Biotechnology improves competitiveness for agricultural products

Expanding the application and development of biotechnology to improve the competitiveness of goods is one of the central objectives of Vinh Long province. In the period from now to 2015, Vinh Long will focus on developing a biotechnology development project to become an economic and technical sector to serve agricultural production and the processing of key products, making an important contribution to the increase. economic chief of the province.

Vinh Long province currently has 60 science and technology organizations. In which, there are more than 10 organizations conducting biotechnology research and application activities together with a network of 4 agricultural cooperatives, 59 cooperative groups and over 5,800 households involved in rice seed production, 1 fruit seed farm and 128 fruit seed production establishments in the population of 1.73 million trees / year; 119 stores of vegetable and vegetable varieties, centers supplying pigs, cows and poultry breeds; over 210 hatcheries, breeding giant freshwater shrimp. Establishments have implemented 18 topics related to biotechnology application, focusing on agricultural production, selecting and producing 10 new short-term new rice varieties, 5 new vegetable varieties, 11 fruit trees. and hybrid breeds that contribute to improving the quality of local breeds.

Application of biotechnology in growing nutritious vegetables.(Photo: Kim Phuong)

However, the limitation in biotechnology research and application of Vinh Long has not created a breakthrough in productivity, product quality and investment efficiency . Many topics and projects on biotechnology are only research, experiment, and have not been applied to mass production to bring high efficiency. The small-scale propagation network has not been developed stably, not yet meeting the production needs of the development of commodity-oriented agricultural production.

From now to 2015, Vinh Long will expand exploitation and diversify capital sources to create a clear change in investment in biotechnology development, creating essential products to promote economic development. The province has built up the structure of investment capital for biotechnology development, in which state capital (central and local) accounts for 70%, 10% of funding is provided through international organizations and capital is called for through joint ventures. industries, organizations and individuals accounted for 20%; attracting capital sources for investment in equipment in the direction of modernization, building material facilities in service of biotechnology research and application.

From now to 2010, Vinh Long will increase the allocation of funds for research and development of biotechnology projects and projects, accounting for 25-35% of the total annual scientific non-business expenditure; to prioritize projects on production of high-quality, high-yield and pest-resistant plant varieties, animal breeds and bio-products for agricultural and environmental production and production of products Processing from agricultural products and foodstuffs with biotechnology. By preferential policies on land, tax, finance, investment environment ., the province encourages the establishment of units to apply research results to production and production of products.

In the biotechnology development project in the 2007-2015 period, Vinh Long focused on developing biotechnology potential. In particular, the establishment of Biotechnology Center; invest in upgrading laboratories of the Seed Center under the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, laboratories of the Center for Scientific and Technological Progress Application under the Department of Science and Technology, Drug Testing Center- cosmetics and food . The two areas focused on the application of biotechnology by the province are: selecting and creating plant varieties and animal breeds with productivity and quality for agricultural production and in processing and preservation technologies. agricultural products such as rice, fruit, seafood.

Currently, Vinh Long province has over 50 qualified masters working in the fields related to biotechnology, which are mainly arranged to work at state management agencies so they have not been effective. specialize. Since 2007, the province has implemented the plan of training and retraining scientific cadres in two directions: training a contingent of specialized leading cadres with a doctorate degree and training the necessary personnel of 100 people Masters degrees, universities and specialized technicians in three areas: agricultural biotechnology, food technology and environment. The provincial People's Committee assigns departments and agencies such as agriculture, industry and health to develop programs and projects on biotechnology for their industry, promoting biotechnology into practice and developing into a techno-economic sector. Art for production of key products to promote economic growth of Vinh Long.

Huynh Kim Phuong