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Golden cashew festival shows way to escape from poverty
President Nguyen Minh Triet has used Viet Nam's first Golden Cashew Festival to explain the importance of the tree, especially in the south-eastern and Central Highland provinces.
Although low in productivity, it was easy to plant and nurture, he said.
The fruit could be harvested within three or four years while other industrial trees, such as rubber, took much longer.
These properties made it suitable for poor households and minority people and would help them escape poverty, he said.
The President spoke while attending the opening of the four-day Golden Cashew Festival at Dong Xoai, southeastern Binh Phuoc Province, about 88km northwest of Ho Chi Minh City, with senior Government officials from Cambodia and Laos on Saturday.
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Cashew expo puts advantages before the public
A Viet Nam cashew industry expo opened last Thursday with more than 400 booths displaying cashew seed, products made of cashew and cashew manufacturing and processing machinery that prestigious domestic and foreign companies use.
The expo includes film displays, plans for Viet Nam's cashew industry, Binh Phuoc Province's socio-economic achievements and explanations of the workings of the cashew industry.
Officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development emphasised that the festival had helped establish the domestic cashew industry's trademark.
Viet Nam supplies more than 50 countries and territories with cashew and the US buys 25 per cent of the total production.
Viet Nam earned more than US$846 from the export of more than 177,000 tonnes of cashew last year - mostly to the US, China and Holland - Viet Nam Cashew Association figures show.
Exports are expected to total 170,000-180,000 tonnes this year with a revenue of $1 billion. | The province needed to apply science and technology to propagate high- quality cashew seed capable of more than one or two tonnes per hectare, he said.
And domestic cashew manufacturers should co-operate to seek export markets and increase the international status of Viet Nam's cashew.
"Binh Phuoc Province should become known not only as Viet Nam's cashew capital but should also aim to control its value and production as well as increase income for residents."
This would require co-operation not only from its neighbouring provinces but also Laos and Cambodia, he said.
Binh Phuoc People's Committee deputy chairman Bui Van Thach said the festival, which ends tomorrow, was intended to promote the Viet Nam cashew trademark, cashew industry and growers.
It also offered cashew manufacturers and growers the chance to exchange information about the scientific and technological advances in the growing and processing of cashew and ways to expand both the domestic and international market.
A meeting with Indian and Brazillian exporters to discuss the establishment of the International Cashew Association was also to be held during the festival.
Binh Phuoc Party Committee secretary Nguyen Tan Hung said the purpose of the festival was to find ways to produce heavy volume, high-quality cashew to meet domestic and export demand.
The establishment of a cashew trading floor, an exhibition of items made from cashew, street parades and fireworks displays are part of the festival.
"Strategies to develop the cashew business in Viet Nam" and "Building and developing local and national trademarks for the cashew industry" were also to be discussed.
Concerts of southwestern music, gong music as part of a Central Highland musical contest and a volleyball championship were held during the festival.
Twenty companies and individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the domestic cashew industry were presented with "Golden Cashew" awards.
Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong donated 200,000 cashew saplings to representatives of the Cambodia and Laos governments.
Viet Nam's first electronic cashew trading floor opened in Dong Xoai, southeastern Binh Phuoc Province, on Saturday as part of the Golden Cashew Festival.
Its sponsor was Sacombank, whose director, Phan Vu Hung, said the trading floor was to help farmers, manufacturers and exporters do their trading in the quickest and most convenient way.
The cashew would be tested for quality and purchased through Sacombank Group affiliate, the Sai Gon Thuong Tin Commodity Exchange Company.
The bank wanted to create added value for agricultural produce, particularly cashew, he said.
The participating businesses would avoid price fluctuations.
Binh Phuoc People's Committee deputy chairman Bui Van Thach said the floor offered a modern trading system, fair competition, easy access to credit, and price insurance to help companies profit from effective investment.
It was considered a model in the country's development and integration into the global market and was intended to create transparency for the cashew market and increase profits for the local people, he said.
The floor attracted hundreds of foreign and domestic traders on the opening day.
Farm market researcher Blandina Kilama said she was surprised at the quality and volume of the produce displayed at the festival.
"The festival provides a more comprehensive view of the cashew industry in Viet Nam and the challenges to which Vietnamese businesses have responded", she said.
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