Da Lat, the flower growing center of Vietnam, is about to get a huge financial boost. The municipal government recently approved a VND4 trillion (US$190 million) credit package in effort to turn flower cultivation into a high-tech industry.
The package, announced at last Friday’s seminar, “Da Lat flower and tourism,” will support companies and individuals who, “want to adopt new technologies and business models in the flower industry so that Da Lat’s flower products will not only serve local market but also foreign ones,” said Pham S, deputy chairman of Lam Dong Province People’s Committee.
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Though it has over 70 years of flower growing experience and over 400 flower species, industry representatives at the meeting said that it was time that the former French resort town stepped up their technology investments, both to boost production and lure tourists.
If adopted successfully, hi-tech farming techniques could be applied to other parts of Vietnam’s growing agriculture industry. Though Vietnam’s 2013 fruit and vegetable exports were expected to top out US$1 billion, a 21 percent increase over 2012, the country still spent over US$402 million to import agricultural products, up 16.6 percent from last year, according to the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetables Association.
Hopefully Da Lat's government will also come up with some money to addess the towns decrepit villas and disappearing pine trees...
