Final article: Towards sustainable production

Lesson 2: Maximizing the advantages

Lesson 3: Many challenges, many risks

For fruit trees to develop sustainably and be worthy of the title of a "billion-dollar" industry, improving product quality and promoting sustainable production and consumption links is currently the key step.

One of the important highlights in fruit tree development is that production thinking also needs to be changed in a more positive and adaptive direction.

MINDSET MUST CHANGE

In fact, the difficulties and shortcomings in fruit tree development have been recognized by provinces and cities in the region and are focusing on overcoming these limitations. Looking at the aspect of official export, an important consumption channel for the fruit industry, according to the Department of Agriculture and Environment (DARD) of Tien Giang province, in order to export sustainably, in the coming time, the agricultural sector will continue to effectively implement the work of granting and managing growing area codes (MSVT), packing facility codes (CSĐG) to ensure that cultivation complies with the requirements of the importing country.

At the same time, strengthen supervision of planting areas and CSĐG that have been granted codes; control of plant quarantine objects in planting areas and CSĐG. In addition, the Department of Agriculture will also supervise to ensure food safety conditions according to the provisions of the Law on Food Safety and regulations on planting areas and CSĐG.

Many effective solutions are needed to remove the "bottlenecks" of the "billion dollar" industry.

To ensure the quality of exported agricultural products, the agricultural sector will strengthen inspection, examination and strictly handle acts of using chemicals in violation of regulations; closely inspect and supervise the purchase linkage in export growing areas, and not carry out export packaging for growing areas that do not ensure food safety.

At the same time, the Department of Agriculture will guide organizations and individuals who need to export fresh fruits on the process of establishing growing areas and CSĐG; requirements and standards of importing countries on plant quarantine, food safety and traceability. At the same time, organize the implementation of the plan to issue and manage MSVT, CSĐG and control food safety in growing areas and CSĐG for export in Tien Giang province in 2025 after being approved by the Provincial People's Committee.

Regarding export support, as well as calculating consumption markets for the fruit industry, Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Tien Giang province Luu Van Phi said that to overcome the current limitations in fruit production and consumption, in the coming time, the Department of Industry and Trade and the Department of Agriculture will calculate a number of solutions to promote fruit exports, first of all maintaining traditional markets. Specifically, up to this point, fresh exports are still mainly focused on the Chinese market.

According to the Southern Institute of Water Resources, the Mekong Delta has been, is and will continue to be the country's key agricultural region, with many outstanding advantages in natural resources specific to agriculture, especially fruit trees of high economic value.

However, the delta is suffering from serious, irreversible external impacts, including: Development of the Mekong upstream reduces alluvium and changes the flow rules; climate change - rising sea levels; impacts from internal development causing land subsidence, lowering the delta at a very serious level.

Therefore, in the coming time, it is necessary to develop fruit growing areas in a controlled adaptive direction; proactively create a reasonable water regime based on the natural regime, reducing the level of risk and uncertainty for agricultural production in general and fruit growing areas in particular.

However, the Chinese market is very large, not just the provinces bordering Vietnam. Besides, the province also needs to pay attention to calculating to export fruit to emerging markets.

Regarding production organization, it is necessary to develop models of linking production and consumption of fruits. One of the important factors is to strengthen cooperatives and cooperatives to do business more systematically, thereby ensuring a solid supply of goods for importers.

Because the importing units are not for a month or a quarter but for the whole year. Besides, farmers must comply with clean production processes to improve quality. This is a long-term factor that businesses must consider. If not concerned, later when losing reputation, it will be very difficult to do business. In addition, the domestic market segment is also very important.

“The Department of Industry and Trade has also worked with major supermarkets on fruit consumption in the province. Up to now, there are also a number of cooperatives in the province that have met the standards to bring their products to these supermarkets. This is a very important consumption channel. If the export market is difficult, we also have a domestic market to consume fruit for farmers,” added Mr. Luu Van Phi.

RECALCULATE PLANNING

It is well known that the trend of growing fruit trees, especially those with high economic value, is developing rapidly not only in Tien Giang but also in many other provinces and cities in the region. According to Dr. Vo Huu Thoai, Director of the Southern Fruit Institute, the Mekong Delta (MD) is the traditional and main fruit growing region of Vietnam for many years and is currently. The area of ​​fruit trees in the MD has tended to increase over the past 10 years.

In general, the potential for fruit tree development in the Mekong Delta is still there, partly due to the expanding scale of the growing area (renovated gardens, ineffective rice fields, etc.). In terms of consumption, according to Dr. Vo Huu Thoai, our country's fruits also have many opportunities for development. First of all, the free trade agreements between Vietnam and other countries have been implemented, opening up great opportunities for the country's fruits in general. There is still a lot of room, fruit exports have increased rapidly in recent years, positively affecting the improvement of fruit prices of gardeners. This is an important motivation for gardeners to invest in intensive farming, increase productivity and fruit quality.

Overall, the potential for the fruit industry is still large, but for sustainable development, it is necessary to correctly assess the current situation and make forecasts that are close to the actual situation. According to Dr. Vo Huu Thoai, for sustainable fruit development, it is necessary to re-evaluate water resources in each region, and plan and develop irrigation systems in each region.

From there, re-plan the growing areas suitable for each type of fruit tree. One of the important solutions is to upgrade infrastructure (roads, electricity systems, etc.) to facilitate the transportation of agricultural materials, agricultural products and serve the mechanization of production. In addition, farmers need to promote the application of digital technology, smart technology, green energy, and efficient use of water resources (saving irrigation, water-soluble fertilizers).

One of the fundamental solutions is to study the water demand in the dry season for each type of crop, each ecological region, at the growth and development stages of the plant, especially the business stage; at the same time, assess the level of impact of crop varieties in high-risk areas (drought, salinity, flooding, acid sulfate soil) to propose appropriate directions for shifting crop structure.

Of course, in addition to planning to suit each region, production also needs to change. This has been raised many times, in many forums, but the change is still quite slow, such as implementing production linkages according to the value chain, producing in a safe direction, ensuring quality, ensuring compliance with planting area planning...

Dr. Vo Huu Thoai added that the State needs to reorganize fruit production in the direction of linking value chains; producing according to GAP, organic, reducing emissions... Fruit production is associated with building MSVT and CSDG in the direction of linking with businesses and product consumption markets; at the same time, promoting the manufacturing industry of machinery and equipment serving agriculture suitable for small and medium-scale fruit production in the Mekong Delta region.

At the same time, the State needs to support and encourage businesses to invest in innovating advanced, modern and synchronous equipment and technological lines to increase fruit preservation and processing capacity; diversify processed products to solve fruit output.

Overall, fruit production in Tien Giang in particular and in the provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta in general has made great strides and is considered a “billion-dollar” industry. This comes from the export value of this industry group in recent years.

According to statistics, in 2024, the country's fruit and vegetable exports, focusing on fruits, brought in 7.1 billion USD, of which durian alone reached 3.3 billion USD. According to forecasts, in 2025, the country's fruit and vegetable exports could reach 8 billion USD. Tien Giang's fruit and vegetable exports are also in line with the general trend of the whole country, notably durian exports.

Of course, with the current trend of increasing planting area as well as taking advantage of export opportunities, in the coming time, this industry can bring in greater export values. However, for sustainable development, the internal problems of the fruit industry also need to be calculated and resolved.

A. THU - T. AN

Source: https://baoapbac.vn/kinh-te/202504/huong-di-nao-cho-nganh-hang-ty-do-bai-cuoi-huong-den-san-xuat-ben-vung-1038777/