High-tech agriculture [3]: Clearing the path to a green growth pole

Holding markets through quality

During the peak of the durian harvest season, members of the Thuan Tien Agriculture, Trade and Services Cooperative in Nhan Co commune are busy, but their focus extends well beyond output volumes. What commands the most attention is strict adherence to technical protocols, production logs, and traceability requirements.

A cooperative representative explained that in order to retain cultivation area codes and export contracts, every member household must rigorously comply with regulations governing fertilizer use, plant protection chemicals, and pre-harvest withholding periods. In return, a partner enterprise purchases their produce at stable prices that exceed those available on the open market.

The experience of Thuan Tien Cooperative reflects a broader trend now defining agriculture across Lam Dong. Rather than chasing volume, a growing number of raw material zones are shifting to standards-based production, treating quality as the non-negotiable prerequisite for access to international markets.

According to a representative of the Lam Dong Department of Industry and Trade, major markets including China, Japan, South Korea, and Europe are tightening their requirements around traceability, food safety, and sustainable development. This, in turn, is serving as a powerful incentive for farmers, cooperatives, and enterprises to accelerate the adoption of

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 production methods.

In Lam Vien ward, Da Lat, Dalat Hasfarm Co., Ltd. is widely regarded as one of the defining success stories of Vietnam's high-tech agriculture sector. Over more than three decades of development, the company now operates approximately 340 hectares of high-tech flower production across Lam Dong and several other provinces, providing stable employment for nearly 4,000 workers. Each year, Dalat Hasfarm supplies hundreds of millions of flower stems to the domestic market and exports to countries including Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, and across Europe. Annual revenue stands at approximately 130 million USD.

Beyond its large-scale modern greenhouse infrastructure, Dalat Hasfarm has deployed a comprehensive suite of digital management solutions across its production operations. Greenhouse climate control, automated irrigation and fertilization, and crop growth monitoring are all tracked through data systems and specialized software. Many production processes are implemented in accordance with international standards to meet the increasingly stringent requirements of importing markets.

A Dalat Hasfarm representative noted that the global shift toward green consumerism is placing ever-higher demands on sustainable development practices. In response, the company is concentrating efforts on reducing emissions, expanding the use of biological solutions, conserving water and energy, and advancing digital transformation across its entire production chain to strengthen the competitiveness of its products.

Positioning as a green agricultural hub

Within the economic landscape of the new Lam Dong province, agriculture remains a key pillar of growth. The expanded development space created by the provincial merger has not only enlarged the land base but also created a diverse production ecosystem stretching from the temperate vegetable and flower zones of the highlands to industrial-crop and fruit-tree regions and drought-adaptive coastal agricultural areas.

According to the province's five-month socioeconomic development report for 2026, total cultivated area reached approximately 771,551 hectares, equivalent to 72.5 percent of the annual plan. Of this, annual crops accounted for more than 137,000 hectares and perennial crops for over 634,000 hectares, a production scale that ranks among the largest in the country and provides the foundation for developing concentrated raw-material zones linked to processing and export activities.

Several key commodity sectors continue to operate at significant scale. Coffee alone covers more than 328,000 hectares, while fruit trees occupy over 111,000 hectares, including approximately 44,450 hectares of durian and more than 26,000 hectares of dragon fruit. Among annual crops, vegetables cover nearly 45,000 hectares with output exceeding one million tonnes, while flowers span nearly 6,700 hectares, supplying approximately 1.86 billion stems to domestic and international markets.

These figures represent more than land area and output volumes. Behind them lies the increasingly well-defined formation of large-scale agricultural value chains in which technology, processing capability, and market access are becoming the decisive determinants of competitiveness.

Phan Nguyen Hoang Tan, Director of the Lam Dong Department of Agriculture and Environment, said the province holds strong advantages for developing high-tech, green, and internationally integrated agriculture. The provincial direction for the coming period is to accelerate agricultural restructuring toward a modern model, developing concentrated production zones linked to high technology, deep processing, and agricultural brand building.

"Not only in the flower sector, many enterprises processing coffee, vegetables and fruits, macadamia, and durian in the province are also investing heavily in modern preservation and processing technology to extend shelf life, improve product quality, and increase export value. These pioneering models are generating an important pull force, driving the transition from traditional agricultural production to a high-tech, green, and globally integrated agricultural sector," Tan added.

Building brands with intent

From a market perspective, a representative of the Lam Dong Department of Industry and Trade assessed that the province's agricultural export growth potential remains substantial, with key commodities including coffee, flowers, vegetables and fruits, durian, dragon fruit, and macadamia steadily consolidating their position in international markets. However, to increase value, agricultural produce cannot remain at the raw material production stage, it must be linked to deep processing, traceability systems, brand development, and compliance with sustainable development standards.

Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee Chairman Ho Van Muoi emphasized that agriculture is the "backbone" of the local economy and that the province has identified high-tech agriculture as a strategic direction to build a modern, green, and sustainable farming sector. From that orientation, Lam Dong is making a decisive shift toward an agricultural economy mindset, prioritizing added value, branding, and market development; advancing logistics and services across key agricultural zones integrated with e-commerce; and forming concentrated production areas linked to deep processing.

"The goal for Lam Dong's high-tech agricultural development in the coming period is not simply to increase output; more importantly, it is to improve quality and add value. The province is focused on transforming its growth model toward a green, sustainable agricultural economy; promoting research and application of science, technology, digital tools, and the circular economy across the entire value chain," Muoi said.

"For the 2026–2030 period, the province sets a target of raising the share of processed agricultural products to 70 percent. By 2030, the high-tech agricultural area is projected to exceed 150,000 hectares, with an average production value of more than 250 million dong per hectare per year," he affirmed.

Lam Dong's agricultural export turnover has consistently exceeded 1.2 billion USD per year, accounting for more than 40 percent of the province's total export value. Building on this foundation, the Resolution of the Provincial Party Congress for the 2025 - 2030 term identifies the development of modern, ecological, high-tech agriculture alongside the construction of agricultural value chains integrated with e-commerce as strategic priorities, with the aim of fully unlocking and leveraging the province's distinctive potential and advantages.