Chain Value: Fruit & Vegetables

VCCI and GTZ (Germany) recently organised a seminar on the chain value of fruit and vegetables as part of the project on SME development in Vietnam. Speaking at the seminar, Mr Vu Manh Hai, Head of Vietnam’s Fruit and Vegetable Institute, pointed out that Vietnam has recorded encouraging growth in fruit and vegetables. In 2004, the area increased to 1.2 million hectares with an output of 14 tonnes (vegetable and spices : 600,000 hectares and 8 million tonnes, fruit : 700,000 hectares and 6 million tonnes). In the past 10 years, the area increased 5 per cent a year in vegetable and 6.5 per cent in fruit.

 

Meanwhile, Ms Le Thi Minh Trang, Quality Manager, Metro Cash and Carry VN, said that Vietnamese fruit and vegetables are mainly purchased and distributed by traders without standard packaging and transport, seriously affecting their quality. Metro Cash and Carry will cooperate with GTZ and the Trade Ministry to develop a distribution network for domestic consumption and export, assisting in management and technology. Benefactors will be farmers and traders. The project is valued at Euro 400,000 and will be implemented over three years (2005-2007).