Former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Le Huy Ngo,who is Senior Advisor to the New Rural Building Programme, spoke withthe Vietnam Business Forum about the arduous road of Vietnamese mushroombrands.
According to Mr. Ngo, the objectives set by agricultural sectoris that by 2015, annual mushroom production will reach 400,000 tonnes,of which 25 percent will be for exports; by 2020 the figure will be 1million tonnes, with export earning of about 1 billion USD. In Vietnamonly the Plant Biotechnology Centre (Agricultural Genetics Institute)has studied and created 16 types of edible and medicinal mushrooms sofar; of which five were officially recognised by MARD and put to massproduction.
*Why has this project not yet been implemented at full force?
On April 16th 2012, the Prime Minister approved Scheme 439 ofdeveloping mushrooms as national product, unfortunately research in thisfield right now is still limited (as noted above). Actually, theDepartment of Plantation (MARD) organised many conferences all over thecountry to promote and implement the programme, but they haven’t yetachieved their target. The reason comes from a lack of synchrony inimplementation: guiding committee and production units are doing theirjobs in their own ways.
*Besides those situations, are there any other causes that slow down the mushroom production?
It’s obviously not because of lack of capital and resources. Asprojected by MARD, the total capital deployed for the framework projectis 6,900 billion VND, of which 650 billion VND comes from the statebudget; and funding from businesses, farmers and credit loans is 6,250billion VND.
The main reason here, I think, is the lack ofexperience among farmers, and experience takes time. Mushroomcultivation requires very fast response to any unusual signs of thecrop. Experts can “diagnose” with one look, but it is impossible forfarmers.Basic knowledge from short courses is not enough for farmers tosolve with their mushroom issues.
Vietnam began planting mushroomin the 1970s, but ever since then the industry has continued to developat small scale. Especially, research on mushroom pests or cultivationprocesses has been given very little attention. *But if we only count onexperience, is there much chance for Vietnamese mushroom to go far onthe global market? There’s no doubt that Vietnam has high potential formushroom development, but for this product to become a national brand,Vietnam needs a clearer roadmap with specific calculations aboutvarieties, production organisation, branding and marketing.
*Do you have any recommendation for Vietnamese mushroom businesses?
Brand, especially of agricultural products, usually is associated with abusiness, geographic location, or national product. That product musthave a steady value chain from A - Z, which means from research toconsumption. We are building brand for mushroom industry in twodirections, the first is associating brands with types of products, forexample chicken mushrooms, needle mushrooms, the second is associatingbrand with business, for example we now have Viet My Joint Stock Companyfamous for straw mushrooms which are well-known as far away as EasternEurope. In building brand, business is the key factor. However, theState should also play the supporting role instead of leavingenterprises to struggle on their own. Recently, the Ministry of Scienceand Technology launched a programme to support enterprises andlocalities in building product brands, including products of thenational product programme. Mushroom businesses should take advantage ofthis opportunity to develop their products.-VNA
According to Mr. Ngo, the objectives set by agricultural sectoris that by 2015, annual mushroom production will reach 400,000 tonnes,of which 25 percent will be for exports; by 2020 the figure will be 1million tonnes, with export earning of about 1 billion USD. In Vietnamonly the Plant Biotechnology Centre (Agricultural Genetics Institute)has studied and created 16 types of edible and medicinal mushrooms sofar; of which five were officially recognised by MARD and put to massproduction.
*Why has this project not yet been implemented at full force?
On April 16th 2012, the Prime Minister approved Scheme 439 ofdeveloping mushrooms as national product, unfortunately research in thisfield right now is still limited (as noted above). Actually, theDepartment of Plantation (MARD) organised many conferences all over thecountry to promote and implement the programme, but they haven’t yetachieved their target. The reason comes from a lack of synchrony inimplementation: guiding committee and production units are doing theirjobs in their own ways.
*Besides those situations, are there any other causes that slow down the mushroom production?
It’s obviously not because of lack of capital and resources. Asprojected by MARD, the total capital deployed for the framework projectis 6,900 billion VND, of which 650 billion VND comes from the statebudget; and funding from businesses, farmers and credit loans is 6,250billion VND.
The main reason here, I think, is the lack ofexperience among farmers, and experience takes time. Mushroomcultivation requires very fast response to any unusual signs of thecrop. Experts can “diagnose” with one look, but it is impossible forfarmers.Basic knowledge from short courses is not enough for farmers tosolve with their mushroom issues.
Vietnam began planting mushroomin the 1970s, but ever since then the industry has continued to developat small scale. Especially, research on mushroom pests or cultivationprocesses has been given very little attention. *But if we only count onexperience, is there much chance for Vietnamese mushroom to go far onthe global market? There’s no doubt that Vietnam has high potential formushroom development, but for this product to become a national brand,Vietnam needs a clearer roadmap with specific calculations aboutvarieties, production organisation, branding and marketing.
*Do you have any recommendation for Vietnamese mushroom businesses?
Brand, especially of agricultural products, usually is associated with abusiness, geographic location, or national product. That product musthave a steady value chain from A - Z, which means from research toconsumption. We are building brand for mushroom industry in twodirections, the first is associating brands with types of products, forexample chicken mushrooms, needle mushrooms, the second is associatingbrand with business, for example we now have Viet My Joint Stock Companyfamous for straw mushrooms which are well-known as far away as EasternEurope. In building brand, business is the key factor. However, theState should also play the supporting role instead of leavingenterprises to struggle on their own. Recently, the Ministry of Scienceand Technology launched a programme to support enterprises andlocalities in building product brands, including products of thenational product programme. Mushroom businesses should take advantage ofthis opportunity to develop their products.-VNA
