Promote and develop the market for Binh Thuan agricultural products

Promoting agricultural product consumption still faces many difficulties.

Binh Thuan province has the strength to develop smart agriculture, apply modern techniques and technology, build a value chain of cultivation, livestock, and processing that meets international standards, adapts to climate change, and brings high economic value; is a suitable land for agricultural development with many agricultural products that have competitive advantages in domestic and foreign markets such as dragon fruit, rubber, cashew nuts, etc., mainly dragon fruit with the geographical indication "Binh Thuan dragon fruit".

Identifying dragon fruit as a key crop of the province, in recent years, Binh Thuan has focused on investing and expanding the growing area. Up to now, the dragon fruit area of Binh Thuan province is 27,320 hectares with an output of more than 600,000 tons of fruit/year. The whole province has 8,603.8 hectares of dragon fruit certified to meet VietGap standards, GlobalGAP reaching 517 hectares.

According to Mr. Bien Tan Tai, Deputy Director of Binh Thuan Department of Industry and Trade, Binh Thuan province's seasonal agricultural products focus on dragon fruit. The estimated output of dragon fruit from June to September is about 170,000 tons; of which, June is about 40,000 tons, July is about 47,000 tons, August is about 50,000 tons, September is about 33,000 tons.

Regarding exports, according to Mr. Tai, the official export turnover of dragon fruit in the first 4 months of the year was 1.47 million USD, equivalent to 875 tons. The main export markets are: China, Taiwan (China), Korea, ...

A garden house in Ham Thuan Nam district, Binh Thuan province. Photo: Viet Quoc

Assessing the current agricultural export promotion activities, Mr. Bien Tan Tai said that export activities are facing many difficulties. Since May, some gardens have started to harvest the crop, but the output is not much. Due to low output and lack of supply, the selling price of dragon fruit has increased.

Explaining this, the Deputy Director of the Binh Thuan Department of Industry and Trade stated that China is currently one of the main consuming countries of Vietnamese dragon fruit exports, accounting for nearly 80% of Vietnam's dragon fruit export market share. However, the main harvest season of Binh Thuan dragon fruit from March to September is also the harvest season of Chinese fruits such as oranges, tangerines, apples, pears, grapes, etc. "This causes the market to slow down, prices tend to decrease," said Mr. Tai.

Next, promoting dragon fruit exports to European markets, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, etc. is still difficult, with annual output and export turnover increasing slowly.

"Because the province's enterprises mainly process or sell dragon fruit to other enterprises for export, the revenue generated for the locality is not reflected," Mr. Tai explained the reason.

In addition, although new markets such as the Middle East, India, etc. and countries that have signed free trade agreements with Vietnam have been developed to boost exports and reduce dependence on the Chinese market, in recent times, the province's dragon fruit exports have encountered difficulties in expanding consumption markets due to supply chain disruptions.

“At the same time, most local dragon fruit exporting enterprises are small and medium-sized, have limited foreign trade skills, and have limited funds for trade promotion activities, so their participation in trade promotion programs is limited. Therefore, support from the state is needed, especially for trade promotion activities abroad, which often require large funds,” Mr. Tai shared.

Sharing about this issue, according to Mr. Vu Ba Phu, Director of the Trade Promotion Department ( Ministry of Industry and Trade ), the current challenge of the Vietnamese dragon fruit market is very large because the area and output of China are increasing very quickly. Therefore, it is necessary to quickly come up with solutions to reduce dependence on the Chinese market.

“We must quickly have a plan to diversify our markets so as not to depend on the Chinese market as we do now. In addition, we need to diversify our export markets, focusing on new markets such as Northeast Asia and the Middle East,” Mr. Phu emphasized.

Finding a sustainable path

To promote the development of this strong product in the area, recently, the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province issued a Decision approving the Project for sustainable development of dragon fruit trees until 2030. The goal by 2030 is that the area of dragon fruit trees in the whole province will stabilize at about 25,000 hectares, with an average yield of 22 tons/ha and an output of 550,000 tons/year.

Investment policy brings sustainable dragon fruit productivity, applies science and technology, improves quality and output value. Develops OCOP dragon fruit products. Apply advanced agricultural production processes VietGAP, GlobalGAP. At the same time, invests in infrastructure, logistics; effectively implements policies related to agriculture, farmers, rural areas and develops geographical indications and growing area codes.

Focusing on investment, expanding the scale and improving the quality of dragon fruit products will promote local economic development. At the same time, finding output for the products is also extremely urgent.

Vietnam has great potential and export opportunities for agricultural products in general and Binh Thuan dragon fruit in particular. Photo: Thanh Long Hoang Hau

Faced with that situation, the Department of Industry and Trade of Binh Thuan province proposed solutions to strengthen promotion activities, boost domestic and foreign trade promotion activities, and develop the market for Binh Thuan agricultural products in the coming time.

Firstly, continue to implement the plan to develop and expand the consumption market for Binh Thuan dragon fruit products domestically and internationally in the period of 2021 - 2025. Support dragon fruit processing and exporting enterprises to participate in prestigious fruit and vegetable exhibitions held annually in the region and around the world to promote and market products, find partners and customers, and expand export markets.

Second, promote and mobilize agricultural export enterprises to gradually shift to formal trade and sign sales contracts instead of exporting in the informal trade to minimize price gouging and other risks in payment.

Third, encourage and support businesses to invest in modern machinery and equipment, expand scale and increase processing capacity of quality products, ensure food hygiene and safety to meet market requirements and contribute to reducing pressure on fresh fruit consumption.

Emphasizing the potential and opportunities for agricultural products in general and Binh Thuan dragon fruit in particular, Mr. Vu Ba Phu said that Vietnam's agricultural exports have great opportunities when Vietnam will sign the UAE Free Trade Agreement. However, the leader of the Trade Promotion Agency also said that agricultural exports need to focus on shifting to official channels to avoid unnecessary risks.

On the other hand, consolidate and expand traditional markets; at the same time, open new, potential markets; in which, focus on the markets of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Middle Eastern countries and countries that have signed Free Trade Agreements with Vietnam.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/day-manh-quang-ba-phat-trien-thi-truong-tieu-thu-nong-san-binh-thuan-326920.html