Farmers in Son La province apply technology to agricultural production.

In recent years, high-tech agriculture has emerged as an inevitable solution, bringing breakthroughs in productivity, quality and value of agricultural products. In particular, Son La is affirming its position as one of the bright spots in the journey of developing high-tech agriculture.

The "key" to sustainable development

High-tech agriculture aims at the ultimate goal of optimizing efficiency, minimizing risks, improving product quality and bringing high added value to farmers. The application of high technology not only helps to increase productivity but also contributes to environmental protection, saving resources and building sustainable agriculture.

In Son La, awareness of the importance of high-tech agriculture has been transformed into concrete and effective actions. The province currently has a total crop area of 251,837 hectares, of which the perennial crop area is 109,938 hectares, an increase of 4.41% over the same period in 2024.

In particular, the area of fruit trees and hawthorn trees accounts for 83,429 hectares, with an estimated fruit output of 240,736 tons (an increase of 24.17%), showing a shift in crop structure towards products with high economic value.

Key fruit trees such as mango (19,615ha), longan (19,822ha), plum (13,450ha), banana (5,920ha) are being focused on investment and development in the direction of high technology application.

Son La has achieved remarkable achievements in implementing high-tech agricultural models in many fields. The province has recognized 8 high-tech agricultural crop areas including mango, custard apple, longan, plum, coffee, and tea.

In addition, a high-tech dairy farming area in Moc Chau is a typical example of applying modern barn technology, scientific nutrition management, automatic milking system and circular waste treatment, bringing high economic efficiency and environmental protection.

The application of advanced technologies in production has brought about impressive results. Accordingly, the whole province currently has 3,891.83 hectares of crops installed with water-saving irrigation systems (drip irrigation, spray irrigation), mainly for fruit trees and vegetables, helping to save water and improve farming efficiency.

With 115.5 hectares of crops produced in net houses, membrane houses, and greenhouses, it helps ensure productivity, control pests and minimize the impact of adverse weather.

Son La currently has up to 8,534.64 hectares of crops applying VietGAP, GlobalGAP agricultural production processes and equivalent standards, of which fruit trees account for a large proportion, affirming Son La's commitment to product quality.

The province currently has 216 growing area codes being maintained with a total area of over 3,090 hectares, serving the export of agricultural products to demanding markets such as China, the US, the EU, Australia, and New Zealand. Along with that, 8 packaging facility codes have been granted and maintained, ensuring technical conditions for preliminary processing and packaging of products according to international standards.

Son La coffee continues to be the pride of the province with 23,448 hectares achieving sustainability certification (4C, RA), with certified coffee output reaching over 28,000 tons/year, demonstrating agricultural development associated with social and environmental responsibility.

Son La Seed Company grows imported Ha Den grape variety for high yield. Photo: An Thanh Dat

Production linkage and technology transfer

One of the important factors contributing to the success of high-tech agriculture in Son La is the promotion of production linkages between farmers - cooperatives - enterprises.

The province has developed raw material areas linked with large enterprises such as Doveco Son La Company (nearly 20,000 hectares), IC Food and a number of other processing and preliminary processing enterprises.

This not only helps stabilize the consumption of agricultural products but also increases the rate of processed and exported agricultural products. In the first 6 months of 2025, the output of mango, pineapple, passion fruit, sweet corn, and various vegetables for processing reached over 12,000 tons.

In particular, Son La is actively implementing a program to support the transfer of advanced technology from Israel. Initially, a modern drip irrigation system has been applied to plum trees in Long Phieng and Phieng Khoai (old Yen Chau district), promising to bring outstanding results in optimizing the amount of water and nutrients for crops.

To continue promoting these achievements, in the coming time, Son La province will focus on strategic solutions such as improving the professional qualifications of managers, agricultural engineers and farmers to master advanced technologies.

The province also focuses on completing the infrastructure of the technology application zone to ensure the research system, laboratories and necessary conditions to implement projects and scientific research topics.

In addition, Son La also encourages and supports activities to disseminate, transfer and apply scientific and technical advances in the production of plant, livestock and aquatic breeds; disease prevention; and preservation and processing of agricultural products.