High-tech agriculture: HCM City boosts cooperation with Australia

Plant breeding at HCM City high-tech agriculture park. The city wants to boost cooperation with Australia in hi-tech farming. - File Photo

HCM CITY — HCM City and Australia have significant untapped potential for co-operation in agriculture, especially hi-tech farming and cattle breeding, Nguyễn Thành Phong, chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said.

At a meeting with Australian Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources Anne Ruston on Wednesday, Phong said HCM City wanted to develop hi-tech agriculture, adding that the southern city has built a high-tech agriculture park and a centre for biotechnology application.

However, he also mentioned various difficulties that the city’s agricultural sector faced, asking for experience sharing and technology transfer from Australia.

Phong said HCM City wanted to boost co-operation with Australia in cattle breeding.

The city currently has 92,000 dairy cows bred from a cow herd imported from Australia, in addition to importing many cows from Australia for beef.

Phong expressed hope that Australia would create favourable conditions for the import of farm produce from the city.

At the conference, Anne said Australia was keen boosting its affiliation with Việt Nam and HCM City – the country’s southern hub.

She said Australia was willing to share information and support the city in accessing modern farming technologies that were used in Australia, including those in cattle breeding.

Australia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources would continue assisting HCM City and other Vietnamese localities in enhancing the productivity and quality of cattle herds, towards becoming self-reliant in beef supply, she said.

She also pointed to Việt Nam’s strength in producing tropical fruits that Australian consumers enjoy, adding that Việt Nam and Australia have great potential to boost the trade of farm produce.

She suggested Việt Nam and Australia develop standards in quality and food safety to ensure the interests of consumers in both countries.

Australia has 176 projects in HCM City with total investment of more than US$183 million. Two-way trade between the southern city and Australia in the first seven months of 2017 reached $600 million.