18:57, 13/12/2023
During the State visit to Vietnam by General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping (from December 12 to 13), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam and the General Administration of Customs of China signed a Protocol on plant quarantine requirements for fresh watermelon exported from Vietnam to China.
The Protocol clearly defines import requirements from China to ensure that fresh watermelons from Vietnam comply with China's laws, regulations and standards related to food safety and hygiene, as well as plant quarantine requirements. This will create a basis for compliance by Vietnamese production, packaging and export units.
According to this protocol, fresh Vietnamese watermelons must not be contaminated with five live plant quarantine species of concern to China (fruit flies Bactrocera correcta, Bactrocera zonata, Bactrocera latifrons, aphids Phenacoccus solenopsi and bacteria Acidovorax avenae subsp).
All growing areas and packing facilities for watermelons exported to China must be registered and approved by both the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the General Administration of Customs of China.
The orchard must apply Good Agricultural Practices (GAP); must ensure supervision of the orchard and packaging process at the packing facility.
Packing facilities must establish a traceability system to ensure that fresh watermelons exported to China can be traced back to the growing area that has been assigned a code.
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| Watermelon harvest in Ea Sup district. (Illustration photo) |
Vietnamese watermelon shipments will be imported through all Chinese ports authorized by the General Administration of Customs of China to import fruits; must undergo 2% plant quarantine sampling and must comply with China's national food safety standards when imported into the country.
Currently, Vietnam's watermelon output reaches 800,000 - 1 million tons/year; more than 90% of imported watermelons from China originate from Vietnam. However, in the past, due to not having signed the Protocol, the export value of this fruit was not commensurate with its potential.
As for Dak Lak, the whole province has over 500 hectares of watermelon, concentrated in the districts of Ea Sup, Buon Don, Krong Ana... with an average yield of 27.67 tons/ha, with the total output of the whole province estimated at about 14,500 tons. The signing of the Protocol on this occasion is a step to promote the official export of traditional agricultural products of Vietnam to the Chinese market and standardize regulations on agricultural exports between the two countries. Meeting China's requirements will also facilitate customs clearance, contributing to reducing congestion at the border gate during the harvest season.
Minh Thuan
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