Ba Ria - Vung Tau grants codes to more farming areas

Ba Ria – Vung Tau (VNA) - The southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau is helping farmers register codes for their lands to facilitate exports.

To get a production unit code, a farmer should have at least 6ha and practise Vietnamese good agricultural practices (VietGAP) or other equivalent quality standards.

The province has eight farming areas that have been granted codes by the Plant Protection Department.

A 29.5ha longan growing area and two banana areas covering 420ha in Xuyen Moc and Chau Duc districts export to China, two longan areas covering 24ha in Xuyen Moc export to the US and Australia and three grapefruit areas covering 50ha in Phu My town export to the EU.

There are also two establishments that package bananas for export to China and the Republic of Korea that have codes.

Phan The Hoanh, director of the Nhan Tam Agricultural Service Cooperative in Xuyen Moc district, said the cooperative received a code for its 29.5ha of longan orchards in 2018 and exports the fruit through official channels to China.

During the last longan harvest season, it completed procedures to export to Japan and now ships an average of 12 tonnes a month to that country.

The codes have helped improve the competitiveness of agricultural products and develop sustainable value chains for agricultural products, Hoanh said.

Nguyen Chi Duc, head of the province’s Plant Protection and Cultivation Sub-Department, said the sub-department is helping farmers register codes for key fruits.

It is petitioning the plant protection department to grant the codes to four grapefruit growing areas in Phu My town for exporting to China, he said.

It is in the process of applying for the codes for four dragon fruit growing areas with a total of 57ha in Xuyen Moc district and six durian growing areas with a total of 80ha in Chau Duc district, he said.

These areas have already got VietGAP certification, he said.

The province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has applied for VietGAP and GlobalGAP certification, and developed value chains for agricultural products of high quality for exports.

It has promoted advocacy to enhance farmers and companies’ awareness of the need to strictly comply with requirements related to the codes.

The Song Xoai Green Skin and Pink Flesh Grapefruit Cooperative in Phu My town has 18ha of grapefruit farms that produce 540 tonnes a year of organic fruits, maintains a schedule of the cultivation and has a brand name.

Ho Hoang Kha, deputy director of the cooperative, said the grapefruits meet conditions to be exported to China and the EU.

The cooperative is completing procedures to apply for the code, he said, adding that the cooperative hope to receive the code soon to facilitate exports.

Agricultural products that meet export requirements but do not have the codes face difficulties, according to many cooperatives./.