A grapevine garden in Tuy Phong, Ninh Thuan (Photo: VNA) Can Tho (VNA) – An internationalworkshop on safety criteria for Vietnamese food and agricultural produce tookplace in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on June 16.
The event drew the participation of foreign andVietnamese experts and enterprises.
Ino Mayu, a Japanese expert on organic farming,who introduced the Seed to Table initiative into Vietnam, said human resources,particularly farmers, are key to clean food supply chains.
She said, from the experience of more than 20years working with Vietnamese farmers, she noticed that many of them are notready for new regulations, practices and partnerships.
They are not willing to disclose statistics onthe performance of their farms and severely lack information on domestic andforeign markets, she added.
Ino Mayu said among 400 Mekong Delta householdsfollowed her organic farming model, only 20 succeeded.
She advised food traders to help farmers getused to teamwork principles and common safety standards.
Vu Kim Hanh, Chairwoman of the BusinessAssociation of High-Quality Vietnamese Goods, said the association has issued aset of criteria on high-quality exports to encourage businesses to follow domesticand international standards and build consumer trust.
Committing to the set of criteria does not meanan enterprise qualifies for international trade, but helps it prepare the basisto grow, she noted.
Nestor Scherbey, a senior adviser to the VietnamTrade Facilitation Alliance (VTFA), said to export food into the US, Vietnamesefirms need certificates granted by an organisation recognised by the USGovernment.
The US is shifting its policy to preventingrisks of dirty food, thus stricter regulations have been introduced, he stated.
He recommended Vietnamese exporters dig deepinto these criteria to save themselves from serious problems with the UScustoms and agricultural body that could cost them money and access to themarket.-VNA
VNA
