Establishing and implementing Project of investment in developing dragon fruit growing, processing and exporting chain

Chairman of Vietnam Union of Cooperatives - Nguyen Ngoc Bao speaks at the meeting

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee - Pham Van Canh; Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development - Nguyen Chi Thien; Deputy Director of Department of Industry and Trade - Chau Thi Le and representatives of departments, cooperatives received the mission.

At the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Bao emphasized that in recent years, the dragon fruits have contributed greatly to the changing of crop structure in agriculture, the rural appearance of dragon fruit growing districts in Long An province and improving people's lives. However, the production and consumption of dragon fruit products have been still inadequate and have not met the market economy, so it has not promoted all its great economic value.

Up to now, the total area of dragon fruits in the province has been nearly 12,000 hectares, of which, 600 hectares of dragon fruits have met VietGAP standards; a few areas have met GlobalGAP standards in Chau Thanh, Tan Tru districts and Tan An city, etc. The whole province has had 25 production cooperatives; 160 purchasing and processing cooperatives and cooperation groups, of which, 100 establishments have had cold storage warehouses. In addition, the province has 6 establishments processing products from dragon fruits such as dragon fruit juice, crunchy dried dragon fruits, soft dried dragon fruits.

The mission of the Vietnam Cooperative Union visits HG Food Joint Stock Company, hamlet 1, My Phu commune, Thu Thua district (This company produces crunchy dried dragon fruits)

Since 2018, China has requested to apply traceability to imported products, in particular, their packaging must have planting area codes and packaging establishments. In order to meet the above requirements, the Agriculture and Plant Protection Department asked the Chinese authorities to issue codes for the province's dragon fruit growing and packing facilities. At present, the dragon fruit cooperative groups, cooperatives and cooperative unions are established but they are still not good enough in terms of quantity and quality. Production has not been closely linked with consumption, so the consumption market is still not stable and sustainable, depending on Chinese traders; the price is unstable.

In order to solve this problem, the two sides discussed the policies, purposes and contents of the Project as well as methods to coordinate with Long An Provincial People's Committee, departments and branches with the Vietnam Cooperative Union, Lavifood Group, Tan Mai Group Joint Stock Company, Commercial banks, related units to carry out the project.

Deputy Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee - Pham Van Canh said: "Basically, Long An Provincial People's Committee agrees with the contents of the Project of investment in developing dragon fruit growing, processing and exporting chain by 2025. In the coming time, the project will be submitted to the provincial leaders for consideration to set up the Steering Committee for implementation, contributing to its success.”

In the afternoon of the same day, the mission surveyed and worked with the People's Committee of Chau Thanh district and several dragon fruit cooperatives and processing establishments to develop and implement the Project./.

By Song Hong - Translated by Pham Ngan

Source: http://baolongan.vn/xay-dung-va-thuc-hien-de-an-dau-tu-phat-trien-chuoi-trong-che-bien-va-xuat-khau-thanh-long-a91634.html