Ho Chi Minh City's flower and ornamental plant production sector has attracted 2,500 farmer households, with a total farming area of about 2,000 hectares. (Photo: danviet.vn) Nguyen Huu Hoai Phu, vice director of the department, said that the demand for flowers and ornamentalplants in the city increases by 15% each year, but its production capacity onlymeets less than 50% of the demand.
Each year, the city imports more than 1,200 tonnes of plant varieties and about7.6 tonnes of flower varieties at high prices. Meanwhile, the city’s export ofornamental plants has reached only 500,000 USD, mostly to Cambodia, the US,Japan, the Netherlands and Canada.
The city's flower and ornamental plant production sector has attracted2,500 farmer households, with a total farming area of about 2,000 hectares.
Phu held that the cityshould focus on developing orchid cultivation due to higher economic value compared to other kinds of ornamental plants.
Tran Thi Huong, headof the Cultivation Division under the Sub-Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection, said that the city has a good infrastructure system, workforce and technology to develop the flower andornamental plant sector, especially orchids.
She said that thanksto the rich orchid genetic resources, the sub-department has developed morethan 400 orchid varieties of all kinds.
However, Huong pointed out a number of difficulties facing the sector,including small-scale production facilities, limited resources for high-techagriculture and low self-supply capacity of plant varieties.
Bui Minh Tri, from the University of Agriculture andForestry of HCM City, underlined the need to form a concentrated cultivationarea serving as a centre for the production and supply of high-quality flowers andornamental plants to meet the needs of the city, neighbouring localities andfor export.
He suggested improving the role of institutes, universities and centres in researching and transferringnew varieties of orchids and ornamental plants to meet the market demand, alongwith the updating of production technologies and enhancement of human resourcesquality for the sector./.
VNA
