The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has issued new decision, in which 70 per cent of local cashew processing plants have to meet the standards of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) by 2010.
The target is set at the time that demand for safe farm produces in general, and cashew nuts in particular, is stricter.
Under the decision on planning cashew development, the ministry will reduce small-size processing units in the sector that are not up to food hygiene and safety standards as well as encourage co-ordination in setting up big processing units with modern technologies.
The ministry also instructed cashew industry to focus on improving cashew nut quality and keep its processing capacity at 715,000 tons of raw cashew nuts per year.
Accordingly, the industry will process 500,000 tons of domestic raw cashew nuts by 2010. The rest will be imported.
The tropical plant will also continue to be harvested on the current 400,000ha of land by 2020. Average capacity is projected to be 1.4 to 2 tons per ha in high yield areas from which the MARD hopes to achieve an export turnover of US$670 million.
Presently, Vietnam, the world biggest cashew nut exporter, has around 230 enterprises with cashew processing factories in the country, but only 10 of them have been granted ISO9001:2000 and only seven others have met HACCP standards.
To reach its ambitious target, the cashew sector will have to rethink its system of researching, choosing and creating domestic varieties in order to grow new varieties over 50 per cent of their farming area by 2010, the ministry said.
The MARD will also help farmers to set up intensive farms in harmony with the surrounding environment, alongside investing in infrastructure in concentrated growing areas, strengthening agricultural extension and building models to transfer new varieties and advanced technologies.
According to Vietnam Superintendence and Inspection Joint Stock Company (Vinacontrol), cashew nut producers and exporters should make investment plans to renovate facilities and technologies and focus on controlling hygiene and safety by carefully selecting cashew for processing, packaging, sterilising, storage and transport.
One good strategy would be to build a system managing quality of technologies up to HACCP standards and practice production following Good Manufacturing Product standard or standard ISO 9001:2000, the company said.
Over the past eight months of 2007, Vietnamese enterprises exported 96,000 tons of cashew nuts, raking in US$396 million and making on year rises of 20.5 per cent in volume and 24.4 per cent in value. (VNS)
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