Two women are carrying basket of lychee harvested in northern Hai Duong province’s Thanh Ha district (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The provision of irradiation services for fresh fruit exports in Hanoi has created many benefits for enterprises, experts have said.
The Hanoi Irradiation Centre (HIC) on June 23 for the first time irradiated two tonnes of lychees destined for Australia. The centre was expected to help lychee exporters save on storage and transportation costs as well as time, as they did not need to ship the lychees to the south for irradiation treatment, said Dam Quang Thang, Director of Agricare Vietnam, one of the two companies getting their lychees irradiated at the HIC.
In working with the HIC, the company had reduced its irradiation costs by 20,000 VND per kilogramme of lychees compared with having them irradiated in HCM City, so the move was better for the business in terms of corporate benefits, he said.
On the same day, Rong Do Manufacturing, Commerce and Services Company also brought lychees to the HIC for treatment.
Nguyen Quang Thieu, Director of the HIC, said the irradiation time for each batch of products was some 1.5 hours and the irradiation capacity at the centre had reached 20-30 tonnes per day. After the irradiation process, all products reaching export standards are transported to the airport.
Thieu said the centre was scheduled to irradiate 10 tonnes of lychees for Rong Do Company for export to Australia. In addition, some six other companies have registered for irradiation services at the centre for their export products.
The centre expects to provide irradiation services for 100 tonnes of export-bound lychees this year, he said.
Hoang Trung, Head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Plant Protection Department, said Australia was currently one of the most demanding export markets. However, in recent years, Vietnam’s lychees have entered the market, and these exports have brought high income for farmers and enterprises.
On June 20, 2016, the HIC received official certification from Australia’s Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, he said. This would be an advantage for lychee exporters because the northern region supplies most of the country’s lychees for export.
Irradiation is a safe technology that helps kill bacteria and micro-organisms and keeps fruit fresh for longer periods, even up to a few months.-VNA
