'Clean agricultural products of Ho Chi Minh City': Changing the awareness of producers and consumers

After 5 years of implementing Resolution 14, Ho Chi Minh City has achieved many clear results in propaganda, supervision, and support for clean agricultural production, aiming at safe and sustainable consumption.

On the morning of November 11, the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Farmers' Association held a conference to review 5 years of implementing Resolution 14-NQ/HNDTW of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Association (VIII term) on "Promoting propaganda and mobilizing farmers to produce and trade safe agricultural products and food for community health, period 2021-2025" and a seminar on "Production and consumption of clean agricultural products in Ho Chi Minh City".

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Farmers' Association spoke at the conference. Photo: Nguyen Thuy.

1,500 clean agriculture models

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Farmers' Association, emphasized that food is an indispensable source of nutrients, directly affecting human health and the quality of the breed, especially in the most populous city in the country like Ho Chi Minh City.

Realizing that importance, the Ho Chi Minh City Farmers' Association has proactively and synchronously implemented propaganda, training and support programs for farmers in the spirit of Resolution 14, in conjunction with Directive 17-CT/TW of the Secretariat on strengthening food safety assurance in the new situation.

Reporting on the 5-year implementation of Resolution 14-NQ/HNDTW, Mr. Truong Thanh Quang, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Farmers' Association, said that the program has created a clear change in awareness and action in the production and trading of clean agricultural products in three localities before the merger: Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, and Binh Duong.

Farmers' Associations at all levels have proactively coordinated with departments, branches and organizations of the city to develop a synchronous implementation plan for each association. Over the past 5 years, propaganda work has been carried out in many diverse forms, from training courses, seminars, dialogues to multimedia communication.

The Association at all levels has organized nearly 70 training courses for nearly 7,000 members on food safety production and business; organized over 1,900 propaganda sessions and seminars attracting over 81,000 officials and farmers; conducted 471 dialogues on food safety management, with the participation of over 7,000 people; coordinated the development of news and propaganda articles, hung billboards, posters, banners, and distributed leaflets to disseminate knowledge on food hygiene and safety.

Thanks to that, 100% of farmer members directly producing and trading agricultural products, providing food services and processing food have voluntarily signed a commitment to carry out safe production and business according to Circular 17/2018/TT-BNNPTNT.

The city currently has 1,508 clean, organic, high-tech agricultural production models, linked to consumption according to VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards. In addition, the Farmers' Association has mobilized the establishment of professional groups and branches, supporting members to bring more than 3,380 agricultural products to e-commerce platforms with a total consumption output during the Covid-19 pandemic reaching 210 tons.

The work of building points of sale and connecting consumption is also focused. Up to now, there have been 76 stores and safe agricultural product trading points operated by members, cooperatives and cooperatives, many products have been certified OCOP, VietGAP, participating in the Ho Chi Minh City Safe Food Chain.

In parallel, the Association at all levels coordinated to organize 511 monitoring sessions with nearly 5,000 production and business establishments to check compliance with food safety regulations, take samples for testing and monitor vegetable production processes according to VietGAP standards.

Mr. Truong Thanh Quang assessed that the results achieved in the past 5 years have contributed to changing the awareness of both producers and consumers, creating positive changes in the consumption of clean agricultural products.

However, the implementation still has some limitations. The application of science and technology in production and processing is still lacking in synchronization; The connection between stages in the production and consumption chain is not tight; Some grassroots associations are confused in advising and organizing the program; There are still some farmers who are not interested in registering for product traceability.

Creating breakthroughs in developing clean agricultural products

Ho Chi Minh City is the first locality to pilot food safety chain management. This is an important step to establish a legal basis and a product monitoring system throughout production and distribution, ensuring the safety of fresh food, from meat, vegetables and fruits to seafood, following the principle of “farm to table”.

Over the past 5 years, many clean and organic agricultural models have been established in Ho Chi Minh City, bringing high economic efficiency to farmers. Photo: Nguyen Thuy.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Thoa, Deputy Head of the Department of Standards and Testing Management, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Food Safety, said that currently, the safe food chain has basically operated with the full participation of actors in the chain, from cultivation, breeding, preliminary processing, and trading in Ho Chi Minh City and 6 provinces and cities including: Can Tho, Dong Nai, Dong Thap, Lam Dong, Tay Ninh and Vinh Long.

Products in the chain are supplied to supermarkets, specialized stores, kitchens, and school meals, with increasingly diverse types, expanding output, and increasing market share. Currently, Ho Chi Minh City has 40 production and processing facilities participating in the project, with a total food output of over 44,300 tons/year, of which vegetables and fruits are over 3,300 tons/year; pork is over 17,500 tons/year; chicken is nearly 12,600 tons/year; beef is 10,920 tons/year; poultry eggs are 105 million eggs/year (chicken 99.28 million eggs, duck 5.824 million eggs).

However, the current safe food chain still mainly focuses on fresh products, with a limited number of products and participating facilities.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Farmers' Association, said that Ho Chi Minh City consumers are still facing a "matrix" of food, making it difficult to identify the origin and trust the safety of agricultural products. Meanwhile, many OCOP products, typical agricultural products of the city's own farmers, although of good quality, have not been widely promoted and consumed. These are "bottlenecks" that directly affect the sustainable development of urban agriculture and public health.

From this reality, the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Farmers' Association identified the period 2025-2030 as the key time to create a breakthrough. In which, focusing on 4 key groups of solutions: Implementing the Program "Accompanying clean agricultural products in Ho Chi Minh City in the period 2025-2030", closely coordinating between departments, branches and localities; Strengthening propaganda, inspection and supervision of ensuring food safety from production to distribution.

At the same time, support farmers to register for VietGAP, GlobalGAP, growing area codes, OCOP, advise on policies to support certification costs; Promote trade promotion, expand export markets for key and potential products of the city.

Source: https://nongnghiepmoitruong.vn/nong-san-sach-tphcm-thay-doi-nhan-thuc-nguoi-san-xuat-va-nguoi-tieu-dung-d783677.html