Bringing Long An's agricultural products out of the border

Farmers in Thu Thua district harvest glutinous rice in the winter-spring crop 2022-2023

Focus on building a brand

Thu Thua district has an agricultural production area of over 19,500 hectares, in which, glutinous rice (IR4625 and OM84) accounts for over 97%. Thu Thua glutinous rice is delicious, pliable, widely consumed domestically and internationally. In the past, glutinous rice had many successful crops with high prices. However, there were also successful crops with low prices, farmers have not high profits. Faced that situation, Thu Thua district coordinated with Department of Science and Technology to build a certified label of Thu Thua glutinous rice in order to improve the value the product.

Vice Chairman of Thu Thua District People's Committee - Phan Van Toi informed: "The district cooperated with provincial departments and branches to build procedures and implement projects to produce clean products. We also cooperated with rice milling enterprises to well implement geographical indications to improve the value of agricultural products and increase income for farmers."

A representative of Duong Vu Co. Ltd (Binh Thanh commune, Thu Thua district) said that the company specializes in purchasing, milling and exporting rice, mainly glutinous rice, like IR4625. The successful building of the Thu Thua glutinous rice brand helps improve the prestige and position of their product, making consumption more convenient. On average, each year, the company exports about 100,000 tons of rice.

Besides Thu Thua glutinous rice, dragon fruits produced following VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards also have stable output, even during the Covid-19 epidemic and over-harvest period.

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Chau Thanh district informed that, in recent years, many farmers in the district have applied new technology in growing dragon fruits. Accordingly, they use microbial organic fertilizers, biological fertilizers, spray pesticides more reasonably, and start keeping production diaries. In particular, automatic watering technology has helped farmers save 80% of labor, electricity and water for irrigation. According to statistics, the cultivation of dragon fruit using high technology increases profit of about 2.5-5 million VND/hectare.

Workers at a dragon fruit warehouse in Chau Thanh district pack dragon fruits for export

As one of the first households in Chau Thanh district to implement the dragon fruit production model following VietGAP standards, Mr. Nguyen Van Trung (Hoa Phu commune, Chau Thanh district) said: "This model helps dragon fruits grow healthier, help productivity be higher than the traditional way. Thanks to VietGAP standards, dragon fruit can be exported at very good prices to the US, Europe and other fastidious markets.

Vice Chairman of Provincial Dragon Fruit Association - Nguyen Khac Huy said: “Currently, the demand for dragon fruit in the world markets is very high. However, the quality of dragon fruit in the province is still unstable, as not many farmers produce following VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards. Therefore, functional sectors need to have more mechanisms and policies to support farmers, especially in terms of technical procedures."

Seize the opportunities, improve product value

Over the past time, Vietnam has signed a series of bilateral and multilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), of which there is EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) - a new generation FTA between Vietnam and the 28 EU members. These agreements open up great opportunities for Vietnamese agricultural products to be exported to international markets.

Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Ben Luc district informed that, the whole district currently has over 1,880 hectares of high-tech lemons, following VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards, eligible for export to the European market with the volume of nearly 15,000 tons/year through Fruit Republic Company (Netherlands).

Ben Luc district has nearly 15,000 tons of lemons exported to the European market every year

Head of Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Ben Luc district - Le Van Nam shared: “For many years, cooperatives and companies that produce and purchase lemons in the district have a good coordination. Many companies actively arrange a team of technicians to guide households the lemon production process, thereby gradually changing farmers' habits of lemon production.

Director of Agricultural Service Cooperative of Ben Luc district - Tran Duy Thuan said: “The Fruit Republic Company signed a contract to buy all products for the cooperative with an area of 100 hectares for export to Western Asian countries and Europe. Accordingly, the company also provides facilities at a price 5% lower than the market and buys lemons at two fixed prices of 15,000 VND/kg in the rainy season and 20,000 VND/kg in the dry season.

With rich, diverse and good quality agricultural products, favorable soil and climate conditions, etc, over the past time, the Provincial Agriculture Department has coordinated with localities to plan and accelerate construction progress to build raw material areas to serve the processing industry and increase the value of agricultural products. In addition, in order to take advantage of opportunities from the FTAs, the Agriculture sector coordinated with related sectors to come up with many specific solutions, implemented by localities.

Director of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development - Nguyen Thanh Truyen said: “The provincial agriculture sector is striving to cooperate with enterprises and cooperatives in improving and enhancing the quality of key agricultural products of the province; encouraging enterprises, cooperatives and households to invest in preliminary processing and preservation of agricultural products on an industrial scale; building a concentrated raw material area for advantageous and potential products to serve the processing industry and export”./.

By Bui Tung - Translated by Q. Thien

Source: https://baolongan.vn/dua-nong-san-cua-tinh-vuon-xa-a160128.html