A vegetable farm using hydroculture techniques in Da Lat city, Lam Dong province (Photo: VNA) Lam Dong (VNA) –Located in the Central Highlands, Lam Dong province is blessed with a mild climateand fertile soil suitable for agriculture. The province has made good use ofits advantage to attract foreign investment in developing hi-tech farming.
According to statistics of theprovince’s Planning and Investment Department, a total of 103 foreign-investedprojects with combined registered capital of around 530 million USD areoperating in the province. Among the projects, 88 are fully owned by foreigninvestors, accounting for most of the FDI capital (454 million USD).
One of the first and biggest FDIcompanies in Lam Dong is the Dutch-invested Dalat Hasfarm which began operationin 1994. It is involved in the production and distribution of plants and flowers,along with cow raising for meat and milk, and the cultivation and processing ofvegetable and other farm produce.
Other successful foreign-investedcompanies include the Maico-Da Lat operating in tourism at Tuyen Lam Lake in DaLat city, Asuzac which makes dry vegetable and fruit in Don Duong district, BejoVietnam which produces plant seeds in Da Lat and Lam Ha district, and AtlanticCommodities Vietnam – a processor and exporter of Vietnamese coffee and cocoain Bao Loc city.
Luu Trung Duong, head of theexternal economic section under the provincial Planning and InvestmentDepartment, said most FDI projects in agriculture in Lam Dong are of smallscale with an average investment capital of 5.12 million USD. They generated3.2 billion USD in revenues over the past 30 years, 70 percent of which fromexport. Those FDI projects provide regular jobs for around 10,000 local workersand thousands of seasonal labourers.
Despite the modest investmentcapital, FDI projects in Lam Dong have made significant contribution to localsocio-economic development, especially in agriculture, in that they helpedcreate hi-tech agricultural production models. The projects also helped buildbrand names for local farm produce.
Lam Dong has set the goal ofattracting foreign investors with strong financial capacity and projects usingmodern technology to help with the province’s strategy of green, clean andsustainable development.
Chairman of the provincialPeople’s Committee Doan Van Viet said the province is working with the JapanInternational Cooperation Agency (JICA) to pilot the model of agricultural parkwith the aim of attracting Japanese investors to the province to produce farmproduce for export to Japan.-VNA
VNA
