Agricultural products in Nghe An with competitiveness in the integration period

(Baonghean) - Nghe An is implementing the Project on restructuring the agricultural sector, in which improving the competitiveness of agricultural products is a core goal to meet TPP integration. Applying high technology to production and selecting key subjects for investment are selective solutions that Nghe An is aiming for.

Identify limitations and weaknesses

As a province with strengths in agricultural production, Nghe An has achieved many achievements in this field. Large food output, many specialized industrial crop areas, many large commodity agricultural areas such as corn, peanuts, rice, high-quality rice area accounts for 1/3; forming many concentrated raw material areas for processing and export industry such as: tea raw material area of ​​about 8,000 hectares in districts: Thanh Chuong, Anh Son, Con Cuong, high-quality Shan Tuyet tea in Ky Son; rubber areas in Nghia Dan, Tan Ky, Thai Hoa, Quy Hop, Anh Son,... raw sugarcane area of ​​26,000 hectares in districts: Quy Hop, Tan Ky, Anh Son... peanut export area of ​​over 20,000 hectares, concentrated aquaculture area of ​​nearly 2,000 hectares.

Model of growing melons using Israeli drip irrigation technology in Anh Son district.

However, Nghe An's agriculture and rural areas still have shortcomings and limitations. Although agriculture has grown quite well, it is not sustainable and has low competitiveness; the structure of agriculture and rural economy has changed slowly. Although the average growth rate is 4-5%/year, it is easily affected by natural disasters, epidemics and market fluctuations. The economic structure has changed but slowly, and cultivation still accounts for a high proportion.

The productivity, quality and competitiveness of many agricultural products are still low; post-harvest preservation and processing are still underdeveloped, so the quality of many agricultural products is still low. Most agricultural products are consumed and exported in raw, unprocessed form, so the added value is very low and there is no brand. As for rice, most people still consume good rice from the South or Lao and Thai rice. Even Nghe An shrimp produces thousands of tons each year but is still mainly consumed domestically.

In addition, the quality and food hygiene and safety are low. The linkage between the four houses still has many limitations in creating a chain from production to consumption of agricultural products. The forms of linkage in production are still loose, lacking constraints, ineffective and have many limitations. Therefore, Nghe An's agricultural products are abundant but not "strong", agricultural exports are very limited, lacking competitiveness in integration.

The situation of intensive production, excessive use of fertilizers, chemicals, pesticides, growth stimulants and the creation of a lot of waste from concentrated livestock farming areas, concentrated aquaculture, etc. creates toxic residues in agricultural products, increases the resistance and mutation of pests; environmental pollution is increasing, especially in craft villages and there is no effective solution to overcome it. This situation requires innovation in agricultural production, in order to create competitive goods.

3 breakthrough directions to promote advantages

Building a value chain from production to consumption in which consumer needs are of primary concern is a new direction and a top priority solution. Grasping the needs of consumers for clean vegetables, Tam Nguyen Agricultural Investment and Development Joint Stock Company (Vinh City) has made a breakthrough in building a value chain in the production and consumption of safe vegetables.

Clean vegetable model in Nam Tan commune (Nam Dan) of Tam Nguyen Agricultural Investment and Development Joint Stock Company.

From the stages of production preparation, production to marketing, sales and consumption, the company has carried out professionally. With determination, the company has rented land from farmers in Nam Tan commune (Nam Dan), Quynh Luong commune (Quynh Luu) to grow clean vegetables (cabbage, amaranth, lettuce, tomatoes...), raise clean pigs and form a chain of stores supplying clean vegetables in the city. The company has also been accepted by a company in Japan to grow cherry tomatoes.

With its closed-loop efforts in production and consumption, the model of Tam Nguyen Agricultural Investment and Development Joint Stock Company is being highly appreciated. Nghe An Agricultural Materials Joint Stock Company has also built a value chain from rice production to building processing and consumption factories. This is the only enterprise in the province that purchases and invests in rice processing factories to increase the value of rice for consumption.

Solving the preservation and processing stage well is an inevitable direction that must be made efforts to implement. Every year, Nghe An produces nearly 1.2 million tons of food. In addition, there are 28,000 - 29,000 hectares of sugarcane, with an output of over 2,000,000 tons, 110,000 - 130,000 tons of fresh tea buds, 54,000 tons of oranges, 30,000 tons of passion fruit, 300,000 tons of vegetables, a total herd of buffaloes and cows of about 780,000, and a total output of fresh meat for slaughter of 30,000 tons. However, the preservation and processing stage is still very manual, almost thanks to God. Only a few have invested in technology for processing such as tea buds, sugarcane, and passion fruit.

In particular, the locality has the largest total output of cows and buffaloes in the country, but has not yet had any food processing plants. The same goes for pork production, which is being completely butchered and sold fresh meat without any processing plants. The same goes for corn, the whole province currently has 55,000 hectares of corn, but processing and preservation are mainly dependent on the weather. The province's processing support mechanism has not yet come into practice.

Nghe An has issued a mechanism to support investment for farmers in processing agricultural, forestry and aquatic products, but the mechanism is not strong enough so people do not have the conditions to invest. This problem has existed for a long time but has not been resolved. The link between farmers - scientists - the state - enterprises is showing confusion here.

Tea harvesting in Thanh Chuong. Photo TL

Scientists have not yet demonstrated their role in helping people create a product with higher value after processing. Therefore, this issue needs to attract investment to ensure the increase of product value after production. Households should be given loans to buy processing machines, with full interest support or a large part of the machine's value...

Oranges, commercial cows, dairy cows, tea, high-quality rice, clean vegetables, clean melons... will be the agricultural products selected by the province and encouraged for people to invest in to create a large supply to meet the domestic and export markets.

Currently, for the dairy cows of TH Group, Vinamilk in Nghia Dan, Tan Ky, Quynh Luu, Thai Hoa Town districts..., the commercial cows of the people are also showing high efficiency, especially some newly imported Australian cow farms. The tea areas are attracting strategic investors, in which investors in Japan are also researching and investing.

Clean vegetables always have a wide open market but the supply is very limited, and clean fruit models that meet export standards still have a large domestic market. Mr. Pham Van Tien - Director of Tam Nguyen Agricultural Investment and Development Joint Stock Company said: Producing clean vegetables is a right direction that the enterprise is actively implementing. The first stage will certainly have many difficulties, but with the support of consumers, the company believes it will be successful.

Pearl