Promoting sustainable urban agriculture

With the rapid pace of urbanisation, agricultural land in Da Nang has been gradually narrowed. In this context, the trend of urban agriculture is becoming a sustainable direction, not only providing clean food but also contributing to creating green spaces in the heart of the city.

Not only providing a source of clean food for his family, Mr. Pham Thanh Long’s rooftop vegetable growing model (left) has also become an interesting tourist attraction for neighbours. Photo: TRAN TRUC

The 90m² rooftop of Mr. Pham Thanh Long’s family residing in Hoa Cuong Nam Ward, Hai Chau District is used as a lush green garden with a variety of green leafy vegetables such as mustard greens, Malabar spinach, and water morning glory. Not only providing a source of clean food for the family, his rooftop vegetable growing model has also become an interesting attraction for neighbours.

According to Mr. Long, it is very difficult to transport soil and materials to the rooftop. The rooftop structure must also be carefully reinforced and waterproofed to ensure safety. The special feature of his model is the complete use of organic microbial fertilizers and fertilizers processed from organic waste and household vegetable growing waste.

“My vegetable products do not use pesticides, ensuring safety for users’ health. Since 2024, I have harvested many batches of quality vegetables and fruits. Neighbours often visit my vegetable garden to learn from my experience” Mr. Long happily said.

Meanwhile, from a traditional rice farmer, Mr. Le Van Gioi, living in Hoa Xuan Ward, Cam Le District, has become one of the pioneers in developing urban agricultural production in the locality. In 2000, he started growing mushrooms on an area of ​​300m².

Since 2020, with an area of ​​1,000m², Mr. Gioi has not only created a stable source of income but also contributed to providing clean, nutritious food for customers. Mr. Gioi’s oyster mushrooms, priced from VND 50,000 – VND 70,000/kg, are suitable for both meat eaters and vegetarians.

In addition to oyster mushrooms, he also produces and sells mushroom spawn bags at a price of about VND 6,000/ bag. Every year, Mr. Gioi earns more than VND 200 million/year from the model of producing oyster mushrooms and selling mushroom spawn bags.

“I mainly grow button-shaped mushrooms because this type is popular in the market and has high economic value. The main ingredients are rubber sawdust, rice bran, corn bran and yeast. Unstable weather and climate, and unstable quality of seed sources and raw materials, are difficulties in growing mushrooms. Therefore, it requires growers to be careful, meticulous, and follow the technical requirements correctly to be successful” Mr. Gioi shared.

In recent times, the city’s agricultural sector has been developing synchronously in all fields towards increasing added value, and creating a premise for sustainable urban agricultural development. The city produces 12,000-13,000 tonnes of safe vegetables per year on an area of 35.24 ha. Meanwhile, a wide range of flower varieties are produced in greenhouses such as hanging flowers, orchids, and ornamental plants of all kinds, and other flower varieties outside greenhouses such as chrysanthemums, marigolds, dahlias, and sunflowers.

Additionally, the output of fresh mushrooms is about 200 tonnes/year, with varieties such as oyster mushrooms, straw mushrooms, lingzhi and cordyceps. These types of mushrooms are suitable for urban agriculture, serving the daily needs of people. The city’s agricultural activities have also expanded with organic and circular agricultural models, associated with effective tourism.

According to the Centre for Fishery, Agriculture and Forestry Extension and Agricultural Technology under the Da Nang Department of Agriculture and Environment, despite many benefits, the development of urban agriculture in the city still faces many difficulties.

Accordingly, the accelerated urbanisation has further worsened the shortage of agricultural land, making it difficult to invest in large-scale models. Also, the cost of investing in high technology such as greenhouses, hydroponics, aeroponics, etc. is still quite high. Many households have not had access to modern farming techniques, leading to low productivity.

Ms. Ngo Thi Thu Van, Deputy Director of the Centre for Fishery, Agriculture and Forestry Extension and Agricultural Technology, said that the city has issued and implemented many support policies for the development of urban agriculture. In particular, the development orientation of the inner city focuses on small-scale models to exploit, use economically and effectively the land area in order to create safe vegetables, tubers and fruits associated with environmental protection, and create urban green areas as well as associated with tourism and education in the heart of ​​the city.

Many production models in the fields of vegetables, flowers and mushrooms; organic and circular agricultural models associated with tourism; and high-tech agricultural models have been formed, bringing high economic efficiency.

Urban agricultural development is becoming an important and inevitable trend to meet people’s needs, contributing to environmental protection and improving the quality of life. Products created from urban agriculture with guaranteed quality and origin will always be chosen by consumers.

“In the coming time, in order to promote the development of urban agriculture in a sustainable direction, we will continue to propagate and guide households and investors to choose reasonable technical solutions to reduce input costs and minimise negative environmental impacts, thereby bringing quality products and economic efficiency to people”, Ms. Van informed.

DA NANG Today