“LEVERAGE” FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
In order to increase the value of agricultural products and develop sustainable agricultural production, Dong Thap has recently focused on restructuring agriculture towards economic efficiency and market orientation. One of the important directions is to promote the development of deep processing of agricultural products.
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| Vegetable and fruit processing and freezing line of Thabico Tien Giang Food Industry Joint Stock Company. |
From these orientations, along with focused support and resource attraction, the province's agricultural processing industry has initially achieved positive results.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment (DARD) of Dong Thap province, the province currently has over 800 enterprises processing agricultural, forestry, fishery and food products. The main processing industries have been formed in association with the region's strong products such as: seafood (pangasius), rice, fruits (durian, mango, dragon fruit, longan, jackfruit...), lotus...
Of these, there are over 200 rice processing enterprises, with a total capacity of about 4.5 - 5 million tons/year; 25 fruit processing enterprises, with a total capacity of about 700,000 tons/year; and about 48 seafood processing enterprises, with a capacity of 640,627 tons/year.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment, despite many positive results, the province's agricultural processing industry is still facing certain difficulties. First of all, it is about the scale and technology of the enterprise. Most processing facilities are still small and medium enterprises, with limited potential and unsynchronized and modern technology. Limited investment capital is also a major challenge. Enterprises have difficulty accessing large capital sources to upgrade factories and buy advanced machinery. Attracting large-scale processing projects requires time and strong policies. In addition, the quality and supply of input materials are not really stable. Farm production is still fragmented, the link between farmers and processing enterprises is sometimes loose, leading to a lack of standard raw materials in both quantity and quality, affecting the factory's production plan... |
Notably, many enterprises have invested in advanced and modern technology, helping to improve product quality and international competitiveness. Thanks to the application of modern technology, processed agricultural products are increasingly diverse, meeting the standards of many demanding markets such as the United States, EU, Japan, and Korea.
The processing industry not only helps reduce seasonal consumption pressure but also motivates businesses and farmers to invest in improving the quality of raw material areas, aiming to form a closed, efficient and sustainable value chain.
According to Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment Le Ha Luan, Dong Thap has recently been proactive in calling for investment, creating an attractive environment for agricultural processing enterprises. At the same time, many conferences have been organized to promote and advertise potential and issue preferential policies on land, credit, human resource training, etc. to attract investors. In particular, after the merger, Dong Thap province has the advantage of a large-scale general planning, with dozens of industrial processing zones and clusters arranged and abundant clean land funds.
Currently, the province has hundreds of projects calling for investment, creating greater attraction for businesses. Thanks to the favorable environment, many large-scale projects in the field of deep processing have been implemented in the area. Preliminary processing facilities and cold storage facilities for agricultural products at the Sa Dec, Thuong Phuoc and Go Cong port clusters have contributed to the formation of a regional logistics and processing center.
The operation of processing plants has brought about very positive effects on both the production and consumption of agricultural products. Thanks to processing plants, agricultural output is more stable, reducing the need for “rescue” of crops.
A typical example is the Vegetable and Coconut Processing Factory of Thabico Tien Giang Food Industry Joint Stock Company with a scale of 4.8 hectares, capacity of 120,000 tons/year, applying modern IQF quick freezing technology.
In addition, in the province, there are also large enterprises that have invested in processing factories such as: Go Dang, Van Duc, Vinh Hoan, Hung Ca, Phat Tien (aquatic products); Chon Chinh, Vinarice, Co May, Ricegrower, Viet Hung (rice); T&H, Chu Chin, Westernfarm, Song Nhi, Ecolotus, Sen Dai Viet, Ba Tre (mango, lotus). Companies processing products after rice such as: Sa Giang, Bich Chi... have expanded production. This has contributed to the strong growth of the export turnover of tra fish, rice, and fruits of the region.
“In the first 6 months of 2025, the export value of agricultural and aquatic products is estimated at 326.97 million USD, accounting for 9.8% of the province's total export turnover, up 5.4% over the same period. Thanks to the development of processing, the proportion of processed agricultural products is increasing, gradually reducing low-value raw exports; product value is improved and designs are more diverse.
Many items that were previously just by-products (catfish fat, rice bran) have now been processed into valuable export products such as fish oil, rice bran oil, collagen... High-quality processed products have expanded the consumption market for local agricultural products, reaching even demanding markets," added Mr. Le Ha Luan.
PROMOTING INVESTMENT ATTRACTION
Recognizing the importance of the agricultural processing industry in promoting sustainable agricultural production, Dong Thap is focusing on removing difficulties to call for and develop more investment projects.
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| The province is focusing on calling for investment in agricultural processing. |
According to Mr. Le Ha Luan, in order to strongly develop the agricultural processing industry, in the coming time, Dong Thap will focus on implementing synchronous solutions. Accordingly, the province will continue to effectively implement the Provincial Planning for the period 2021-2030 with the goal of making Dong Thap one of the agricultural processing centers of the Mekong Delta region.
The agricultural sector will coordinate with relevant departments and sectors to focus on implementing the Project on developing specialized processing industry until 2030; considering agricultural processing as a spearhead and developing closed value chains from raw material production to processing and consumption. In particular, changing the mindset from "agricultural production" to "agricultural economy" to develop in an effective and sustainable direction.
The province will review and complete preferential policies and investment support (tax, land, credit). At the same time, promote investment and reform administrative procedures, shorten the time for project licensing. Dong Thap also prepares clean land funds in industrial parks and clusters to attract investors to build agricultural processing factories; prioritize calling for deep processing projects, applying modern, environmentally friendly technology to create high value-added products from key agricultural products; strive to have most processing facilities reach advanced technology levels by 2030 and about 70% of the province's export turnover come from processed agricultural and aquatic products.
One of the important orientations of the province is to focus on planning and developing large-scale concentrated raw material areas according to VietGAP, GlobalGAP, organic standards, etc., closely linked with processing factories. In particular, promoting the linkage model between enterprises and farmers to ensure a stable, high-quality source of raw materials for processing.
At the same time, it is necessary to support farmers in applying advanced and synchronous farming processes so that raw materials can meet the requirements of the export market; focus on developing logistics and port systems according to synchronous planning (the province plans to form 4 large inland waterway port clusters on Tien and Hau rivers (accepting ships of 5,000-10,000 tons) and calling for investment in building logistics centers and modern cold storage facilities to serve agricultural products). The completion of traffic infrastructure and warehouses will help to significantly reduce transportation costs and improve the competitiveness of agricultural products after processing.
Mr. Le Ha Luan shared: “In the orientation of developing deep processing of agricultural products, human resource development is identified by the province as the most important. The province will coordinate with universities, colleges and vocational training centers to train high-quality human resources for the processing industry; focus on attracting experts and engineers who are good at food technology and supply chain management.
At the same time, we regularly train the skills of management teams and technical workers at enterprises - a key factor to effectively operate modern processing lines and maintain stable product quality."
MINH THANH
Source: https://baoapbac.vn/kinh-te/202508/dau-tu-che-bien-sau-don-bay-nang-tam-nong-san-dong-thap-1047887/
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