Dr Nguyen Quoc Vong, an expert from the Australian New South Wales’ Ministry of Agriculture, made a remark that the use of agricultural land currently did not bring the highest possible efficiency.
Vietnam has 7mil ha of agricultural land for growing paddy, but it reserves only 1mil ha for growing coconut, rubber, tea, coffee and 1.4mil ha for growing vegetables, flowers and fruit. Meanwhile, WTO member economies import $103bil worth of vegetables and fruits, but import only $9.2bil worth of rice.
The second challenge Mr Vong has pointed out is that though having a lot of potential in fruit and vegetable production, Vietnam’s exports of this farm produce remain modest. The problem lies in the fact that Vietnam still does not follow four key rules: rules on quantity, food safety, quality and price.
Among the four rules, the one on food safety, which can be ensured by the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), proves to be the biggest challenge.
Meanwhile, Joseph Ekman, an expert on food safety from the New South Wales Ministry of Agriculture, a reliable partner of the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, urged Vietnam to set up its own GAP.
He said that WTO members all set up their own requirements on food hygiene, ASEAN GAP, Euro GAP, or Freshcare, to impose on the countries from which they import farm produce.
Most of the requirements prove to be very strict, aiming to limit legal imports from other WTO members and protect local production.
Mr Ekman said that if Vietnam set up its own GAP, Viet GAP for example, it would help guide farmers in their production, while controlling the imports of farm produce from other countries.
He has advised Vietnam to refer to the ASEAN GAP to build up Viet GAP, which will help ensure the compatibility of the inter-regional and international programmes on food safety.
Prof Vo Tong Xuan, Rector of the An Giang University, a famous agriculture expert, Chairman of the club for building Vietnam trademarks for farm produce, agreed to the suggestions by Australian experts. He has called on the Government and relevant ministries to work out a Viet GAP, and called on farmers to cooperate with authorities to implement Viet GAP – a vital factor of Vietnam’s agriculture in the WTO period.
Main markets of Vietnam’s farm produce:
Farm produce | Export market (mil dollars) | Vietnam’s exports (mil dollars) | Vietnam’s market share (%) |
Fresh vegetable, flower, fruits | 102,900,226 | 186,778 | 0.2 |
Rice | 9,249,026 | 1,400.000 | 15 |
Coffee nuts | 7,548,041 | 750,000 | 10 |
Natural rubber | 7,488,707 | 780,000 | 10 |
Tea | 3,059,002 | 98,900 | 3 |
Cashew nuts | 1,569,312 | 418,000 | 27 |
(Source: FAO, http://unstats.un.org/unsd/default.htp).