Too few agricultural products have been assigned planting area codes.

"Losing at home"?

Like many provinces nationwide, Nghe An has a strong agricultural sector with key products ranging from crop cultivation to livestock farming and aquaculture. For a long time, Nghe An has been a renowned source of industrial crops, including coffee in Phu Quy district; tea in Thanh Chuong and Anh Son districts; cinnamon in Quy Chau and Que Phong districts; rubber in Nghia Dan and Tan Ky districts; sugarcane in Nghia Dan and Quy Hop districts; peanuts in Dien Chau and Nghi Loc districts; pineapples in Yen Thanh and Quynh Luu districts; and Vinh oranges in Quy Hop and Yen Thanh districts.

However, in recent years, due to difficulties in agricultural production and economic restructuring, although maintaining the scale of production, Nghe An has lost its position as a key agricultural product. Currently, Nghe An's agricultural products are scarce in supermarkets and fruit stalls.

A long-time leader at Agrimex, the Nghe An Agricultural Products Import-Export Corporation, said: "Previously, even though Nghe An's agriculture wasn't as developed, famous fruit stalls in Vinh City and the districts always had Quy Hop oranges or tangerines, Quang Tien pink pomelos (Thai Hoa town), and watermelons from Quynh Luu and Nghia Dan... However, now Vinh oranges are almost only available during the peak season. This summer, Nghe An's agricultural products are limited to Taiwanese guavas, various types of grapes, or imported cantaloupes grown in greenhouses, supplying clean fruit stalls or OCOP product showrooms. However, these products have weak brands and small-scale operations, making it difficult to promote them and expand their production."

Meanwhile, there are many fruit products from other provinces such as durian, Dien pomelo, green-skinned pomelo from the South, avocado (Dak Lak), Phuc Trach pomelo (Ha Tinh), Cao Phong orange (Hoa Binh), plums from Lai Chau and Son La, custard apple (Lang Son)... and high-quality fruits imported from Thailand, the US, and Japan. Therefore, it can be said that Nghe An's agricultural products are gradually losing market share right in their "home turf".

Agricultural experts believe that, among many reasons, food quality and safety are the most important factors. Currently, we produce a lot of agricultural products, especially during peak seasons, but in a fragmented manner. In addition, while there are many projects and plans in the agricultural sector, especially for fruit trees, they are ineffective due to a lack of resources and scattered allocation, leading to overuse of pesticides and rapid degradation of plant varieties. In Nghe An province, three years ago, there was a project to develop key crops and livestock and a project to develop citrus fruit trees, but for various reasons, these have not yielded results.

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An expert at the Nghe An Food Safety and Hygiene Management Department analyzed: Consumer standards are also changing; agricultural products must improve in quality and branding, but many agricultural products are declining in quality and therefore cannot compete, forcing domestic consumers to switch to imported agricultural products…

Representatives from the Provincial Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection also acknowledged: Except for sugarcane, tea, and pineapple, which are maintaining their raw material areas, the raw material areas for other agricultural products that are strengths of Nghe An, such as peanuts and rubber, are sharply decreasing. This reality means we are not only gradually losing traditional markets but also finding it difficult to penetrate international market segments. For example, in the past, during the peanut harvest season, dozens of large enterprises would come to Dien Chau and Quynh Luu districts every day to buy peanuts for processing and export to China and India. Now, large agricultural export enterprises have almost disappeared. Instead, only private enterprises collect peanuts and transport them to agents in Quang Ninh and Lang Son for processing and sale to China.

Develop planting area codes and traceability labels.

At a recent training workshop on traceability skills and knowledge for agricultural products in the North Central region held in Vinh City, Dr. Tran Manh Tuyen, a senior expert and advisor on anti-counterfeiting technology in Vietnam, shared an experience and survey from his business trip to Europe: Due to a long business trip, he went to a supermarket in Belgium to buy Vietnamese fruit. Unfortunately, after searching through all the shelves, he found products from Thailand and Cambodia, but absolutely no Vietnamese fruit at that time. This puzzled him and his colleagues, who learned that some fresh Vietnamese fruit products could not enter Europe because they lacked traceability codes for cultivation areas. Therefore, it is possible that some businesses in Europe possess these codes and are willing to buy Vietnamese fruit, process it, then affix their own labels and tags, naturally selling it at a much higher price.

