"Transforming" Vietnamese agricultural products not a piece of cake

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Sweet corn processing line for export, with a capacity of 4,000 tons/year at the factory of Vifoco Company. Photo: VNA

The switching from unofficial to official export for the Chinese market as well as diversifying export markets outside of China is an urgent need. Just a few days ago, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development held a meeting with relevant ministries, branches and enterprises to discuss and quickly find a satisfactory solution.

These are all things that cannot be postponed, but it must be confirmed that realizing ideas is not easy.

A prerequisite to switch to official export to the Chinese market or boost exports to other "fastidious" markets is to ensure the quality of goods. Many enterprises exporting agricultural products to China said that Chinese enterprises are ready to pay 100% of the goods immediately providing that product quality is ensured. Vietnamese enterprises must have a chain of links and stable supply which means businesses must have signed contracts with farmers in consumption. In fact, the Chinese market is increasingly standardizing imported goods, but many Vietnamese enterprises are not ready to meet this requirement.

Given the perspective of export market diversity, said Mr. Phan Van Chinh, Director of the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), Vietnam has taken part in FTAs, but how businesses can approach and sell goods that fully meet the requirements of the countries as well as how to develop export products in accordance with market standards and regulations are an urgent need.

Some agricultural experts said that other issues such as logistics, construction and brand development of agricultural products are also extremely important. To do so, it is necessary to have comprehensive and synchronous policies to attract capital from enterprises to invest in agriculture.

In order to really "transform", Vietnamese agriculture needs both a methodical strategy and policy on improving the quality of agricultural products; a strategy on food preservation and processing industry as well as communication and product promotion strategy.

However, Dr. Le Xuan Nghia, former Vice Chairman of the National Financial Supervision Commission, said that so far, Vietnam's agriculture has little investment, mainly in self-reliance due to limited resources, no good practice, and a lack of policies.

In order to produce and export agricultural products sustainably in the future, it is necessary for the drastic companionship of both state management agencies and the business community.

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Development strategies and policies must be substantive, support and accompany enterprises, especially policies related to land and capital sources in order to pave the way for agricultural enterprises to develop. Of course, enterprises also need to increase their initiative, accept changes, and perfect their business methods to best meet conditions from the import market.