Many scientific projects have produced approved, high-quality results that can help farmers, but few have been applied in practice in the province(Photo: VNA) Long An (VNA) -The provinces of Long An and Dong Nai have been unable to use high-qualityresearch findings to boost agricultural development because they lack funds andare unable to match what farmers want, officials said.
Dinh Thi Phuong Khanh, DeputyDirector of the Long An Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, saidfarmers needed technical support obtained from scientific research that theycan apply in production.
Many scientific projectshave produced approved, high-quality results that can help farmers, but fewhave been applied in practice, she said.
By last year, her officehad received 16 scientific research results from the Department of Science andTechnology for application on the field.
Khanh said her office hasasked district and commune authorities to apply the research findings to boostagricultural development, and 14 projects have been registered to do so.However, only one project has received financial support.
“A project to commerciallybreed catfish in Thanh Hoa district was the only one that received 190 millionVND (8,360 USD). The remaining projects are still on the waiting list, becausethe Department of Science and Technology has not been able to allocate funds,”Khanh said.
Le Quoc Dung, Director ofthe province’s Department of Science and Technology, agreed that fundingshortage was a big challenge. Without funding, scientific researches wouldremain theories, he said.
Dung said the departmenthas been allocated just 10 billion VND (440,000 USD) for all scientific andtechnological activities, so the maximum it could offer a project was 200million VND (8,800 USD).
There are as many as 32projects that have not yet been implemented, he added.
Scientific projects in DongNai province have faced another problem: selling the produce once the findingshave been applied by farmers.
According to the provincialDepartment of Agriculture and Rural Development, the local Centre forBiotechnology Application has received the results of 30 scientific researchprojects, but 16 of them remain on paper.
A project to expand Mokaraorchid gardens was carried out as the collaboration between the Dong Nai Centrefor Biotechnology Application and HCM City’s Biotechnology Centre in 2013.
Trial results were good.Mokara orchid growers could earn more than 1.2 billion VND (52,800 USD) perhectare from the second year onwards. However, the total area of orchid gardensfour years after the project began implementation was only four hectares or so.
Tran Vu, a farmer in LongKhanh town, said he had visited the model of orchid planting at the centre anddecided not to invest in it.
Vu said the centre askedfarmers to invest more than 1 billion VND (44,000 USD) for each hectare oforchids, but did not promise stable outlets.
Other projects, one toraise buffaloes in Dong Thap Muoi and another to grow dragon fruits in Chau Thanhdistrict, have showed promise. However, the high cost of production anduncertain markets were major barriers to implementing them on a larger scale.
Highlighting yet anotherproblem, Luong Thanh Trung, director of Dong Nai province’s AgricultureExtension Centre, said farmers only wanted to plant crops with low productioncost and high selling prices. But most of the scientific research projectsfocused on high-quality products, which increased production costs. This,combined with the inability of authorized agencies to guarantee stable outlets,made farmers reluctant to apply them.
Trung said among theprojects applied in practice over the past five years, the project with thehighest total area covered just a few dozen hectares.
Khanh of the Long Anagriculture department suggested scientific researches should be based onspecific requests.
For example, the departmentwould use its budget to ask the Department of Science and Technology to studyor research a certain project, and later, use agricultural extension funds forapplying them practice through training courses for officials and farmers in districtsand communes.
She said businesses couldalso ask the Department of Science and Technology to conduct research projects,the results of which could be bought for application in production.
This could help ensure thatscientific and technological research for agricultural development is practicaland efficient, she added.-VNA
Dinh Thi Phuong Khanh, DeputyDirector of the Long An Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, saidfarmers needed technical support obtained from scientific research that theycan apply in production.
Many scientific projectshave produced approved, high-quality results that can help farmers, but fewhave been applied in practice, she said.
By last year, her officehad received 16 scientific research results from the Department of Science andTechnology for application on the field.
Khanh said her office hasasked district and commune authorities to apply the research findings to boostagricultural development, and 14 projects have been registered to do so.However, only one project has received financial support.
“A project to commerciallybreed catfish in Thanh Hoa district was the only one that received 190 millionVND (8,360 USD). The remaining projects are still on the waiting list, becausethe Department of Science and Technology has not been able to allocate funds,”Khanh said.
Le Quoc Dung, Director ofthe province’s Department of Science and Technology, agreed that fundingshortage was a big challenge. Without funding, scientific researches wouldremain theories, he said.
Dung said the departmenthas been allocated just 10 billion VND (440,000 USD) for all scientific andtechnological activities, so the maximum it could offer a project was 200million VND (8,800 USD).
There are as many as 32projects that have not yet been implemented, he added.
Scientific projects in DongNai province have faced another problem: selling the produce once the findingshave been applied by farmers.
According to the provincialDepartment of Agriculture and Rural Development, the local Centre forBiotechnology Application has received the results of 30 scientific researchprojects, but 16 of them remain on paper.
A project to expand Mokaraorchid gardens was carried out as the collaboration between the Dong Nai Centrefor Biotechnology Application and HCM City’s Biotechnology Centre in 2013.
Trial results were good.Mokara orchid growers could earn more than 1.2 billion VND (52,800 USD) perhectare from the second year onwards. However, the total area of orchid gardensfour years after the project began implementation was only four hectares or so.
Tran Vu, a farmer in LongKhanh town, said he had visited the model of orchid planting at the centre anddecided not to invest in it.
Vu said the centre askedfarmers to invest more than 1 billion VND (44,000 USD) for each hectare oforchids, but did not promise stable outlets.
Other projects, one toraise buffaloes in Dong Thap Muoi and another to grow dragon fruits in Chau Thanhdistrict, have showed promise. However, the high cost of production anduncertain markets were major barriers to implementing them on a larger scale.
Highlighting yet anotherproblem, Luong Thanh Trung, director of Dong Nai province’s AgricultureExtension Centre, said farmers only wanted to plant crops with low productioncost and high selling prices. But most of the scientific research projectsfocused on high-quality products, which increased production costs. This,combined with the inability of authorized agencies to guarantee stable outlets,made farmers reluctant to apply them.
Trung said among theprojects applied in practice over the past five years, the project with thehighest total area covered just a few dozen hectares.
Khanh of the Long Anagriculture department suggested scientific researches should be based onspecific requests.
For example, the departmentwould use its budget to ask the Department of Science and Technology to studyor research a certain project, and later, use agricultural extension funds forapplying them practice through training courses for officials and farmers in districtsand communes.
She said businesses couldalso ask the Department of Science and Technology to conduct research projects,the results of which could be bought for application in production.
This could help ensure thatscientific and technological research for agricultural development is practicaland efficient, she added.-VNA
VNA
