Experts believe that, in the current context, developing high-tech agriculture is an inevitable trend, creating a driving force for Ho Chi Minh City's agriculture to develop in a modern direction. With rapid urbanisation leading to a shrinking agricultural land area, the shift from "soil-based" vegetable cultivation to "soil-less" farming has become an optimal choice.
In response to this situation, the Ho Chi Minh City Biotechnology Centre is experimenting with growing lettuce using the Plant Factory System. This hydroponic cultivation system, designed based on the Japanese model, covers a total area of 34.5 square meters.
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The plant cultivation room is equipped with ten racks, each with an area of 0.84 square metres, divided into four layers, providing a total planting area of 3.36 square meters per rack. Using this system, the Ho Chi Minh City Biotechnology Centre has tested seven lettuce varieties originating from the Netherlands, Japan and Viet Nam.
After several planting cycles, most lettuce varieties have shown good adaptability to the growing conditions, with 15 harvests per year, achieving higher productivity and quality than traditional cultivation methods. Building on these results, the Ho Chi Minh City Biotechnology Centre plans to expand the Plant Factory model to produce other high-value vegetables, crops, and transfer the technology to farmers, cooperatives and enterprises for large-scale application.
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