According to the assessments of scientists and businessmen, Mekong Delta’s agricultural output has increased rapidly in recent years. However, analyses of each field as well as the safety and sustainability of agricultural products still show many shortcomings.
Concentrate production of promising agricultural products
The Mekong Delta’s agricultural and aqua products have played an important role in the development of the industry and services sectors, particularly ensuring materials for the food and foodstuff processing industry. According to statistics from the Ministry of Trade, export volumes of Vietnamese agricultural products have increased 13.5 per cent annually over the past 10 years. In November 2005 alone, Vietnam exported 4.99 million tonnes of rice, earning US$1.33 billion, up 48 per cent over the same period last year (in which Mekong Delta’s products made up a rather large proportion).
According to Prof Vo Xuan Tong, Head of An Giang University, in the near future when Vietnam has joined the WTO, traditional farming methods will not be able to produce products with high enough competitiveness to trade on the world’s market. Therefore, it is necessary to change production methods. Accordingly, the first task is concentrated production of promising plants such as: rice, mango, grapefruit, orange, mulberry, durian (sau rieng), star apple (vu sua), peanut, green peas and aqua products such as catfish, shrimp and crabs.
In order to increase competitiveness, Vietnamese agricultural products in general and Mekong Delta’s in particular have to meet a number of demands of the market such as: homogenous and high quality products, production in large quantities at the most competitive prices. Solutions to meet those requirements are closely linked to the activities of farmers, scientists, the State and enterprises.
Therefore, the role of management is to plan and organise key and high-quality production areas, to gather individuals, producers and enterprises in groups specialising in steps namely: producing, supplying materials, processing, packaging, distributing and exporting. In addition, food management agencies play the most important role in ensuring the quality of products, and meeting strict requirements of consumers for food hygiene and safety.
Boost the establishment of cooperatives
Despite the increase of export volume of agricultural products, export of fruit has slowly increased compared with its output. The reasons for this include unsafe production and bad packaging. Specifically, in the Agricultural Fair held in Can Tho city in late 2004, authorities took 26 kinds of fruit for analysis. The results showed that 10 kinds had the permitted amount of preservative and 3 kinds had surpluses, namely Nam Roi grapefruit (Soc Trang), Da Xanh grapefruit (Ben Tre) and mandarin orange (Dong Thap).
Another important issue making Vietnamese fruit less competitive on the market is the less effective strategy on fruit trade marking. According to statistics, in recent years, nine out of eleven corporations run by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have registered brands for 102 fruit products but only four out of one hundred and seven products have been registered aboard. Only 15 out of 58 members of Vietnam Fruit Association have applied for domestic trademark protection. Quality, packaging and the reputation of Vietnamese fruit lags behind those of other fruit exporters such as China and Thailand. These are some of the difficulties that we will face in our integration into the world’s economy.
According to Dr. Vo Mai – President of Vietnam’s Fruit Association, to increase the competitiveness of our fruit on the market, it is necessary to abolish private business, focusing on the establishment of cooperatives, creating specialised growing areas in localities, identifying key plants to grow such as thanh long (dragon fruit), mango, vu sua (star apple), mangosteen (mang cut), as demands for high-quality and homogenous products in large quantities will increase in the coming time.
However, alongside development of agriculture, we must ensure consumers, producers and environmental safety. Local authorities should organise training classes, conference on GAP, developing monitoring and evaluation system to give GAP certificate to safe and high-quality products. “In addition, it is necessary to work out a market development strategy, develop a reputable trademark, apply for product protection domestically as well as abroad and develop a trade promotion plan”, emphasised Dr. Mai.
Apply advanced scientific techniques to production
In the implementation of the above measures, relevant agencies should pay attention to swift applications of advanced techniques, particularly breed and farming ones to minimise losses after harvest. According to reports from Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry, thanks to the applications of new breeds to production, our agricultural output has increased 30 per cent over the past few years. However, such breeds have not met increasing demands.
Based on research, the applications of advanced farming techniques have gained important results, increasing output, reducing price, enhancing quality and competitiveness of products and increasing producers’ income. Only in the Mekong Delta region, thanks to such applications, the price of rice has decreased by 30 per cent.
In the next five-year plan, to quickly apply advanced farming techniques to production, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, relevant agencies and local authorities should continue to perfect production processes, implement the Government’s Decree on agricultural extension, considering such applications a breakthrough which help enhance the productivity, quality and competitiveness of products as well as increasing the living standards of the local community.
Hai Nguyen
Vietnamese
