March 11, 2014

Vietnam to build additional hi-tech agricultural parks

In order to meet the increasing investor demand in the area, Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City's authorities are planning to set up additional two or three hi-tech agricultural parks in the city.

Nguyen Duc Trung, deputy director of the city's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the department would co-ordinate with the Hi-Tech Agriculture Parks Management Authority to push forward investment procedures for the parks under the municipal people's committee policy. The city will set aside some 300 hectares to establish more hi-tech agricultural parks in Cu Chi district.

According to Trung, all available space in the Hi-Tech Agriculture Park has been taken by investors, with an additional substantial waiting list. New regulations have allowed foreign investors to inject capital in this field so the city will see more investors looking for opportunities in the coming time, he said, adding that Ho Chi Minh City would continue to accelerate the implementation of programmes and policies to stimulate the shift of the agricultural structure towards urban agriculture between 2011 and 2015.

The Hi-Tech Agriculture Park researches, applies, experiments and showcases hi-tech agricultural production models to farmers and businesses, according to Le Thanh Liem, deputy chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee. The park also supplies fruit and vegetable varieties and animals to farmers in the city and some neighbouring provinces.

Nguyen Tan Hinh, deputy director of the Science, Technology and Environment Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that hi-tech agro-parks transfer their technologies to boost hi-tech application in agricultural products.