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Sapa vegetable exporters prosper
Organic vegetable exports in Vietnam’s northern border province Lao Cai have been surprisingly resilient despite falling agriculture exports nationwide due to the global financial crisis.
Nong Hien Co. Ltd, a prosperous exporter of Sapa-grown vegetables, earmarked an area for safe vegetable production in 2006 and employs hundreds of local workers. In 2008, the company exported 3,000 tonnes of vegetables to Taiwan, reporting revenues of nearly 8 billion VND.
According to company manager Ly Tam Trien, the seeds were imported from Taiwan, and planted in fields around 1,000m above sea level. The fields are irrigated by clean, natural water from local streams, and no insecticides or other hazardous chemicals are used in the growth process.
The company plans to expand its business, buying up additional farmland and employing more local people to access the Thai and Singapore markets as well. This year, the company is expected to increase its export volume to Taiwan by more than 2,000 tonnes.
Ethnic people in many communes around Sapa have shifted from rice farming to growing vegetables for export. Resultantly, they have markedly increased their incomes, from 12 million VND per ha of rice to 180-200 million VND a year from vegetables.
Sapa is cooler than most of the rest of Vietnam year-round, and has fertile soil and large areas of land suitable for growing vegetables.
According to the General Statistics Office, vegetable and fruit exports in the first two months of this year increased 0.6 percent compared to the same period last year, while nearly all other staple exports saw declines – agricultural, forest and fishery products saw revenues of nearly 2 billion USD, falling 5.3 percent year-on-year./.
Vietnamplus
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