Asked why people cut down cashew trees to plant durian, the Minister received a bitter answer

The story full of worries and thoughts about the shortcomings of Vietnamese agricultural products was shared by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan at the question and answer session on the morning of August 21 of the National Assembly Standing Committee.

Need to adapt to market rules

Delegate Dieu Huynh Sang (Binh Phuoc) questioned Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan about developing brands and trademarks of key agricultural products.

Delegate Sang informed about cashew nuts with export turnover reaching 3.6 billion USD by 2023, while durian prices have continuously increased to a peak with the area increasing from 32,000 hectares to 150,000 hectares in just 5 years.

Concerned that the development and protection of our country's brands and trademarks are not really effective, the female delegate asked the Minister to provide solutions to ensure the value of cashew and durian brands, ensure the stability of raw material areas and people's lives.

Question and answer session of the National Assembly Standing Committee on the morning of August 21 (Photo: Hong Phong).

Sharing this issue, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said he once went to Bu Dang district (Binh Phuoc province), stood in a cashew garden and looked across the garden, seeing people cutting down cashew trees to plant durian.

"I asked the people, cashew trees have been associated with Binh Phuoc for generations, why do they cut down the trees to plant durian? They told me, now growing durian brings in 1 billion VND/hectare, while growing cashews brings in 35-40 million VND, what do you think we should do?", the Minister recounted.

He said that was a very bitter answer, and there were practical problems that made him think a lot.

Offering a solution, Minister Le Minh Hoan emphasized the need to respond according to market rules and cannot be prevented by other economic tools.

He said that in Binh Phuoc, a model of promoting the cultivation of red lingzhi mushrooms under cashew trees has been organized to create multiple layers of value. "Red lingzhi mushrooms bring in very high income, so people can keep the cashew trees because they have an additional livelihood of red lingzhi mushrooms," said Mr. Hoan.

Assessing that the Binh Phuoc Young Entrepreneurs Association processes cashews in a very diverse manner, the Minister emphasized the need to accelerate OCOP products from cashew trees.

He also said that he had worked with the Vietnam Cashew Association, through which the Minister noted the need to build a chain of sharing links between cashew growers and cashew processing enterprises, overcoming the instability when cashew growers still have to import raw cashews from abroad.

To protect the value of brands and trademarks of agricultural products such as durian, the Minister emphasized that in order to build brands and standards, there must be industry associations and connections between farmers and associations and businesses.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan (Photo: Hong Phong).

Informing that he had just signed a second protocol to open the door for exporting durian products to China, Minister Le Minh Hoan said this was a joy but also triggered many problems. If we want to make durian a national product, we must have a national institution to regulate it, have a common policy on science and technology, and invest in infrastructure if we want to go far.

"It is impossible to consume goods without following market standards"

Previously, answering delegate Pham Hung Thang (Ha Nam) about solutions for consuming agricultural products, Minister Le Minh Hoan said that the policy of opening the market has been consistent to consume agricultural products in both domestic and foreign markets.

He also emphasized that the requirement for standardization of agricultural products is a big problem for fragmented, small-scale, and spontaneous agriculture like in our country today.

Emphasizing solutions to open up agricultural product consumption, the Minister said that recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Industry and Trade have continuously had protocols with countries to consume agricultural products, in addition to domestic consumption. In particular, standardizing agricultural product quality standards is a major issue.

National Assembly Delegate Pham Hung Thang (Ha Nam) questioned Minister Le Minh Hoan about solutions for consuming agricultural products (Photo: Hong Phong).

"We cannot talk about consumption if our goods do not meet market standards. Therefore, we need to pay attention to the issue of code issuance, planting areas, and farming areas," said Mr. Hoan.

In particular, according to him, rebuilding concentrated raw material areas and linking them into strong cooperatives is an important task to overcome the fragmentation of agriculture. Policies to link small fields into large fields and small forests into large forests need more attention from localities.

Besides, developing regional specialty products is also a channel to consume processed products, increasing the value of local agricultural products at each level, according to Minister Le Minh Hoan.

Stating that there are now more than 13,000 OCOP products, Mr. Hoan affirmed that if this is done well, it will relieve market pressure and at the same time create livelihoods and jobs for farmers.

Regarding the issue of product trademarks and brands, the Ministry is also studying this issue in depth because if there is a brand, it will create great added value, however, there are still certain difficulties. Specifically, there is no National Assembly Resolution assigning the Government to issue a resolution on brands.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/hoi-dan-sao-chat-dieu-trong-sau-rieng-bo-truong-nhan-cau-tra-loi-dang-long-20240821110442231.htm