VietGAP products: Still difficult to find output

(Baonghean) - A series of information about products that do not ensure food safety and hygiene makes consumers always worried, wanting to find clean products. But the paradox in the market is that VietGAP products (produced according to good agricultural practices) have low output, high demand, but are difficult to consume...

In recent years, Nghe An province has deployed clean agricultural production according to VietGAP process, applied to vegetables and livestock and poultry. In particular, Vinh City has built a safe vegetable production area according to VietGAP in 4 communes of Nghi An, Nghi Lien, Nghi Kim and Hung Dong; Nghe An Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Product Quality Management has also supported the implementation of production models on vegetables in Hamlet 10, Dien Thanh Commune (Dien Chau), mushrooms in Nam Thanh Commune (Yen Thanh) and dairy cows in Quynh Thang Commune (Quynh Luu). In addition, the Livestock Competitiveness and Food Safety Project (LIFSAP project) has also supported 10 communes in 4 districts of Dien Chau, Nam Dan, Do Luong, Nghi Loc with 30 pig and chicken raising groups including 599 participating households.

Taking care of vegetables in Dien Thanh commune (Dien Chau).

Difficulty in productionto consume…

Vegetable production is a traditional occupation and strength of Nghi Lien commune (Vinh city). From the actual production in the fields, farmers have accumulated a lot of experience in crop rotation and intercropping of vegetables, thereby increasing the land use coefficient up to 4-5 crops/year. And the planning of safe vegetable production areas in the direction of VietGap is the sustainable development orientation of the commune's agriculture. Currently, the total vegetable growing area of ​​the whole commune is 50 hectares, with an average output of 1,500-1,700 tons of vegetables/year; the area of ​​safe vegetables alone is 25 hectares concentrated in hamlets 2, 3, 4, 5; of which 19 households have invested in building 7,042m2 of net houses. But according to Mr. Nguyen Van Can - in hamlet 3: "Growing green vegetables is more difficult than other crops, but because the life cycle of vegetables is short, it can be rotated for many crops. Therefore, if comparing profits, growing vegetables is quite economically efficient. Recently, thanks to the State's policy of supporting electricity lines, water tanks, and wells, vegetable production has become much more favorable. We grow vegetables with strict technical processes because we are not allowed to use fertilizers and stimulants indiscriminately, but the products are being sold in the market like traditionally grown vegetables, which is very unreasonable"...

After implementing the model in Nghi Lien commune, Vinh City provided a number of addresses for vegetable growers to access such as supermarkets, kindergartens and collective kitchens. However, at kindergartens, the transaction contract with the commune only lasted about half a year. The reason is that the schools required the supply of tubers and fruits such as carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, etc. while Nghi Lien mainly produced only leafy vegetables. Or when introducing vegetables at Metro Supermarket, with full certificates of meeting standards, the two sides agreed and reached an agreement that Nghi Lien would provide the supermarket with 300 kg of vegetables every day, a very small amount compared to the daily harvest, but everyone was excited because there was a stable place to consume goods. However, after only a few months, the contract had to be canceled.

The reason is that Nghi Lien vegetables are usually only available from November to April of the following year, while supermarkets require a stable supply of goods all year round. Discussing this, Mr. Tran Duc Oanh - Agricultural Officer of Nghi Lien Commune said: “Nghi Lien Commune has a tradition of growing vegetables, but for a long time people have been growing them spontaneously, out of habit, not according to market demand. Therefore, in the main season, too much is grown such as mustard greens, cabbage, kohlrabi, leading to surplus, while other high-quality vegetables that require good seeds are not available. In addition, the main reason is poor product consumption. When building the project, the city was responsible for purchasing the products, but currently there is no place in the city that sells safe vegetables. No one has even thought of packaging the products to prove that these are “clean vegetables”. Therefore, it is understandable that safe vegetables cannot be distinguished from other types of vegetables.”

The model of "Controlling VietGap vegetables along the chain" in 2012 in Dien Thanh commune (Dien Chau) on an area of ​​9.57 hectares in hamlet 10 with 70 participating households, supported by the Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Product Quality Management of Nghe An, not only opened up hope for innovation in production thinking for farmers, but also contributed to building a "belt" of high-quality green vegetables to supply to Vinh city. However, after being granted VietGAP certification for kohlrabi, cabbage, cauliflower, and bok choy products by the Conformity Certification Center, the output of the products was still difficult...

