Mekong aims to draw more farm technology

Speaking at a press conference in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday to introduce the fourth annual Mekong Delta Investment Conference, Nguyen Phuong Lam, deputy director of VCCI Can Tho, said that with its favourable conditions for agriculture, the delta played a very important role in the country’s economy.
It produces 56 per cent of Vietnam’s rice, 57 per cent of the seafood, and a large proportion of fruits, he said.
But the use of advanced technologies in agricultural production and processing to add value is not widespread, he admitted. As well, the rate of mechanisation in agriculture remains relatively modest.
These factors have resulted in low productivity, value addition and competitiveness, he said.
The region hopes to collaborate with foreign agri-tech companies to improve its competitiveness, he said.
Lam said VCCI Can Tho and the investment, trade and tourism promotion centres of 13 cities and provinces in the region would organise the fourth annual Mekong Delta Investment Conference in Can Tho City on November 11-12 to enable international companies to showcase their technologies.

Commercial cooperation
“We will encourage local companies to develop commercial cooperation with them or cooperate to make necessary technologies right in Vietnam to exploit the great potential of the Mekong Delta market.”
The fourth MekongInvest would be titled “Agricultural Mechanisation and Smart Technologies Development and Investment”, he said.
Nguyen Khanh Tung, director of the Can Tho Centre for Investment, Trade and Expo Promotion, told the conference that localities would bring lists of projects seeking investment and spell out their investment incentives and others. more and more foreign investors are coming to the delta to explore business opportunities, he said.