Tapioca starch being packaged at the Tay Ninh Tapioca Joint Stock Company. (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNA) - By developing an agricultural value chain, the southernprovince of Tay Ninh expects to raise its agricultural GDP and average farmerincome per year from the current figures of 3 billion USD and 1,500 USD to 8billion USD and 5,000 USD, respectively, after five years.
Speakingat an international conference held in Tay Ninh Province last week, PhamVan Tan, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said Tay Ninh hasadvantages for agricultural development as its agricultural land accounts formore than 65 per cent (nearly 270,000 ha) of natural land, with rather flatterrain making it easy for agricultural production.
Theprovince is home to the Dau Tieng irrigation system, the largest of its kind inthe country, which can supply water to 47,000ha of farmland, he said.
But,majority of the province’s farm produce was consumed as raw produce with lowadded value, he said, adding that the volume of products meeting qualitystandards remained modest.
“Exportvolume was still small, especially exports to demanding markets, such as Japan,the Republic of Korea, the US and EU,” he said.
Heattributed the situation to small scale production and a lack of connectionamong stake holders in the production chain.
Theprovincial agricultural sector is focusing on restructuring its agriculturalproduction, with a concentration on enhancing connections among stakeholdersinvolved in the production chain, and between production and consumptionmarkets, he said.
“Theprovince will set aside about 1,800ha of land (which is revoked from farms) tomake zoning plans and develop infrastructure to meet the demand foragricultural development to attract domestic and foreign investors who arecapable in terms of resources, technology and market, to develop agriculturalprojects following a value chain.”
Thesebusinesses will be the foundation that will lead local farmers, farms andbusinesses to develop, he said.
Theprovince will map out policies to attract more businesses to invest in theagricultural value chain in the province and build measures to speed up theapplication of good agricultural practices and high technologies in itsagricultural production to improve competiveness of its farm produce, he said.
TranLuu Quang, secretary of the provincial Party Committee, said “With a desire todo something to gradually to improve the lives of 78 per cent of the residentsliving in rural areas, to help farmers get rich on their own land andmeanwhile, to help the province to narrow the development gap with otherlocalities in the region, after seven months of active preparation, Tay Ninh’sagricultural value chain for international market integration was initiallyestablished.”
Delegatesat the conference agreed that agricultural production following value chains isa must because this would help the province’s farm produce meet the market’squantity and quality requirements and increase farmer incomes.
Underthe pilot model, the province will concentrate on developing the value chainfor fruits and vegetables since there is a huge demand for the productsglobally.
KatoRyoji of the Japanese OTA Floriculture Auction, a leading company operating theOTA wholesale market for flowers in Tokyo, said Japanese people are very fondof Vietnamese tropical fruits since tropical fruits cannot be cultivated in hiscountry.
Thisoffers a great potential for Vietnamese fruits to penetrate the market, hesaid.
RajKumar Sharma, CEO of US-based Sunrise Orchards, said the US also has greatdemand for tropical fruits like bananas, coconuts, guavas and papayas sincethere are a lot of people from Asia who have migrated to the US and they allwant their home fruits.
Butto access the US market, the fruits must be safe, he said.
Similarity,Kato Ryoji said, “When we import, we care a lot about product quality andtraceability.”
Producingfruits and vegetables by value chain would make it easy to trace the origin ofa product and ensure their quality, delegates said. They believe that the modelwould offer great success for the province and raise its agricultural GDPand average farmer income per year from the current figures of 3 billion USDand 1,500 USD to 8 billion USD and 5,000 USD.
Themodel has received great attention from domestic and foreign investors.
Enterprisesfrom the US, Germany and Japan committed to invest 1 billion USD in theprovincial agricultural value chain, while domestic investors at the conferencepledged to invest 15 trillion VND (660.7 million USD) in the value chain.
“Thereis a lot of potential in Tay Ninh province and I am willing to teach thefarmers in the province to grow safe fruits … We can help them market theirproducts, not only to the US but also all over the world,” Raj Kumar Sharmasaid.
NguyenVan Binh, head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission, suggestedthe Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should have policies to helpthe province successfully develop the pilot model of the hi-tech agriculturalvalue chain.
Healso asked the State Bank of Vietnam to offer preferential loans to approvedprojects.
Organisedby the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in collaboration with Tay NinhPeople’s Committee, the Vietnam Organic Agricultural Economics Institute, andthe Nha Quan Ly (Manager) magazine, the conference attracted more than 500local and foreign delegates.-VNA
