12:35, 11/09/2023
On the morning of September 11, in Buon Ma Thuot City, Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper - the Standing unit of the Steering Committee of the Agricultural Product Connection Forum 970 (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) coordinated with the Dak Lak Durian Association, Dak Lak Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Plant Protection Department, Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development to organize the Forum "Identifying the current situation of durian consumption and export linkage in 2023 and solutions for effective and sustainable development of the Vietnamese durian industry".
The forum was chaired by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan at the MARD bridge and attended by nearly 300 delegates at the main bridge. In addition, the forum also connected more than 1,000 online bridges, which are departments/sections/sectors of provinces and cities with durian growing areas; garden owners, cooperatives, farmers, businesses, associations, banks, organizations, and importers participating in the development of the Vietnamese durian industry chain.
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| Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan speaks at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. |
According to data at the forum, the country now has more than 112,000 hectares of durian, with a total output of about 900,000 tons. In the past 5 years, the durian area has increased rapidly, with an average annual increase of nearly 25%, concentrated in some key regions, such as: Central Highlands (more than 52,000 hectares); Mekong Delta (33,000 hectares); Southeast (21,000 hectares) and some other localities. Dak Lak province alone currently has about 23,000 hectares (ranked second in the country after Tien Giang province), of which about 50% of the area has been harvested, with an estimated output of about 200,000 tons in 2023.
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| Delegates attending the forum at Buon Ma Thuot City bridge point. |
When the Protocol on phytosanitary requirements for official durian exports to China was signed, it created opportunities and strong motivation to develop the durian industry, significantly increasing income and profits for farmers and businesses in the industry chain.
It is expected that in 2023, the country's durian export turnover will reach over 1.6 billion USD, accounting for about 30% of Vietnam's fruit and vegetable export turnover. However, the sharp increase in prices has caused the phenomenon of competition in buying and selling, price chaos, breaking of contracts, and breaking of the chain of links taking place in durian growing areas nationwide, especially in the Central Highlands, leading to violations of State regulations on growing area codes, packaging facilities, food safety, standards, etc.
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| Director of Dak Lak Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Hoai Duong spoke at the forum. |
At the forum, delegates contributed many opinions and shared about the shortcomings, difficulties, obstacles and challenges in organizing production, processing, trading and exporting the Vietnamese durian industry. They also hoped that the actors in the industry would "sit together" and frankly look at the limitations and shortcomings of the durian industry. From there, they would act together to prevent violations of regulations and laws, and unclear production, association, trade and export activities to protect the Vietnamese durian brand and industry.
In addition, representatives of specialized agencies attending the forum also widely disseminated regulations on: growing area codes, packaging facilities, food safety, product technical standards; on economic contracts, agricultural trade, production linkages; on administrative sanctions for violations that will be issued in the decree recently submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to the Government. Thereby, raising awareness, responsibility and taking specific, drastic actions to protect and sustainably develop the durian industry to the masses, authorities at all levels, the political system, cooperatives, businesses and durian farmers.
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| Representatives of cooperatives spoke at the forum. |
Speaking at the forum, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan emphasized: the strategy for agricultural and rural development is expressed through "cooperation - association - market". Therefore, if we want the durian industry in particular and other industries in general to develop, we must reorganize the industry structure sustainably. In which, there must be the presence of both production (farmers) and consumption (enterprises). Vietnam needs to combine tightening state management; local authorities, enterprises, and associations must participate from the beginning with farmers, helping people have enough information to adjust production.
The Minister expressed his hope that through the forum, close connections between businesses, cooperatives, and production households will be created. In addition, it must be clearly understood that sustainable development here is not about sustainable durian trees but about people participating in the sustainable durian industry chain.
Minh Thuan
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