Harvesting organic vegetables at Kien Giang Organic Agricultural Cooperative. (Photo: VNA) At a forum on the development of organic farm produce held by theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on November 21 in Ho Chi MinhCity, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam saidthat organic agricultural production must be associated with the development ofthe consumption market.
Organic products with specific characteristics must comply withstrict standards and often have low yields and high costs. These products arefor the high-end market segment.
According to Nam, organic agriculture development must be theright way to approach potential customers at home and abroad.
Along with reasonable planning, standards and management for theproduction and certification of organic agricultural products must be strictlyimplemented to improve the quality of Vietnam's certified organic products.
Vietnamese organic farming products are exported to about 180countries and territories, with an export turnover of 335 million USD per year.The exported organic farming products are tea, shrimp, rice, cashew nuts,pepper, cinnamon, anise, essential oils, and spices.
The main export markets of those products include France, Denmark,Switzerland, Sweden, China, Cambodia, the US, Italy, Germany, the UK, Russia,Canada, Belgium, Thailand, Malaysia, Netherlands, Hong Kong (China) and Taiwan(China).
According to MARD, market research companies believed that thedemand for organic food is on a strong upward trend and even exceeds the supplyon the world market.
The scale of the global organic food market is forecast to have anannual growth rate of 14% during 2021-2026, from 227.19 billion USD in 2021 to 259.06billion USD by 2022 and 437.36 billion USD by 2026. The regions having thefastest growth are North America and Europe.
The Government has issued Decree 109/2018/ND-CP on organic farmingregulations and a scheme for developing organic agriculture from 2020 to 2030,creating a foundation for the development of Vietnam's organic agricultureindustry, according to Nguyen Quoc Toan, Director of the Department ofAgricultural Product Processing and Market Development.
As a result, the area of organic agricultural production isincreasing rapidly and has so far reached 174,351 ha, 47% higher than that in 2016.The variety of organic farming products is also increasing though output islower than expected.
Most localities produce organic farming products. In addition, thenumber of organisations and individuals doing organic agricultural productionis increasing.
Organic agricultural products are mainly consumed in big citiessuch as Hanoi, Da Nang and HCM City at modern distribution channels such astrading centres, supermarket chains, and convenience stores. Organic farmingproducts on the domestic market are mainly rice, vegetables, fruits, meat, tea,coffee, pepper and cashew nuts.
However, the supply still needs to meet the demand, and manycertified organic farming products are for export.
Toan said that developing organic agriculture in Vietnam had facedmany difficulties and obstacles and had not had significant results.
There were difficulties in awareness, production costs, inputmaterials, human resources and technology application. Some other major areasfor improvement needed more specific support mechanisms and policies toencourage investment and development for organic agriculture. The support scalewas small compared to real needs.
Le Trong Kha, CEO of LeKhaMart, said that Vietnam's organicagricultural production was still fragmented, and the production area was stillmodest and not concentrated.
The planning and linkages among regions and enterprises in ruralareas still needed to be improved. In addition, the organisation of productionchains had yet to be implemented on a large scale, so the development oforganic agriculture had not gained significant results.
The development of organic agricultural products follows the trendbut needs to meet strict standards under the standard organic certification,however, according to Kha, the maintenance of organic standards after beingcertified has yet to be taken seriously.
Vietnam should have strict sanctions to create fairness andtransparency in organic farming development, he said./.
VNA
