Nguyen Do Anh Tuan, Director of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development, said Vietnam’s agricultural products lack in quality and branding, which hinders their official access to big markets. Therefore, Vietnamese agricultural producers need to change their mindsets and production capabilities in order to meet the demands and standards of those markets, he suggested.

Huy Long An Co. Ltd., based in the Mekong Delta province of Long An, is among the pioneering exporters of agricultural products to Japan and the Republic of Korea, earning millions of USD per year.

According to Vo Quan Huy, Director of the Huy Long An Co. Ltd., in order to ship agricultural products to these two strict markets via official channels, the company must ensure that over 200 ha of its banana farms meet not only the VietGAP standards, but also hundreds of criteria of the two markets in terms of land, watering, fertilisers, and daily nursing.

Meanwhile, Pham Viet Anh from the GlobalGAP representative office in Vietnam confirmed that in order to gain official export contracts, Vietnamese products need to meet not only VietGAP standards but also GlobalGAP criteria. He advised Vietnamese farmers to work with cooperatives and enterprises to ensure their products’ quality.

Anh also suggested the Government establish an official channel of information to regularly and timely update domestic enterprises and cooperatives on requirements, criteria, and other technical barriers from import markets so that they can produce accordingly.

Sharing the view, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong attached significance to the quality of Vietnamese agricultural products so that they can officially be exported to strict markets.

The ministry will work closely with relevant sectors, associations, and organisations to establish a channel to update necessary information for domestic enterprises and cooperatives, he said.

Vietnam is the world’s 15th biggest agricultural exporter, however, the sector’s current situation is unsustainable as most of its exports go via unofficial channels.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, only 5 percent of Vietnam’s agricultural exports meet international standards to be officially shipped to such strict markets as the US, EU, Japan, and the Republic of Korea.
The rest is mainly subject to unofficial exports, particularly those over the border to China.