Not only green vegetables, livestock products also face similar difficulties. In 2012, Dien Trung was one of 10 communes in the whole province selected by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to implement the LIFSAP Project. Mr. Pham Van Can's household (in hamlet 10) was one of the households granted VietGAP certification in 2014. Currently, the farm has 20,000 broilers and 4,000 laying hens; 3 batches are released to the market each year, each batch has 15,000 - 17,000 broilers. The breeding process strictly follows the standards from breeds, feed, hygiene, disease prevention, waste treatment... However, currently this chicken farm mainly sells freely to traders who come directly to buy, and has no "door" to large stores or supermarkets. “To obtain this certification, the entire chicken farming process must comply with extremely strict processes and standards, from breeds, feed to hygiene, disease prevention, and waste treatment.

The breeds have been quarantined and confirmed to be disease-free, and there is a contract between three parties, the breed supplier, the breeding unit and the inspection unit, so that when an incident occurs, there is a timely solution and clear responsibilities. Or, for example, chicken feed must be from a company with a certificate and a red seal from the State and not contain additives that can pose a risk to food safety for consumers. On average, the cost of raising chickens according to VietGAP standards is about 5-10% more expensive than traditional farming, but the current selling price is not higher than the market price of chickens because the market still does not distinguish between VietGAP livestock products and mass farming," said Mr. Pham Van Can.

Development solutionssustainable

Agricultural production according to VietGAP standards was issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in January 2008. Up to now, for vegetables alone, Vinh City People's Committee has implemented the construction of many safe production models following VietGap in suburban communes. According to Mr. Tran Quang Lam - Head of the Economic Department of Vinh City People's Committee, up to now, the city has had many programs, projects, and investment models to support commodity agricultural production. In which, priority is given to the program of expanding production and developing safe vegetable production areas according to VietGap standards and product consumption, but the achieved efficiency is not high. The reason is that the models and programs have not taken into account economic efficiency according to market orientation and have not taken into account the feasibility when people separate from the State's support. This leads to the model of using available budget capital not really setting the goal of business efficiency. Particularly for the greenhouse production model, people are still not diligent and have not yet put in the effort to properly implement the technical farming process; they still lack dynamism and sensitivity in applying and searching for the types of vegetables and fruits that the market needs at each time and each season, etc.

To overcome difficulties and open up development directions for safe vegetables, Vinh City People's Committee has built a project for sustainable development of safe vegetable areas up to 2017. The project's goal is to create a stable safe vegetable production area following VietGap standards with a minimum scale of 50 hectares in the communes of Nghi An, Nghi Lien, Nghi Kim and Hung Dong. Ensure the consumption of all produced goods with a complete system of preliminary processing, processing, preservation and distribution; build the brand "Vinh City Safe Vegetables" to be accepted by consumers and widely consumed in the market; the total cost of implementing the project is over 7 billion VND...

Although production according to VietGAP standards faces many difficulties, this is a solution to improve quality and ensure food safety. According to Mr. Truong Minh Chau - Head of the Department of Crop Production of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development: "A bottleneck that needs to be resolved soon is that agricultural products that meet GAP standards almost do not have their own consumption channels and have not built up consumer trust. What needs to be done first is to strengthen links to build consumption channels to ensure stable prices and product output. It is necessary to build a separate VietGAP product sales area, with vivid visual advertising to raise people's awareness in livestock farming as well as consumption."

Regarding the consumption of vegetables, Mr. Duong Van Hung - Head of the Nghe An Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Product Quality Management said: "The budget from national target programs only supports the development of VietGAP procedures for planting and harvesting, but the preliminary processing stage has not been done yet. To comply with GAP standards, in addition to recording and monitoring during the production process, when harvesting, there must be a preliminary processing house, and unqualified products must be removed. And the most important thing to build trust for consumers is that the product must have product packaging and a brand logo. And at this stage, producers must pay their own investment costs, but people still rely on the budget support. To overcome difficulties, districts and communes must coordinate with provincial agencies to improve the quality and food safety of agricultural, forestry and fishery products. Currently, the Department has requested the Department of Agriculture to advise the Provincial People's Committee to develop a project "Strengthening and improving the capacity of quality management" food safety" according to Decision 809 of the Prime Minister.

VietGAP products have been present in the market, but have not been accepted by consumers because there is no basis or criteria for recognition. The role of the management sector is to connect the two parties to exchange, sign contracts for the supply and consumption of VietGAP agricultural products and continue to monitor to resolve any problems. The price being 5% - 10% higher is not a difficulty when consumers' awareness recognizes that food safety helps protect health. Therefore, producers must prove to customers that their products are produced according to VietGAP standards in terms of identification. When the product has a brand, with the VietGAP logo, distributors, intermediaries, importers and consumers will feel secure in buying and using it. From there, creating production efficiency and competition in the market.

Ngoc Anh