranking first in the Southeast region and 11th in the country. The province's agricultural sector increased by 10.25 per cent, the highest in the country, contributing 3.21 percentage points to the province's GRDP growth, surpassing the industry-construction sector. — VNS