Developing Sustainable Agriculture

The agricultural sector will accelerate restructuring to enhance added value and sustainable development in the coming years, with a focus given to commercial applicability, quality and value. The sector will build and gradually develop centralised production areas and boost coordination between farmers and businesses in produce production and consumption. It will adopt high-quality products to production. As for staple crops like rice, maize, peanut, pepper and cassava, the province will introduce better varieties. In livestock husbandry, the province will encourage farm-scaled husbandry and develop Brahman and Droughmater cows. Quang Binh will both boost offshore commercial fishing and aquaculture.

 

Agricultural production is quite good in 2014, except for the winter-spring crop because of prolonged cold rain which forced 200 ha of rice to be replanted. The sector focused on deploying solutions to crop structure, farming calendar and pest control. The production value of agriculture, forestry and fisheries was estimated to reach VND7,042 billion in 2014, up 3.5 percent against 2013, of which agriculture accounted for 65.3 percent, fisheries contributed 27.5 percent and forestry made up 7.2 percent. Food production made a record of 299,000 tonnes, up 9 percent over 2013. Seafood output was 60,072 tonnes, down 0.2 percent. Forest coverage was 67.8 percent, up 0.6 percent.

 

Rural development alleviates hunger and poverty

So far, although the greatest difficulty is capital shortage, the province’s new rural construction programme has achieved important results. All communes completed detailed planning; and 11 communes met the new countryside criteria, bringing the total number of qualified communes to 12, or 8.8 percent of communes in the province. The province has kept a close watch on the programme and integrated capital sources to carry out criteria.

 

In rural economic development, the province has 131 agricultural, forestry and fishery cooperatives, accounting for 46.8 percent of the province’s cooperatives, with 72,231 members. With a total registered capital of VND268.8 billion, they raked in total revenue of VND98.19 billion and a profit of VND9.8 billion. In general, the cooperatives made a good progress in business performance and diversified business lines. Many cooperatives have invested in production mechanisation and arranged internal loans for members to expand production and increase incomes.

 

Besides, in traditional trade conservation and development, according to the Agricultural and Rural Trade Development Programme in the 2011 - 2015 period, Quang Binh province will conserve and develop 25 cottage processing villages, of which 10 villages will be restored and 15 will be developed. However, due to capital shortage, uncompetitive products made by cottage industry villages and low incomes for villagers, more and more labourers have shifted to other careers with higher incomes. Some new trades have been imported into the province like high-grade incense production in Quang Ninh district, beekeeping in Tuyen Hoa, Minh Hoa and Le Thuy districts, melaleuca oil production in Loc Son district, cassava starch processing in Nam Trach district, and sesame oil and peanut processing in Phuc Trach, Lam Trach and Xuan Trach districts.