Lam Dong transforms over 10,000 ha of ineffective plants

According to the Lam Dong provincial Sub-department of Plant Protection, the locality has transformed over 10,000 ha of a varied range of plants, assisting the province's agricultural production in achieving rapid growth in productivity, output, production value, and income per unit of cultivation land.

However, the province continues to have 49.4 thousand hectares of unproductive plants that must be converted in order to increase added value and promote sustainable development.

In 2022, the Lam Dong agricultural sector will convert 10.4 thousand hectares of inefficient production land and eliminate 4.2 thousand hectares of cultivation land valued at less than VND 50 million per hectare per year. The old one will be replaced by new types of plants that are more economically valuable, produce more, are more qualified, and are more tolerant to climatic change.

Mr. Ha Ngoc Chien, director of Lam Dong's Crops Production and Plant Protection Sub-department, stated that the location is transforming each plant object. Over 6.3 thousand hectares of coffee have been replanted, grafted, and developed in areas such as Di Linh, Bao Lam, Lam Ha, Duc Trong, Dam Rong, Lac Duong, and two cities of Bao Loc and Da Lat.  The locality has also converted over 1,000 hectares of land for cashew cultivation and 1.9 thousand hectares of rice fields.

For the effectiveness of the transformation, the province's agriculture sector is reviewing and evaluating areas of ineffective plants with a production value of less than VND 50 million per hectare per year; categorizing the types of plants and production households, as well as cultivation practices, in order to develop a proper transformation plan attached to product consumption through 2025.

Additionally, the province promotes high-quality fruiters by intercropping with industrial orchards such as coffee and cashew, as well as trial planting of certain new fruit varieties in order to enhance the mixed garden and duplicate in the future. Simultaneously, utilizing organic agricultural practices to enhance the quality and worth of products.

Production was oriented toward the formation of cooperatives, chain-linked cooperative groups, and a concentration on post-harvest processing to ensure a consistent supply of high-quality goods while continuing to grant planting area codes to encourage export.

Additionally, Mr. Ha Ngoc Chien, Director of the Lam Dong Crops Production and Plant Protection Sub-Department, stated that the locality practices crop conversion on rice land in conjunction with the establishment of centralized and linked product consumption in order to ensure economic efficiency and sustainability.

Additionally, the agricultural sector develops plans for off-season production of fruiters such as durian, avocado, and macadamia..., diversifies varieties of short-term crops such as vegetables and flowers, and renovates agricultural products' designs, colors, and quality in response to market demand. Additionally, the province successfully adopted a program for importing copyrighted flower varieties to aid in the growth of the flower-producing business between 2021 and 2025.

According to the Lam Dong province Crops Production and Plant Protection Sub-Department, plant variety conversion in 2021 contributed to the increase in area and output over 2020. In which total coffee production increased by 2.2 percent to 527 thousand tons; mulberry trees increased by 3.4 percent in area and 29.8 percent in output to 9.5 thousand hectares; fruit trees increased by 20 percent in area and 30.2 percent in output to 235 thousand tons; and macadamia trees increased by nearly 7,000 hectares and nearly 4 thousand tons, an increase of 42 percent in area and 42 percent in output.

In 2021, plant variety transformation resulted in a reduction of 4.3 thousand hectares of land with a production value of less than VND 50 million per hectare, compared to 2020. Increasing the production value per hectare of cultivated land in the whole province to VND 201 million/ha in 2021, a 5% increase over 2020.