After more than six years of implementing Vietgap (Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices), only over 2,000 hectares out of a total 830,000 hectares of annual vegetable production have achieved clean vegetable certification. What are the reasons behind the stagnation of clean vegetable production?
This question was the central theme of the "Safe Vegetable Production" workshop held on December 9th in Hanoi.
Failure to Build Consumer Trust
Vietgap is a set of good agricultural practice standards developed and issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in early 2008. Despite being in place for over six years, only about 2,000 hectares of vegetables nationwide are certified clean, out of a total cultivation area of 830,000 hectares.
Mr. Tran Manh Chien, Director of the "Bac Tom" clean food store chain, noted that while market demand for clean vegetables is immense, his brand has only managed to open four stores in Hanoi despite being established for a long time.
“We face significant difficulties in supervising facilities and cooperatives producing clean vegetables. To guarantee a safe supply, Bac Tom has had to deploy engineers for direct field supervision and organize tours for customers to visit the farms themselves. Consequently, the price of our vegetables is often twice as high as the market average,” said Mr. Chien.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Luu, General Director of the Hanoi Safe Food and Vegetable Exchange, offers a different perspective. According to him, the clean vegetable industry fails to scale because most production facilities are small-scale with very low business management and market access capabilities. Their limited resources put them at a disadvantage, making it difficult to integrate into large value chains. Meanwhile, Vietnam's agricultural value chain suffers from too many intermediaries at both the input and output stages. Producers must purchase inputs at high prices and sell outputs at low prices, resulting in final consumer prices that are not competitive.
Notably, Mr. Luu emphasizes that transactions between links in the current agricultural value chain are "extremely" non-transparent, making traceability nearly impossible. This is the root cause of why consumers cannot distinguish between genuine and counterfeit products, leading them to turn away from clean agricultural goods.
More Than Just Monitoring Farmers
Mr. Dao Duy Tam, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, stated that consumer distrust in clean vegetables is partly due to businesses. Companies focus primarily on trading rather than investing in production. At times, when supply is short, they purchase outside vegetables to fill the gap and maximize profits.
If businesses invested in seeds and agricultural materials for farmers, participated in closed-loop production, and secured output channels, the clean vegetable market certainly would not be as stagnant as it is today.
Furthermore, regulatory agencies should not only monitor the farmers' production processes but also oversee the transportation routes. Many businesses purchase one ton of clean vegetables and then "pad" the load with three to four tons of other vegetables during transit. There must also be supervision over the preliminary
Furthermore, we must oversee the processing phase to ensure that companies don't simply buy unverified products elsewhere to fill the gaps in their supply.
Regarding this issue, Mr. Tran Xuan Dinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production (MARD), noted that the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and his department have piloted a Basic GAP production model. The Basic GAP process is much simpler than the Ministry's VietGap standards, requiring only 26 criteria compared to VietGap's 65, yet the quality still meets standards. Consequently, Basic GAP is more feasible for widespread application.
Additionally, this JICA project is piloting internal supervision by forming collaborative groups among farmers. These groups consist of individuals with shared goals who produce together and monitor one another. Through this, cooperatives can build a reputation, allowing their agricultural brands to be recognized by consumers.
Theo TBKTSG
