Growing area codes: 'Key' to opening markets for agricultural exports

The provincial Department of Agriculture surveyed the durian growing area code in Tan Thanh district.

Many positive signals

In recent times, the Department of Agriculture and localities in the province have widely disseminated the role and significance of building MSVT in agricultural production, regulations on granting and managing MSVT. From there, farmers understand and actively participate in building MSVT.

According to the Department of Cultivation, Plant Protection and Agricultural Product Quality Management of the province, up to now, the whole province has 292 MSVT with a total area of 13,568.98 hectares exported to the following markets: Korea, Japan, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, EU, Russia, the United Kingdom, China. Of which, dragon fruit has 228 codes, lemon has 40 codes, watermelon has 13 codes, durian has 5 codes, mango has 2 codes, banana has 2 codes, sweet potato has 1 code, jackfruit has 1 code. In addition, the whole province has 164 facilities granted facility codes for packaging to serve agricultural product export.

Thanks to the MSVT, in recent years, the price of durian has increased significantly, averaging about 120,000 VND/kg, at times more than 200,000 VND/kg. Thereby, contributing to increasing income and value per unit of production area.

With 1.5 hectares of durian granted MSVT, Mr. Tran Dang Khoa (Truong Cong Y hamlet, Tan Lap commune, Tan Thanh district) sells durian conveniently and at a higher price. In addition, the successful association with purchasing companies also helps his family limit the situation of "overstock, flooding the market" and being forced to lower prices by traders every time they harvest.

“In my opinion, to build and maintain MSVT, farmers need to change their production mindset from traditional to production according to VietGAP, GlobalGAP standards, etc. Along with that, farmers need to gradually build geographical indications for their durian gardens to help domestic and foreign consumers easily trace the origin of the product,” Mr. Khoa shared.

According to Vice Chairman of Tan Lap Commune People's Committee, Tan Thanh District - Tran Minh Nghia, currently, besides quality, consumers are also concerned with many issues of traceability and food safety. Building MSVT is an important basis to affirm the quality and food safety of durian, thereby building trust in quality and reputation in the market.

Thanh Hoa district currently has more than 600 hectares of lemons, concentrated in Thuan Binh and Tan Hiep communes. Of these, more than 103 hectares of lemons are grown using high technology and 165 hectares of lemons have been contracted for consumption by businesses. Recently, farmers in the district have actively developed MSVT for lemon trees to stabilize output.

Mr. Truong Van Tu (Thuan Binh commune, Thanh Hoa district) said that he is currently a member of Hoang Thanh Agricultural Service Cooperative. Since joining the cooperative, he has been given the opportunity to participate in training courses on clean agricultural production processes, VietGAP and GlobalGAP; at the same time, he has been connected with the Green Agriculture Cooperative ( Tien Giang province) to consume agricultural products.

Mr. Tu said: “When producing according to VietGAP process, agricultural products ensure quality and have stable output, the consumption price is also higher than the market price by 3,000-5,000 VND/kg. When applying this production process, farmers mainly use organic fertilizers, microorganisms, biological products, helping to ensure food safety, meet market demand and reduce production costs. Currently, the Cooperative is actively coordinating with the district's Department of Agriculture to build MSVT for lemon trees."

To help farmers understand the purpose and meaning of growing area codes

Lemon farmers in Thanh Hoa district actively build growing area codes to stabilize output.

In order to speed up the process of granting MSVT, creating favorable conditions for agricultural products to expand their consumption markets, the provincial Department of Agriculture actively coordinates with localities to propagate to farmers the purpose and significance of participating in granting MSVT so that farmers voluntarily register.

In addition, the provincial Department of Agriculture also organizes training on science and technology transfer for producers to properly implement production processes and other regulations of importing countries.

In addition, the provincial Department of Agriculture coordinates with localities to encourage producers to participate in cooperatives and cooperatives to facilitate the issuance of MSVT as well as the exchange and purchase of post-harvest products. In addition, it strengthens the work of inviting businesses to join producers in issuing MSVT and purchasing products after the growing area is assigned a code. Thereby, creating conditions for farmers to feel secure in production and boldly register to participate.

According to the Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development - Nguyen Thanh Truyen, the establishment and issuance of MSVT, codes for agricultural product packaging facilities serving export plays a very important role in agricultural product export. This is a mandatory requirement to ensure compliance with the regulations of the importing country on plant quarantine, food safety and traceability of agricultural products. MSVT is the "passport" and the "key" to open the market for official agricultural products exported to other countries.

“Not only export agricultural products need traceability, but domestic agricultural products also need to ensure this issue. Therefore, the construction and issuance of MSVT is very important. Localities must pay attention to and support the subjects and farmers.

In the coming time, the provincial Department of Agriculture will strengthen the management of MSVT and packaging facility codes, ensuring that the MSVT and packaging facility codes that have been issued and will be issued meet the requirements of importing countries" - Mr. Nguyen Thanh Truyen said./.

Bui Tung - Hoang Tuan

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