Nghe An Agriculture: From traditional specialties to modern value chains

With the advantage of vast land and diverse terrain from mountainous areas, midlands to coastal plains, Nghe An possesses a rich treasure of agricultural products, bearing a strong identity. Throughout the 80-year journey, Nghe An's agricultural sector has always strived to develop, turning typical agricultural products and traditional specialties into brands with high economic value.

Characteristics of Nghe An agricultural product brands

Vinh orange is one of the most prominent agricultural brands of Nghe An. Protected by geographical indications very early, Vinh orange is not only famous for its Xa Doai orange gardens with a unique flavor that cannot be found anywhere else, but also for its vast, delicious orange hills throughout the lands of Phu Quy, Thanh Duc, Dong Thanh, Con Cuong...

Nghe An is famous for its Xa Doai orange gardens with a unique flavor that cannot be found anywhere else. Photo: Phu Huong

In recent years, the province has drastically implemented scientific and technical solutions to overcome diseases and degeneration, with a new direction of focusing on organic farming (VietGAP), using biological fertilizers, and applying technology to trace the origin using QR codes. Many quality orange products have met 3-star and 4-star OCOP standards, bringing stable and sustainable income to people in growing areas. This "revival" not only helps oranges achieve productivity, but also improves quality and design, opening the door to large supermarket systems.

Quang Tien pink grapefruit specialty. Photo: Phu Huong

Thanks to the synchronous investment of large corporations such as TH Truemilk and Vinamilk Nghe An with modern technology and large output, Nghe An has become the center of high-tech dairy farming in the country. The giant dairy farms in Phu Quy area are operating in a closed process, applying modern technology from Israel and the US.

High-tech fresh milk produced in Nghe An has outstanding quality with high-yielding dairy cows cared for according to strict standards, producing clean fresh milk with high productivity, among the top in Southeast Asia. Not only dominating the domestic market, fresh milk products from Nghe An are also confidently exported, affirming the position of a national brand. In particular, with its vision and mission, TH Group has pioneered in achieving Carbon-neutral farm certification (Net Zero), aiming for sustainable green development.

High-tech fresh milk produced in Nghe An has superior quality from high-yielding dairy cows cared for according to strict standards. Photo: Phu Huong

Associated with the mountainous areas of the province such as Anh Son, Thanh Thuy, Thanh Duc..., over the years, tea has become the province's main industrial crop, with large areas and good quality. The whole province currently has nearly 10,000 hectares of industrial tea and the agricultural sector is strongly promoting the conversion of tea areas to organic farming, VietGAP, helping to increase purchasing value and export quality.

Tea products of Phuc Hung Thinh Tea Company Limited in Thanh Thinh Commune (Thanh Chuong). Photo: Hoai Thu

In particular, to enhance the position of tea trees, Nghe An has attracted many businesses to invest in deep processing, diversifying products (green tea, black tea, matcha powder) to maximize value, instead of just exporting raw. Nghe An is currently the third largest tea producing province in the country with about 86 production facilities, with a total designed capacity of 871 tons of fresh tea buds/day. Not only a raw material area, the tea hills have also become attractive and special destinations, such as Thanh Chuong Tea Island, which has become a symbol of Nghe An agricultural tourism, bringing double income to the people.

From Vinh oranges that have become a brand known and loved by consumers everywhere, to the leading high-tech dairy farms in Southeast Asia, and lush green tea hills associated with eco-tourism - Nghe An is exploiting its unique land, climate and soil resources, creating unique and representative agricultural product brands, bringing high value and a prosperous life to thousands of farming households.

Enhancing agricultural products with technology and branding

In addition to key agricultural products such as oranges, tea, sugarcane, pineapples, etc., Nghe An is also famous for many exquisite processed products. Specialties such as Nam Dan soy sauce, pickled vegetables, Thanh Chuong canarium, etc. are not only traditional dishes but also developed and standardized to become gift and tourism products. Many potential agricultural products such as molasses, lotus seeds, etc. are being focused on investment in the direction of high technology, safety and deep processing to increase value.

Nam Dan soy sauce processing village. Photo: Thai Tuan

In particular, the One Commune One Product (OCOP) program is considered an important "lever" to help Nghe An's typical agricultural products make a breakthrough. Up to now, Nghe An has had over 650 OCOP products, many of which have achieved 3-star to 5-star standards, meeting strict standards on origin, production process and food hygiene and safety.

Provincial leaders and the Department of Agriculture and Environment visited and inspected booths displaying OCOP products. Photo: Phu Huong

Along with that, building brands, attaching growing area codes, and stamps to trace the origin of key agricultural products have contributed to building consumer trust. OCOP products are promoted, connected to supermarket systems, e-commerce platforms, and oriented towards export, gradually forming a large consumer market, increasing the value of key agricultural products of the province.

Electronic stamps tracing the origin of Vinh oranges are affixed to each orange before being sold on the market. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Up to now, the province has had rice processing and exporting enterprises with industrial scale, total annual capacity reaching hundreds of thousands of tons such as Agricultural Materials Corporation, TH Group's Rice Factory... Some large-scale fruit processing projects such as: Factory processing concentrated pineapple, concentrated passion fruit juice, Quynh Luu fruit juice with a scale of 5,000 tons/year; Nui Tien purified water, herbal and fruit factory of TH Group produces fruit juices, fruit milk drinks with completely natural ingredients, associated with the development of clean and safe raw material growing areas... The whole province has 3 sugarcane processing factories in operation, with a sugar output of over 140,000 tons/year.

Production line at the Nui Tien Pure Water, Herbs and Fruit Factory of TH Group. Photo: Phu Huong

Towards green, sustainable agriculture

The province has focused on promoting applied research and transfer of science and technology, especially high technology, biotechnology, and environmentally friendly technology, contributing to improving the output and quality of key agricultural products. By 2024, Nghe An will have nearly 40,000 hectares of agricultural production with high technology applications.

Provincial leaders and the Department of Agriculture and Environment inspected the high-value grape growing model in Yen Thanh commune. Photo: Phu Huong

The state's support policies also create strong motivation for localities, enterprises, cooperatives and people to boldly invest in production, apply science and technology and good agricultural practices to create products with high productivity and good quality; at the same time, promote processing and promotion, strengthen product value chain linkages and participate in diverse agricultural product distribution channels in the provincial, domestic and export markets.

Every year, Nghe An produces more than 1.2 million tons of rice. Photo: Phu Huong

Every year, Nghe An produces over 670 thousand tons of rice, about 95 thousand tons of fruit (nearly 38 thousand tons of oranges, nearly 20 thousand tons of grapefruit, over 36 thousand tons of pineapples...); the annual output of fresh tea buds is up to nearly 120 thousand tons, sugarcane nearly 1.4 million tons, fresh milk more than 315 million liters... In 2024, the export value of key product industries will reach a high level: Wood chips will reach nearly 280 million USD, wood pellets will reach 27 million USD, seafood will reach 130 million USD, rice will reach 46 million USD, processed fruit and fruit juice will reach 23 million USD.

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The Department of Agriculture and Environment will continue to advise the province to provide maximum support to farmers and businesses through policies on capital, science and technology and trade promotion. The goal is to build a sustainable value chain, so that the province's typical agricultural products, along with hundreds of other OCOP products, continue to affirm their solid position on the map of Vietnamese and international agricultural products.

Ms. Vo Thi Nhung - Deputy Director of Nghe An Department of Agriculture and Environment

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