This is a region of low starting point in Vietnam.
Provinces in this region include Lao Cai, Son La, Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Yen Bai and Hoa Binh. Here, people's life is still difficult, the poverty rate is high compared to other regions of the country (31.2%).
Favorable for:
Growing temperate crops
Rich natural resources, rich soil and relatively cool climate are some favorable conditions for the development of agriculture, forestry, and services, and forming central cultivation areas such as: fruit tree / tea / coffee cultivation areas.
Challenges:
Adverse weather
Climate events in mountainous areas are extreme in nature, especially in the case of reduced forest cover and degraded soil cover.
Abuse of fertilizers and pesticides
In the past, most farmers in the Northwestern provinces still applied traditional farming methods such as deforestation, slash-and-burn cultivation, monoculture, etc. Recently they have also abused pesticides to clean up residues in the field and kill pathogens. Even when the trees were not sick or did not need to use drugs, they would still spray.
Achievements:
Good news on sustainable agricultural models
Based on a number of practical studies by specialized units, the Northwest has piloted a number of sustainable agricultural production models such as: intercropping model on sloping land; System of Rice Intensification; microbial composting model; and clean mushroom growing model. There are also private projects in collaboration with local authorities such as Doveco Son La Fruit and Vegetable Processing Center and previously TH Group's Fruit and Vegetable Processing Factory.
The Northwest agricultural picture will be redrawn
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the past 5 years (2016-2020) of restructuring the agricultural sector, the whole region has achieved very encouraging results on both provincial, district and commune scales. Up to now, this area has converted to 250,000 ha of fruit trees, ranking 2nd in 7 socio-economic regions nationwide. This region has 53.5% of the forest cover system, while the whole country has only 42%. This is an area with a lot of OCOP products from pumpkins, seedless persimmons, to rice in Bac Kan.
Aim for 2030
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued Decision No. 5018/QD-BNN-TT dated December 24, 2021 approving the "Sustainably developing fruit trees in the Northwest region until 2030" project.