As agriculture accounts for a significant share in the economy, Quang Ngai province has adopted many solutions to accelerate agricultural restructuring to increase added value and sustainable development to raise incomes and improve quality of life for farmers.
With three relatively clear agricultural eco-regions (coastal, plain and hilly beside Ly Son Island), Quang Ngai is able to develop a diversified agricultural economy consisting of agriculture, forestry and fishery. Regarding cultivation, the province has 150,896 ha of agricultural land. Currently, the province has 15 high-tech agricultural production and organic agriculture projects licensed by the Provincial People's Committee. Among them, QNASAFE Organic Vegetable Production Area has been put into operation and sold VietGAP-certified vegetable products to the market. Other projects are having site clearance, construction procedures and commissioning started.
On animal farming, the province's buffalo and cow herds rank second in the Central Coast and the South (after Binh Dinh), an advantage for cattle development. Currently, the province is home to some high-tech livestock companies. On forestry, Quang Ngai has 581 producers, processors and traders of forest products, including 28 export timber and chip companies. The content of added value in timber processing is not high. On fishery, the Quang Ngai coastline is 129 km long, with five fishing ports and storm shelters for fishing vessels with the lowest design capacity of 350 vessels of 250-CV engine capacity. The province has 5,267 fishing vessels with a total capacity of 1,843,665 CV. Hoang Sa and Truong Sa are the main fishing grounds where maritime resources are abundant.
By tapping all available potential and advantages, Quang Ngai province has accelerated agricultural restructuring to add value and sustain development. In 2016-2020, despite facing numerous difficulties and challenges, the agriculture sector still achieved remarkable outcomes, featuring annual growth of 4.42% and food security. Up to now, the province has successfully converted thousands of hectares of inefficient rice land to dry crops and accumulated land to form larger fields for better economic efficiency. Due to COVID-19 epidemic impacts, livestock output prices dropped sharply but cattle and fowl herds stayed stable. The forest coverage expanded steadily, with timber output harvested from planted forests reaching over 1,755 million cubic meters in 2020, an average annual growth of 19.7%. Fish farming output approximated 265,000 tons in 2020, up 11.05% year on year.
Mr. Ho Trong Phuong, Director of Quang Ngai Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the department is currently carrying out the Prime Minister's Decision 255/QD/TTg dated February 25, 2021 on agricultural restructuring in 2021 - 2025. Accordingly, the Quang Ngai agriculture sector will focus on reshuffling three product groups (key national products, key provincial products and local specialties) and sector-specific restructuring. Particularly, crop production will be rearranged to reduce the share of food crop production value, increase the share of short-day crops and perennial industrial plants, and raise the share of fruit trees based on high-tech agriculture and organic agriculture to add more value for products and meet consumer demand. The province converted small and scattered livestock farming, based on households, into livestock farms to boost the value and control disease outbreaks.
In the fisheries sector, Quang Ngai province will adhere to the Prime Minister’s Decision 339/QD-TTg dated March 11, 2021 on Vietnam fisheries development strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2045; step up fishery industrialization and modernization for better meeting market needs, eco-development, biodiversity conservation, adaptation to climate change, biological safety and social security. On forestry, the province will protect and sustainably develop existing forest areas in association with sustainable forest improvement according to the Forest Stewardship Council Certification (FSC). In the salt industry, investment will be made for infrastructure construction in Sa Huynh salt zone and technical advances will be applied for stronger salt production.
Source: Vietnam Business Forum
Vietnamese
