Province wants preferential loan to remove Da Lat greenhouses

The provincial People's Committee has suggested the central bank study policies for commercial banks to grant preferential loans to serve the development of green and high-tech agriculture development.

Previously, the Lam Dong’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said it would need VND4.8 trillion of preferential loans for farmers to remove their greenhouses from the inner area of Da Lat, a top tourist destination famous for its picturesque landscape.

In December last year, the department rolled out a plan to remove the greenhouses, which have been blamed for urban flooding, from Da Lat's center by 2030.

Farmers and businessmen in Lam Dong have relied on greenhouses for 20 years, during which time the province has accumulated 4,500 hectares of the improvised structures, to the detriment of the natural environment.

The region's famed wintry forests are unique among the jungles of Vietnam and most of Southeast Asia.

Da Lat accounts for 57% of the province's greenhouses, followed by Lac Duong District with 21.7%.

The city currently has more than 2,900 hectares of greenhouses spreading over ten wards in its center, making up over 60% of its total farmland.

To Ngoc Van Street in downtown Da Lat is flooding after a heavy rain in July, 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Khanh Huong

Although these facilities have helped make the region a player on the global flower market (even the Dutch import flowers from Da Lat), most have been built by self-taught local tradespeople using iron and bamboo sticks, and do not meet standards of environment protection.

The Province Department of Agriculture has said that the mushrooming of greenhouses in Lam Dong happened too quickly for proper management, leading not only to encroachment on valuable, vulnerable natural ecosystems and the destruction of "urban beauty."

Meanwhile, experts have argued many times that greenhouses fail to absorb water from the area's stormy environment, causing Da Lat and its environs to flood when it rains heavily.

The department said greenhouse owners would be offered preferential loans to disassemble them and switch to more eco-friendly models.