Vietnam Durian - A Billion Dollar Industry and the Journey to Affirm Its Position Building Substantive Area Codes - Tightening the Value Chain for the "King of Fruits"

Durian is a product line that contributes greatly to the growth of the agricultural sector, significantly improving the lives of farmers, but the responsibility for building the product line and building area codes seems to be left to chance and discretion.

The VietGap durian production area of a group of 100 households in Ea Knuech commune, Dak Lak province, is full of fruit this season, close to harvest time. Although the price offered by traders at the beginning of the season is significantly lower than the previous season, and there is concern about residues of banned substances creeping into each garden, the households in the group are still confident that their products will meet all strict standards.

Mr. Le Van Hung - a garden owner in the group of households shared that the entire area of 100 hectares of durian here has been granted a growing area code. The gardens are also placed in a chain linked with enterprises, from input materials to output products, the care process has been closely monitored. "Each growing household must commit to complying with the process from fertilization to post-harvest treatment. Export enterprises coordinate with gardeners in monitoring and checking for residues, if any abnormalities are detected, they will be handled promptly. Thanks to that, the trust from partners is also more solid", Mr. Hung shared.

VietGap standard durian of a group of 100 households in Ea Knuech commune, Dak Lak province

Cultivation associated with the value chain is currently being applied by many enterprises and farmers in the Central Highlands, bringing positive results. Along with the "locomotive" Dak Lak, the "following cars" of the industry such as Gia Lai , Lam Dong... have also been granted hundreds of growing area codes and dozens of durian packaging facilities.

Mr. Duong Mah Tiep - Vice Chairman of Gia Lai Provincial People's Committee said that the province has formed a chain of linkages to develop fruit tree production, with a total area of over 13,250 hectares, with the participation of 52 enterprises, 58 cooperatives and 35 agricultural associations. In the durian industry alone, 11 enterprises have linked up with 16 cooperatives on an area of nearly 2,900 hectares. From there, Gia Lai proactively promotes linkages along the value chain, orienting the production process towards creating a large enough source of goods and ensuring quality.

“Gia Lai always recommends and provides information to cooperatives, farmer associations and durian growers to understand market needs and standards. In the linkage models, there are always enterprises accompanying producers to connect with export markets, creating good products for the market,” said Mr. Tiep.

What happened in the two provinces of Dak Lak and Gia Lai shows that the government, farmers and businesses have made certain efforts to reorganize production and build value chains from growing areas. China - Vietnam's largest durian import market, has also recognized these efforts and has granted nearly 1,000 new codes in 2025 to more than 800 growing areas and 130 packing facilities there.

Ms. Ngo Tuong Vy - Director of Chanh Thu Fruit Import-Export Corporation said that more than 1,400 granted codes are still very few compared to the scale of durian growing areas in Vietnam today.

Thus, entering the second durian crop of 2025 in Vietnam and the main crop of the Central Highlands, the whole country has 1,400 growing area codes and 188 packing facility codes. Ms. Ngo Tuong Vy - Director of Chanh Thu Fruit Import-Export Group Joint Stock Company, one of the leading enterprises in durian export, affirmed that this is a positive signal, showing that the industry has made significant progress after the export setbacks earlier this year.

However, the more than 1,400 codes granted are still very few compared to the scale of the growing areas. To quickly increase this number further, Ms. Ngo Tuong Vy said that transparent management is needed to avoid "a single bad apple spoiling the barrel", causing codes to be revoked and blocking exports like in the first months of the year.

“It is not that Vietnamese durian cannot compete with other countries. The problem is that we lack synchronization in synchronous management. Therefore, each subject from farmers, enterprises to management agencies needs to be clearly aware of their roles and responsibilities. We must be consistent, transparent and work together to perfect the loose links, so that each subject in the chain can feel secure with their part of the job,” Ms. Vy recommended.

Durian is a product line that has contributed greatly to the growth of the agricultural sector, significantly improving the lives of farmers, but the responsibility for building the industry seems to be left to chance and discretion. Meanwhile, the Law on Cultivation was issued in 2018, comprehensively regulating the fields of plant varieties, fertilizers, cultivation, harvesting, processing, etc. but has had little effect on agriculture in general and the durian industry in particular. The National Quality Standards for durian TCVN 10739/2015 is too sketchy and cannot be applied in practice.

Transparency in growing area codes and durian quality control are essentially prerequisites to maintain the industry's reputation.

Mr. Tran Hau Ngoc, Vice Chairman of the National Committee for Standards, Metrology and Quality, expects that the relevant laws and regulations, which are being revised, will promptly absorb new practical requirements to be truly effective in controlling the quality of agricultural products in general and durian in particular.

“The Committee is moving towards building a national basis for measuring quality standards. At that time, all information about standards - regulations and barcodes will be displayed on a system for easy retrieval and easy product reference. At the same time, it is a tool to support farmers to easily grasp the standards and regulations to apply them in practice. The Committee affirms that, in order to enter the large market, standards are the tool for products to integrate with the international market,” said Mr. Ngoc.

According to Huong Ly-Dinh Tuan/VOV-Tay Nguyen/ vov.vn

Source: https://baovinhlong.com.vn/kinh-te/202508/sau-rieng-viet-nam-nganhhangty-do-va-hanh-trinh-khang-dinh-vi-the-xay-dung-ma-vung-thuc-chat-siet-chat-chuoi-gia-tri-cho-vua-trai-cay-ae603c4/