The northern province of Lao Cai aims to strengthen technological application in agricultural production in a bid to ensure high-quality food and flowers for tourists.  Lao Cai has more than 300 hectares of land under flowers, mostly in Sa Pa District, up ten-fold from that in 2010. Of the area, nearly 200 ha are dedicated to roses, and the remaining is mostly cultivated with lily and orchid.  According to the province’s plan for 2015-2020, Sa Pa plans to focus on varieties and preservation technologies in a bid to enhance productivity and product value from 2015-2020, instead of expanding the cultivation area.  More than 20 percent of nearly 400 households in Ta Phin commune in Sa Pa district grow orchids, providing nearly 10,000 pots of orchids a year.  Ly Quay Choi from the commune, who has grown orchids for four years, said he sold nearly 200 orchid pots last year and earned around 300 million VND (13,400 USD). He expects to bring home about 500 million VND (22,320 USD) this year.  Nguyen Ngoc Hinh, Vice Chairman of the Sa Pa People’s Committee, said households with such high earnings from orchids in the district are not rare, adding that it is evidence of the effective implementation of poverty reduction efforts.  The district has also developed other local specialties such as mountainous pigs and chickens, sturgeon and salmon to serve the increasing number of tourists flocking to the locality.  According to Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Anh Tuan, Lao Cai has more than 30 salmon farms, mainly located in districts of Sa Pa, Bat Xat and Van Ban with favourable conditions for salmon growing.  Together, they produce more than 300 tonnes of salmon and sturgeon per year, two-thirds of which come from Sa Pa.  The province aims to expand salmon and sturgeon growing areas to produce 520 tonnes per year, Anh said.-VNA