Ho Chi Minh City has great potential in producing flowers and ornamental plants for export, heard a conference held by the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development on April 27.
Nguyen Huu Hoai Phu, vice director of the department, said that the demand for flowers and ornamental plants in the city increases by 15% each year, but its production capacity only meets less than 50% of the demand.
Each year, the city imports more than 1,200 tonnes of plant varieties and about 7.6 tonnes of flower varieties at high prices. Meanwhile, the city's export of ornamental plants has reached only 500,000 USD, mostly to Cambodia, the US, Japan, the Netherlands, and Canada.
The city's flower and ornamental plant production sector has attracted 2,500 farmer households, with a total farming area of about 2,000 hectares.
Phu held that the city should focus on developing orchid cultivation due to its higher economic value compared to other kinds of ornamental plants.
Tran Thi Huong, head of the Cultivation Division under the Sub-Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection, said that the city has a good infrastructure system, workforce, and technology to develop the flower and ornamental plant sector, especially orchids.
She said that thanks to the rich orchid genetic resources, the sub-department has developed more than 400 orchid varieties of all kinds.
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