Based on the above reality and to facilitate the entry of Vietnamese agricultural products into major markets, the National Assembly enacted the Law on Crop Production in 2018, in which Article 64 stipulates the establishment of planting area codes. On this basis, in 2018, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 100/QD-TTg approving the Project on the implementation, application, and management of the traceability system. After 5 years of implementation, several provinces such as Bac Giang, Hung Yen, Son La, Lang Son, Ben Tre, Dong Thap, Soc Trang, Tien Giang… have established planting area codes for some of their strong agricultural products, along with the application of smart technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to affix labels and electronic chips for agricultural product traceability. As a result, these products have now entered demanding markets such as the EU, Japan, and the Americas.

A recent challenge for Vietnamese agricultural products since the beginning of 2024 is that China, despite being a large and relatively lenient market, has announced that it will only import fresh fruits with certified growing area codes from Vietnam. At several forums, representatives from the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, confirmed this information and advised localities exporting fresh fruits to China to proactively guide farmers in developing documentation for growing area codes and affixing traceability codes.

Mr. Pham Van Tho, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Anti-Counterfeiting Technology Joint Stock Company, stated: The issuance of planting area codes and the affixing of electronic labels and chips to Vietnamese agricultural products now have a complete legal basis, and the Government has publicly disclosed some products and planting area codes on the National Online Public Service Portal. To facilitate the traceability of exported agricultural products, businesses and cooperatives need to take two necessary and sufficient steps: building a traceability code profile for planting areas according to planning, allocating areas, monitoring indicators on acreage, supervising the cultivation process and the use of pesticides, and affixing electronic labels and chips to record, store, and manage product information. After scanning, this information will be transferred to the TrueData data storage system; then, at each stage, the relevant authorities and customers can scan the data to distinguish it from similar products with counterfeit labels and tags.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Duc, Head of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection of Nghe An province, said: The development of planting area codes mainly serves the export of fruits and fulfills the conditions and criteria of the new rural development goals. In the past, Nghe An has supported several businesses and cooperatives in building dossiers, thereby granting trademarks, QR codes, and intellectual property certificates for 222 products. Nghe An is one of the localities with many products under the One Commune One Product (OCOP) program, but mainly focuses on the domestic market, so cooperatives and households are not yet enthusiastic about developing planting area codes and traceability systems.

Currently, the task of guiding the development of traceability codes for growing areas in localities is assigned to the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection. However, in Nghe An, because farmers have not yet seen the benefits, no units or products have registered to develop growing area codes. Localities have only registered model farms and smallholdings to develop production and livestock farming areas according to VietGAP, GlobalGAP, and organic production models, etc.

Therefore, in the near future, businesses, cooperatives, and greenhouse owners should proactively explore and develop planting area codes for their export products. Along with increased communication and awareness-raising efforts, the involvement and collaboration of businesses and scientists are needed to guide farmers in establishing these codes. Furthermore, for sustainable development and market expansion, agricultural businesses and cooperatives should familiarize themselves with purchasing electronic labels and chips to facilitate traceability and combat counterfeiting; and simultaneously enhance their skills in online sales and marketing, or livestreaming, to introduce their products to customers.

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According to the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the planting area code is an identification number for a planting area used to monitor and control production, control pests, and trace the origin of agricultural products. For fruit trees, the minimum planting area code is 10 hectares; for herbs and spices, it depends on the actual area of ​​the greenhouse/net house and the requirements of the importing country. For other crops, the requirements of the importing country must be followed. In cases where the importing country requires a buffer zone or other area requirements, those requirements must be met.