Agricultural product processing industry promoted to develop

Many advantages

Long An is located in the Southern key economic region, it is quite active to develop the construction industry and urban. In addition, it plays a very important role in promoting the development of processing industries of agriculture, forestry and fisheries to serve agricultural restructuring and attract investment in agriculture and rural areas. In recent years, the province has been forming many agricultural production zones and areas in the direction of concentrated goods.

Along with promoting production, improving productivity and product quality in the direction of goods, the province has linked, cooperated, exchanged and connected agricultural consumption. With the advantage of agricultural development, in which rice is the main crop of the province with a planted area of over 500,000 hectares and its output of 2.7 - 2.8 million tons per year; dragon fruit with an area of 11,700 hectares and its output of nearly 310,000 tons; lemons are mainly seedless lemons with an area of nearly 10,000 hectares and its output of over 156,000 tons. Besides, the whole province has more than 1,320 hectares applying VietGAP process in rice, vegetables, fruit and aquaculture production.

According to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development - Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Long An effectively implements the project of restructuring agricultural sector, many businesses combine to consume and process argricultural products

According to Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee - Pham Van Canh, there are more than 200 enterprises processing agricultural products in the whole province. Specifically, about 115 enterprises milling and processing rice have been invested a modern chain system with large processing capacity and large-scale rice storage, of which over 20 enterprises are eligible for direct export to the fastidious market. In processing cashew nuts, there are nearly 50 enterprises. In processing vegetables, tubers, fruits, there are more than 20 enterprises with modern scale production chain using fresh fruits and vegetables. Some typical products such as products processed from dragon fruit, lemon, yam, pineapple, peanuts, etc. Meat is processing in small scale. Some companies, businesses or factories in the province process meat with modern technology chain with a total capacity of 100,000 tons per year and Masan Group is preparing to put into operation the slaughtering and processing chain of pork with a capacity of 140,000 tons per year. There are 26 seafood processing and trading enterprises that fully meet the requirements of quality, food hygiene and safety for export to fastidious markets such as EU countries, Japan, the USA, and so on. All enterprises apply quality management programs in HACCP production and processing, etc.

In Long An, Lavifood is considered a company specializing in preliminary processing, manufacturing and processing of fruits, vegetables, tubers and high quality agricultural products. General Director of the Company - Dang Ngoc Can said: “Lavifood was established in 2014, starting as Lavifood Factory (Phu An Thanh Industrial Park, An Thanh commune, Ben Luc district) producing and processing over 80 frozen products (IQF) of vegetables, tubers, fruits and exported to such markets as Japan, Korea, Australia, USA, Canada, Singapore, Taiwan, Algeria, France. Lavifood's products are certified by global quality assessment organizations ISO 22000-HACCP-BRC (Bureau Veritas), Halal, Kosher. In 2017, on the basis of market development, Lavifood continued to build a new factory of processing fresh dragon fruit to export to China and was actively accepted by the market based on the system of strict raw material standards from planting region to the factory. In January 2019, the Company officially put into operation Tanifood Factory in Go Dau district, Tay Ninh Province, a factory built on an area of nearly 15 hectares and a total investment of up to 1,780 billion VND. Tanifood factory has a capacity of 150,000 tons of raw materials per year with 6 production chains at the same time, processing fresh fruits with VHT technology (Vapour Heat Treatment), freezing (IQF), blanching, drying, concentrated and pureed, natural juice is pasteurized by HPP technology (High Pressure Processing), and so on”.

Similar to Lavifoods, Nafoods Group Joint Stock Company is consuming about 200 tons of dragon fruits per day for farmers in the province. It is known that in early 2018, Nafoods Group Joint Stock Company inaugurated the factory "Production and processing of flower and fruit for export" in Duc Hoa district with a total area of over 6.5 hectares and the total investment is over 410 billion VND. Chairman of the Board of Directors, General Director of the Company - Nguyen Manh Hung shared: “Nafoods is promoting exports to Europe with the output of dozens of tons of products per week via air. Besides, the company has tested the export of passion fruit by sea, it takes about 21-25 days to ship from Ho Chi Minh City to Rotterdam Port (Netherlands). Expectedly, then, Vietnam's fresh passion fruit will soon be available at supermarkets in the US. Currently, the company is focusing on market structure, linking product consumption and building material areas. In 2019, the domestic market increased significantly in the revenue structure of Nafoods with 44 percent (in 2017, only 30 percent). With the aim of diversifying markets, in addition to China and Europe, Nafoods has signed a series of cooperation agreements with partners from large and potential markets such as Russia, Australia, India, the Middle East, etc.”.

Long An has many agro-forestry processing establishments

Difficulties

According to Mr. Pham Van Canh, although the province concentrates a large number of processing enterprises, agricultural warehouses, raw material supplies in a variety of products, the quality of raw material areas has not met the requirements; The contract for production, sale and processing has not yet been implemented; people are short of capital for production and market information so they produce according to custom and experience, which leads to the situation where there is a scarcity of raw materials and in excess production leads to fluctuations in prices. Most processing enterprises are mainly raw products, lack of deep processing so the added value is not high. Most foreign direct investment enterprises are large-scale but use imported raw materials: Marine seafood, imported meat, concentrated juice, and so on therefore there is still limit consume agricultural products in the industry.

Besides, the province's agricultural products are similar to many localities (rice, dragon fruit), so the competitiveness of domestic consumption is low; dragon fruit, lemon products, etc. are mainly exported to China; industry level at the advanced average level; the level of processing is not high, the value-added is low (except for export rice processing enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises which are methodically invested), of which due to lack of investment and joint venture. As a result, the value chain is firmly developed so the efficiency is not high, most of the products are consumed in raw and semi-processed form.

Recently, at the national online conference "Promoting the development of agricultural product processing industry and agricultural mechanization" chaired by the Prime Minister - Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Vice Chairman of the Long An People's Committee - Pham Van Canh suggested: “The Government has a policy to encourage specific incentives for large-scale processing enterprises to act as a leading role and a focal point in connecting trade with foreign businesses, investing in warehouses and preserving. Agricultural products with modern technology. The construction of raw material areas certified by VietGAP, GlobalGAP, organic, HACCP, and so on still faces many difficulties although the province has a policy to support the initial certification costs, but due to the current market is not clear. Product certification and non-certification, so many cooperative groups, cooperatives and people are still afraid, not to recertify due to high costs. Therefore, it is recommended that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development consider a solution to reduce certification costs; preferential interest rates on loans for investment in agricultural production"./.

By Huynh Phong – Translated by Duc Tam

Source: http://baolongan.vn/day-manh-phat-trien-cong-nghiep-che-bien-nong-san-a90819.html