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Fruit growers struggle to meet export standards
Vietnamese farmers and orchard owners are losing out on export opportunities because their fruit do not meet global standards of cultivation and processing, experts say.
They are also put at a disadvantage by the lack of a proper distribution network as well as resources needed to upgrade cultivation methods, they add.
Bui Van Sich, a farmer in the Tien Giang Province’s Cai Lay District, said he used to grow longan earlier as they fetched a high price of VND23,000 (US$1.30) a kilogram.
But he says he has since had to chop down the trees and switch to other fruit as prices fell to VND15,000, VND10,000 and VND8,000 kilogram over the last several years.
Dr. Le Huu Hai, head of the district’s agriculture and rural development department, said a poor distribution network prevented fruit from being sold nationwide. Even during the peak season, many regions still had no fruit to buy, he noted.
The lack of a wider market base meant lesser control over prices because demand was confined to a smaller number of outlets.
Hai said fruit distribution should be based on demand in different localities nationwide.
He also said local farmers should grow fruits under the Global GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) standards.
Global GAP, formerly known as Eurep GAP, is a set of farm management standards created by European supermarket chains.
“The standard helps reduce nearly 50 percent of expenses and boost harvests by more than 30 percent,” said Nguyen Van Ngan, director of the fruit co-operative Lo Ren Vinh Kim, which is among the few local farms that have obtained the Global GAP certificate from the European Fruit and Vegetable Trade Association.
The co-operative has also been recognized by the US Department of Agriculture as one of only five Vietnamese fruit packaging plants that meet its standards.
The lack of resources including limited output, shortage of investment and many farmers still sticking to traditional production methods has prevented more regions from adopting the standard.
“Buyers in Ho Chi Minh City last month ordered 70 containers of Nam Roi pomelo (equal to 1,120 tons) for export to Europe. But we could not take up the order because very few of our pomelos met the Global GAP standard,” said Nguyen Van Nghia, deputy director of the Nam Roi My Hoa fruit co-operative in Vinh Long Province.
Ngan said the co-operative had to turn down another order for 16 tons of star apples early this year because of a similar problem.
High costs, poor figures
Fruit export figures currently available in the country are not detailed enough to enable experts and officials to make plans to offset a fall in orders or other exigencies, said Dr. Nguyen Minh Chau, director of the Southern Fruit Research Institute.
According to the Vietnam Fruit Association, fruit and vegetable export turnover last year rose 33 percent to $407 million, the highest over the last five years.
This figure does not show how much revenue was earned by fruits like pineapple, litchi, dragon fruit and longan, for instance, Chau said.
“For example, we will raise the planting area of dragon fruit if its export turnover increases. In contrast, if we know it has slumped, we will try to find out why,” he said.
Chau also pointed out that Vietnam’s airfreight charges, which remain higher than Thailand’s, pushes up prices of the exported fruits and lowers their competitiveness.
He warned that a lack of close cooperation between farmers and exporters, and among farmers themselves was also hampering fruit exports.
Dragon fruit
Vietnamese dragon fruit was given the green light to enter the US market in July last year and several shipments have already been made.
In central Binh Thuan Province, 250,000 tons of dragon fruits are harvested each year.
Exports of the fruit to the US, Eastern European and Northern Asian markets account for only 10 percent of this output, while 25 percent is consumed domestically and the remainder is exported to China.
But the fruit is mainly sold to dealers at the border, not large importers. Many Vietnamese vendors often carry their produce to Chinese markets without a contract, forcing prices down and leading to market glut situations.
In early April, tons of fruit for export without proper registration didn’t find buyers and went rotten at the Tan Thanh Border Gate in Lang Son Province, media reports said.
According to a bilateral trade agreement, from July 1 onwards, watermelon, longan, lychee, banana, cassava and dragon fruit exported to China must be harvested and packed by registered orchards and packaging factories.
thanhnien
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