LamDong (VNS/VNA) - The rapid development of greenhouses forvegetable and flower cultivation in the last two decades has had anegative effect on the environment in the central resort city of Da Lat. 

Greenhouses have been used in the city tominimise the impact caused by inclement weather, including rainfall, storms,hailstones, hoar frost and humidity. 

However, many of them have been built on urbanland, which has reduced the amount of rainfall absorbed into the soil andlowered the underground water level. This has also contributed to increasedflooding in many areas.

About 70 percent of the greenhouses have not mettechnical standards, contributing to the spread of disease and viruses,according to a spokesman from the Department of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment’s Division of Plant Protection in Lam Dong province.

Lai The Hung, head of theDivision of Plant Protection, said the provincial Departmentof Agriculture and Rural Development had asked the Lam DongPeople’s Committee to set specific criteria on where greenhouses and nethousescould be located.

Under the proposal, greenhouses would bepermitted on 80 percent of areas (for building greenhouses) in Lam Dong province and theremaining 20 percent for planting trees and building inner roads.

When building greenhouses, residents have beenasked to take into account the facilities' slope and drainagenetworks, and estimate the volume of water that will flow out and wherethe water will flow, especially from glasshouses covering 5 hectares, accordingto Hung.

To minimise the environmental impact ofgreenhouse expansion, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development should identify areas that can drain rainfall from the uppersection of Da Lat, he added.

Dr Nguyen Mong Sinh, former chairmanof the province's Union of Science and Engineering Technology Associations,said that areas for agricultural production and vegetable cultivation should bere-located to suitable zones.

To reduce flooding and environmental impact,Sinh said greenhouses in the central areas of Da Lat must be moved to suburbanareas and replaced with trees and other greenery.

State agencies should work with the owners ofthese houses and create favourable conditions by offering job opportunities forresidents who agree to move their facilities to the suburban areas of Da Lat,he added.

Lam Dong province has4,500 ha of greenhouses and 1,222 ha of nethouses. Da Lat has about 2,800ha ofgreenhouses, including 1,244ha for growing vegetables, and 1,590ha for plantingflowers, according to the Lam Dong Department of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment./.