Many fruits still have great potential for export.

Vietnam has favorable weather and soil conditions to produce a variety of fruits for domestic consumption and export. Up to now, many types of Vietnamese fruits have been exported to many countries and territories around the world, of which some types of fruits have achieved export turnover of over 1 billion USD/year and the potential and opportunities to increase the export of this item are still very rich.

Processing fresh coconut for export at a business in Vinh Long province.

Many items have advantages

Currently, our country still has many types of fruit that have potential and advantages in production and business and have the prospect of soon becoming export items reaching over 1 billion USD/year. Of these, the most notable are bananas, pineapples and passion fruit. These are plants that are being grown on a fairly large area and are present in many regions across the country. These fruits have many nutrients that are good for health, so they are favored by consumers in many countries around the world and have a large consumption demand.

However, the export turnover of pineapples has only reached a few tens of millions of USD/year, while bananas and passion fruit are higher but only at a few hundred million USD/year. Coconuts alone have reached an export turnover of 1.1 billion USD/year but there is still much potential and opportunity to increase production and export value because the world market has a high demand for consumption. Coconut trees are quite easy to grow, can be grown in many different areas and coconuts are also processed into many products to serve domestic consumption and export.

According to the Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment , Vietnam currently has more than 1.3 million hectares of fruit trees of all kinds, with an output of 15 million tons per year. Of which, coconut covers an area of more than 202,130 hectares, with an output of more than 2.28 million tons/year; banana growing area reaches 161,200 hectares, with an output of nearly 3 million tons/year; pineapple over 52,200 hectares, with an output of more than 806,500 tons/year; passion fruit over 10,400 hectares, with an output of 163,500 tons/year. Fresh fruit products and processed fruits from coconut, pineapple, banana and passion fruit of our country have been exported to many countries around the world, including many demanding markets such as Korea, Japan, the EU and the United States.

However, the development of production, processing, consumption and export of the above products still faces some difficulties and obstacles. That is, farmers in many places are not confident in investing in developing the cultivation of passion fruit, banana, pineapple and coconut because the output price of the products is not stable, the linkage in the value chain is still limited, many farmers have not had their products purchased by enterprises. The stages of preservation, preliminary processing and processing of coconuts have been carried out quite well in the main coconut growing areas, but many factories still often face a shortage of raw materials and unstable raw material prices. Meanwhile, the activities of purchasing, preliminary processing and processing passion fruit, banana and pineapple for export in many localities are still limited and have not met the demand for diversified deeply processed products, increasing export value...

Solution to increase export

In order to develop the export of advantageous fruits, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has just organized a forum on “Solutions to increase competitiveness and promote the export of advantageous fruit products: passion fruit, banana, pineapple, coconut”. At this forum, many delegates said that the above 4 fruits still have a lot of potential and opportunities to develop production and export to bring higher value, creating a larger source of foreign currency.

In the coming time, the central and local authorities need to pay attention to supporting people and businesses to promptly remove difficulties and synchronously deploy solutions to develop sustainable production, linked to market demand. There needs to be a systematic planning, orientation, and strategy for production and consumption development, avoiding production that follows prices and trends. Strictly manage the quality of seed sources and input materials associated with building raw material areas to ensure standards according to the requirements of export markets and the orientation of green production and low emissions. Encourage farmers and businesses to strengthen chain linkages, promote the application of science and technology to reduce costs and improve productivity and product quality, as well as promote the diversification of deeply processed products for export to increase added value...

According to Dr. Tran Minh Hai, Vice Principal of the School of Public Policy and Rural Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, businesses need to strengthen chain linkages with farmers through cooperatives to build growing area codes and control raw material areas. Localities need to support the connection between cooperatives and businesses.

Pineapple has a very high demand, currently in the world for health reasons many people tend to increase pineapple consumption. With good market opportunities, it is necessary to invest in pineapple to become a key crop, there must be a clear strategy, and a methodical production organization.

According to Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen, General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, it is necessary to build a concentrated raw material area for products with high competitive advantages such as pineapple. Invest in and improve varieties, apply science and technology to increase productivity and product quality. Authorities also need to pay attention to the issue of building an irrigation system to serve pineapple growing areas, and have policies to support people and businesses in developing production and export.

According to Mr. Vo Quan Huy, Director of Huy Long An Company Limited, in the context of an increasingly competitive fresh banana market, developing deeply processed products is an inevitable step if Vietnam wants to improve the banana crop and avoid dependence on a few traditional export markets. There should be a priority policy to encourage the development of the banana processing industry, support businesses in accessing capital, science, technology and markets. Research and develop technologies to make the most of banana by-products to increase the value chain and contribute to environmental protection.

According to Mr. Tran Thanh Nam, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment, passion fruit, pineapple, coconut, and banana are products in which our country has competitive advantages, production capacity, and a large market demand. Currently, the area for growing these four types of trees is about 420,000 hectares, with an output of over 6.3 million tons. However, among these fruits, only coconut will reach an export turnover of 1.1 billion USD by 2024, bananas will only reach an export turnover of 380 million USD/year, passion fruit has an export value of 220 million USD/year, and pineapple has great potential but its export turnover is less than 50 million USD/year. Therefore, we must have solutions to promote all of the above fruit trees to soon reach an export turnover of over 1 billion USD/year/type of tree. It is necessary to enhance responsibility and have good coordination among relevant parties, from state management agencies, industry associations, enterprises, cooperatives and growers to achieve the above goals in the coming years...

Article and photos: KHANH TRUNG

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/nhieu-loai-trai-cay-con-tiem-nang-lon-de-xuat-khau-a189018.html