To be worthy of being one of the three economic "pillars"

Along with tourism, industry and agriculture are the three economic pillars of the province, likened to a "three-legged tripod", contributing to socio-economic development, improving the lives and incomes of farmers... In particular, 2023 marks a turning point for the province's agricultural sector, after 2 years of implementing Resolution No. 05-NQ/TU of the Provincial Party Committee (term XIV) on developing a modern, sustainable, high-value-added agricultural sector (Resolution 05). In particular, it is the formation of value-added chains and expansion of agricultural product markets.

The resilience of advantageous crops

In the spring colors of the days before Tet, the brilliant lights at night of the vast dragon fruit gardens lit up along National Highway 1A passing through Binh Thuan are even more sparkling and magical. Despite many difficulties and market fluctuations, localities have so far basically maintained a stable dragon fruit area of nearly 26,500 hectares, with an output of over 570,500 tons. With the selling price at the end of the year increasing again, it brings new expectations for growers and export enterprises.

*Dragon fruit production according to the chain link.*

However, dragon fruit is not the only advantageous crop of the province, but Binh Thuan is also "strong" in crops with high economic value such as melon, grapes, rice... Some large-scale concentrated raw material areas have been formed such as rubber 45,278 hectares, harvested output reached 67,950 tons, cashew trees nearly 17,600 hectares, estimated output reached 12,900 tons and the rice growing area of the whole province fluctuates over 120,000 hectares, output over 744,000 tons... The strong mark of the province's agricultural sector in 2023 is that at the time of harvesting the winter-spring rice crop, rice growers across the country in general and Binh Thuan in particular were happy when the price of rice hit a record high, exceeding 9,500 VND/kg. Therefore, most people made a good profit.

According to the assessment of Mr. Mai Kieu - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of the province, implementing Resolution 05, localities from Tuy Phong to Duc Linh, all rely on the climate and soil conditions of each region to convert traditional agricultural production methods to agricultural economic development thinking. Particularly, rice has developed its area in accordance with the set orientation, focusing on improving quality, specialty rice and increasing value. In addition, other advantageous plants and typical agricultural products such as melon, dragon fruit, jackfruit, mango, grapefruit, orange, cashew ... are increasingly affirming their quality and are favored by consumers. Along with the development trend towards GAP, focusing on the quality of agricultural products, the appearance of many large-scale agricultural farms such as in Bac Binh, Ham Thuan Bac, Ham Thuan Nam... with crops produced in greenhouses, canvas houses, applying science and technology in production, are certain results in attracting investment and large-scale development of the province's agricultural sector.

*Model of growing medicinal plants under forest canopy.*

Another highlight of the provincial agricultural sector in the past year is that the Forest Protection Department was assigned by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to build models of growing medicinal plants under the forest canopy (for species with a market) in the province such as green lim mushrooms, ginseng, yams, and yellow camellia under the natural forest canopy with an area of 1.8 hectares. Thereby, it aims to analyze, evaluate the effectiveness and prospects for replication for households contracted to protect forests in the province; contribute to restructuring production in the forestry sector in accordance with advantages, market demand, and adaptation to climate change... From here, the agricultural sector implements the tasks in Resolution 05 on encouraging the development of medicinal plants, striving to make medicinal plants one of the key products of Binh Thuan's agricultural sector.

*Growing apples in Phong Phu commune - Tuy Phong.*

Modern, sustainable, high added value

The year 2023 has passed with many opportunities, advantages, and motivations for socio-economic development, becoming a lever for the development of the province's agricultural sector. That is the North-South expressway Vinh Hao - Phan Thiet, Phan Thiet - Dau Giay put into use, helping to shorten travel time, transport passengers and goods from places to Binh Thuan, especially from the key economic region in the south and vice versa, convenient... In addition, from the leverage of the National Tourism Year - Binh Thuan - Green Convergence, it has attracted millions of tourists to Binh Thuan. This is also an opportunity for localities to develop agricultural tourism and promote and expand the agricultural product market. In particular, many types of OCOP processed agricultural products from dragon fruit, cashew nuts, turmeric starch, fish sauce, grapes, apples... have been and are being focused on quality, brand promotion, serving the shopping needs of tourists when coming to Binh Thuan.

*Thanks to agricultural production, people's lives are increasingly improved, contributing to building increasingly prosperous new countryside.*

Emphasizing at the conference to review the 2-year implementation of Resolution 05, Provincial Party Secretary Duong Van An said that the province has many products of cultivation, livestock, seafood, along with infrastructure serving agricultural production that has been invested in, which is a premise for agriculture to achieve the criteria as the resolution's name suggests: modern, sustainable, and with high added value.

However, reality also shows that the added value of the industry is not high. Linking production, processing, and consumption of products according to the value chain in agriculture and attracting investment in developing high-tech agriculture is not much. Therefore, in addition to implementing the goals, tasks, and solutions stated in Resolution 05, some growing areas need to escape monoculture, diversify crops, focus on crops with high added value, meet market demand, especially developing medicinal plants. At the same time, applying high technology, modernizing organic ecology, and safe clean production to make agriculture sustainable and safe for the health of consumers. In agricultural projects, there must be planning and encouraging land accumulation to serve large production areas.

Mr. Mai Kieu - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that in order to achieve the goal by 2030, bringing the province's agricultural sector to a fairly good level of high-tech application, organic agriculture and a sustainable ecosystem, the sector will prioritize the application of 4.0 technology to serve digital transformation in agriculture. Reorganize agricultural production through forms of cooperation, association, with extensive participation of enterprises. In which, cooperatives are an agent in the association chain, playing the role of gathering many small farmers to "make friends" with large enterprises... Leaders of the provincial agricultural sector believe that in the near future, the agricultural product market will continue to expand, and the province's agricultural products will certainly have more opportunities to participate in the global agricultural supply chain. The province's infrastructure continues to be heavily invested, welcoming new investment enterprises, especially investment in high-tech agriculture, organic agriculture, and processing factories in concentrated raw material areas. From there, attract businesses and cooperatives to invest in agricultural production, expand production scale, so that the agricultural sector is worthy of being one of the three economic "pillars" of the province.

Results of implementing targets after 2 years of implementing Resolution 05:
The average growth rate of agricultural value added in the 3 years (2021, 2022 and estimated in 2023) reached 2.94%/year. The value of agricultural product export turnover is estimated to increase by 3.23%/year on average. The proportion of agriculture, forestry and fishery in the added value in 2021 accounted for 28.95%, in 2022 accounted for 27.48%, and estimated in 2023 accounted for 26.20%. The average value of harvested products per hectare of cultivated land in 2021 reached 119.6 million VND, in 2022 reached 126.7 million VND, and in 2023 it is estimated to reach about 130 million VND...

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