Cat Chu mangos of Dong Thap province. Thanks to being granted codes for the mango planting areas, the province has gained advantage in exporting this kind of fruit (Photo: VNA)Traceability is a must-have requirement for every product,especially in export markets. One of the key factors in traceability is theplanting area of materials to be assigned a code. Each planting area with acode will create more confidence for consumers.
Hoang Trung, Director of MARD's Plant Protection Department, saidthe granting of codes and management of coded planting areas and packingfacilities are the department's top priorities in developing agriculturalproduction and farm produce exports.
Vietnam has about 4,000 planting areas and 2,000 packingfacilities for farm produce in 50 provinces and cities that have been coded.The agricultural products include fruits, rice, coffee, pepper, cashew andwood.
According to the ministry, in the first eight months of 2022, theexport value of agriculture, forestry and fishery reached 36.3 billion USD, up13.1% over the same period in 2021.
With this growth in the export value of agricultural products, theagricultural sector must increase the number of new planting regions beinggranted codes and maintain the management quality of the coded planting areas.
The ministry has assigned about 90% of the coded planting regionsto the localities managing their quality of them since 2021.
Localities are responsible for granting the code to the newplanting areas and reviewing the areas with codes. Then it would report thisissue to the Plant Protection Department.
The department will review all dossiers requiring granting codesfor planting areas before sending the procedures to countries importing localagricultural products to confirm the codes.
Meanwhile, the localities manage and maintain the coded plantingareas and packing facilities.
The product quality of the planting areas with codes is animportant issue because the import markets of Vietnam's agricultural productsalways inform the Plant Protection Department about those products in case theproducts from those coded planting areas are not quality as required.
Therefore, it is necessary to manage the quality of theagricultural production in the coded planting areas, creating the quality ofthe value chain from the first step in production.
An Giang province supplies a large volume of raw materials forexport, such as rice, fruits and aquatic products. Therefore, developing codedplanting areas of the materials and coded packaging facilities is necessary toimprove the value of agricultural products, exploiting the advantages of thelocal agricultural products.
An Giang has planned to develop and grant codes for 1,800 plantingareas for agricultural products and 30 packaging facilities in the province by2025.
Truong Kien Tho, Deputy Director of the An Giang Department ofAgriculture and Rural Development, said the province had granted codes for 252planting areas and 21 packaging facilities, including 146 planting areas offruit trees, one area of vegetables (chilli) and 105 areas of glutinous rice.
In addition, An Giang is promoting coordination with enterprisesexporting farm produce in developing coded areas planting rice and glutinousrice, and fruits exported to high-end markets such as Australia, the US, the EU,Japan, China, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea.
It is important to manage the quality of the coded planting areasand also grant the codes for new planting areas, Tho said.
Meanwhile, Dong Thap province targets to grant codes for allplanting areas and packaging facilities by 2025, according to Le Quoc Dien, DeputyDirector of Dong Thap province's Department of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment.
All agricultural product processing and trading facilities in theprovince must have a traceability system to meet the requirements of exportmarkets.
Now, Dong Thap cooperates with businesses, such as Loc Troi Group,Golden Gate JSC and Westemfarm Co, Ltd, to purchase products from coddedplanting areas for exporting to the US, Japan, the EU, Australia and China.
This province has also enhanced training to improve knowledge ofsafe production, granting and managing coded planting areas and packaging facilities,Dien said.
One of the province's key export fruits is mango, with a plantingarea of 14,000ha, accounting for 33.7% of the province's total fruit tree area.The province ranks second in the Mekong Delta region regarding mango output.Thanks to being granted codes for the mango planting areas, the province hasgained an advantage in exporting this kind of fruit./.
VNA
