Lesson 2: Removing barriers

Lesson 1: Abundant raw material area

DIFFICULT TO TRACE ORIGIN

One of the biggest barriers lies in the product management and traceability system. Currently, most bird's nest production facilities in Kien Giang still operate spontaneously, without establishing a unified control system from the bird's nest farming stage to the finished product.

According to the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine of Kien Giang province, the whole province has more than 3,000 bird nest farms, but only about 300 of them register for annual disease surveillance. This leads to many limitations in tracing the origin of bird nests, while this is one of the important requirements of official import markets. Currently, the province has 4 bird nest production and trading enterprises in the process of completing export documents, but this number is still too small compared to the potential of the locality.

Leaders of Thuan An Import-Export Development Investment Joint Stock Company (Ho Chi Minh City) surveyed the production facility of Fanza Bird's Nest Limited Company (Ha Tien City).

In addition, most of the bird's nest farming and processing facilities in the province have not achieved international standard certifications such as ISO, HACCP, FDA or JMA. This is an important factor helping Kien Giang bird's nest products access demanding markets.

General Director of Thuan An Import-Export Development Investment Joint Stock Company Le Van Tai said that the company is actively cooperating with bird nest farmers in Kien Giang to export refined products to China. However, although the products of some establishments have met the quality and design requirements of foreign partners, they still lack the necessary international certifications to be granted official export licenses. Therefore, bird nest businesses in Kien Giang need to coordinate closely with the authorities to soon complete their dossiers to meet the requirements of potential import markets.

Not only facing obstacles in management and quality standards, bird's nest production in Kien Giang is also small-scale, fragmented, lacking close links between bird's nest farms, preliminary processing and processing enterprises. Vice President of the Vietnam Bird's Nest Association Pham Duy Khiem commented that although Kien Giang has a Bird's Nest Association under the Vietnam Bird's Nest Association, it has not yet been able to create a sustainable link between production and business units in the province. This makes the province's bird's nest industry uncompetitive in the world market.

According to Ms. Vo Thi Diem - Director of Hung Diem Trading and Service Company Limited (Rach Gia City), many households raising bird's nests still have the habit of processing bird's nests themselves and selling them individually, without participating in the chain with commercial enterprises. Therefore, it leads to a situation where the products are not consistent in quality, the processing process does not ensure consistency, causing difficulties in controlling the output quality.

Although there are customers from China ordering tons of bird’s nests each month, the facilities in the province are not capable of supplying due to fragmented operations and lack of cooperation between bird’s nest farmers and processing enterprises. This also prevents the province from forming concentrated bird’s nest processing areas with large output, thereby reducing the competitiveness of Kien Giang bird’s nests in the international market.

LACK OF CAPITAL AND TECHNOLOGY

In addition to barriers in management systems and production linkages, businesses and households raising bird's nests in Kien Giang also face difficulties in accessing bank loans as well as investing in modern production technology.

Vice President of Kien Giang Salanganes Nest Association Tran Quoc Phuong said that many members of the association want to invest in advanced technology to improve product quality but are limited in capital. Currently, bank loan policies for salanganes nest farming still have many barriers, making it difficult to expand production. In addition, salanganes nest processing technology in Kien Giang is still quite manual, not meeting strict international standards.

Representatives of Thuan An Import-Export Development Investment Joint Stock Company (Ho Chi Minh City) visited the finished bird's nest packaging process at the production facility of Fanza Bird's Nest Limited Liability Company (Ha Tien City).

Meanwhile, provinces and cities with more developed processing industries have invested heavily in modern technology, increasing the value of their products, giving their products an advantage in official exports. This has further increased competition in the bird's nest industry, requiring Kien Giang to make strong changes if it wants to improve its position in the world market.

Recognizing the above challenges, the provincial authorities have been developing plans to remove difficulties and create favorable conditions for local bird nests to access official export markets. The most important solution is to establish a strict management system, ensure clear traceability of origin and aim to grant international standard certificates. At the same time, promoting the production linkage model between farming households, preliminary processing and processing enterprises is necessary to increase the competitiveness of Kien Giang bird nest products.

In addition, the province needs to have policies to support capital and technology, helping businesses and households raising swiftlets to invest in modern equipment and improve product quality. Access to funds to support industry development as well as simplifying loan procedures will help Kien Giang bird nest businesses have more motivation to expand production scale and meet international export standards. If these barriers are well resolved, Kien Giang bird nests will have the opportunity to reach far in the world market, contributing to promoting local socio-economic development.

Article and photos: KIEU DIEM

*To be continued, Last article: To help Kien Giang bird's nest reach far

Source: https://www.baokiengiang.vn/kinh-te/bai-2-thao-go-rao-can-25316.html