High-tech agriculture lacks high-skilled labor

High-tech agriculture in HCMC is facing numerous obstacles, including the lack of high-quality human resources and the slow pace of technology transfer, although the city is the nation’s economic hub with many famous universities and research institutes.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has plans to organize a conference on hi-tech agriculture development in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong next week. At the conference, cities and provinces having successfully built hi-tech agricultural areas will share experiences and solutions to boost the development of this sector nationwide.

In a recent report, the management of the Agricultural Hi-Tech Park of HCMC pointed out a number of shortcomings and difficulties in developing hi-tech agriculture in the city.

Firstly, the management board’s functions and responsibilities are unclear, making it hard for the board to work with related departments and agencies to manage enterprises active in the park.

The investment mechanism and procedures of the HCMC Agricultural Hi-Tech Park are complicated, overlapping and time-consuming.

The park currently covers a total of 88 hectares in the city’s outlying district of Cu Chi. With investments of VND152 billion (US$6.69 million), the park has spent an average of VND1.7 billion on each hectare of technical infrastructure.

The park has attracted 14 projects occupying a total of 57 hectares. Four projects covering nearly 11 hectares and having total registered capital of VND141 billion have not been kicked off.

Transfers of technologies and advanced methods of cultivation to farmers are moving at a snail's pace due to huge costs and farmers’ slow adaptation to new technologies.

There is a paradox that the Agricultural Hi-Tech Park of HCMC is lacking high-skilled labor although it is located in the nation’s economic hub that has numerous large universities and research institutes.