Hanoi urges investment in citys farming to meet food demand

With a population of 10 million, Hanoi has huge demand for food, striving to meet it by promoting investment in local agricultural development. The city is calling for investment in nine high-tech agricultural zones to enhance product quality, create value chains for spearhead products and promote exports.  

Hanoi has a total area of more than 197,700ha in agricultural land, accounting for 58.9 percent of the total. It includes over 197,000ha for rice growing, and about 5,000ha for safe vegetable planting. Of this figure, 352.7ha are applied the VietGAP standards, while 40ha are used for growing organic vegetables.

The city has established 121 value chains for safe farm produce, including 52 chains of animal origin and 69 of plant origin, and developed protected brands for more than 40 products.

The Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development estimates that on average each month, Hanoi needed 83,400 tonnes of rice, 20,000 tonnes of pork, 5,230 tonnes of beef, 5,200 tonnes of chicken, 5,050 tonnes of seafood, 84,100 tonnes of vegetables, 95 million eggs and 52,000 tonnes of fruits.

However, the city’s agricultural production meets no more than 60 percent of demand for each product, and a large volume of agricultural products must be bought from neighboring provinces.

Ta Van Tuong, deputy director of the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said enterprises play a key role in agricultural development and the city seeks to create the best conditions for them to operate. To achieve sustainable consumption of farm produce, Tuong added, farmers must apply high-tech in production, ensuring food quality and safety standards for both local consumption and exports.

However, Hanoi lacks leading enterprises that could serve as a bridge between producers and the consumer market. Currently, only 10-15 percent of the city’s farm produce are consumed through cooperative groups and cooperatives, while the remaining is sold to traders.

Links in value chains play an important role for Hanoi to promote farm produce consumption and limit sharp price fluctuations caused by bumper crops.

The Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will focus on supporting the development of links between production and consumption for key farm produce. It also plans to keep coordinating with districts and towns to help cooperatives and farmers implement contracts with enterprises in order to ensure profits for them from participation in value chains.

According to Ta Van Tuong, Hanoi currently has nine high-tech agricultural zones with a combined area of 300ha in Hoai Duc District, 76ha in Ha Dong, 105ha in Me Linh, 33ha in Dan Phuong, 200ha in Phuc Tho, 70ha in Soc Son, 300ha in Ba Vi, and 80ha in Son Tay. Tuong stressed that his department would cooperate with the Hanoi Small and Medium Enterprises Association and the Business Association of Overseas Vietnamese to support enterprises in agricultural investment.