Building concentrated vegetable and fruit production areas

The province currently has more than 14,000 hectares of various vegetables. The efficiency of vegetable production is still low, partly due to small-scale, fragmented production, and non-compliance with planning, leading to unstable output. For example, watermelon and chili peppers often fall into the situation of "good harvest, low price" due to their heavy dependence on the Chinese market, but many farmers in the province still grow them on large areas.

Mr. Pham Quang Trung, in Binh Chuong commune (Binh Son) said that although the output of watermelon and chili is unstable, the economic efficiency is still higher than some other crops. Therefore, just one crop with a high price can make up for 3 failed crops. For chili, from the beginning of April 2025, the selling price has continuously increased, especially on April 11-12, the price of chili reached 70 - 75 thousand VND/kg. Therefore, for many years, people in localities in the province have continuously developed and expanded the production area of ​​watermelon and chili, despite the recommendations of the functional sector. In the winter-spring crop of 2024 - 2025, the whole province has more than 836 hectares of watermelon and 1,000 hectares of chili, of which 460 hectares of chili are currently being harvested. What is worrying is that after only a few days of high chili prices, on the afternoon of April 14, chili prices dropped to only 20 - 25 thousand VND/kg.

Output is unstable but watermelon production area in the province is increasing. PHOTO: THANH PHONG

According to Pham Ba, Head of the Provincial Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection, one of the barriers to the vegetable and fruit production industry is that the infrastructure in the production area is both lacking and weak; farmers do not produce according to the planning and orientation of the functional sector; there are not many large-scale commodity production areas, so the products do not meet the requirements of the market, causing difficulties in processing and consumption. To overcome this situation, in addition to providing information and production orientation to farmers, it is necessary to form concentrated vegetable and fruit production areas on a large scale, in order to create conditions for enterprises and cooperatives to apply technology to production. From there, consumption chains are formed, helping farmers feel secure in investing in production, contributing to improving productivity, quality and product value.

The Provincial People's Committee has issued Plan No. 62/KH-UBND dated April 8, 2022 on implementing the Project on developing the vegetable and fruit processing industry in the province, period 2022 - 2030. The goal by 2030 is that post-harvest losses of vegetables and fruits will decrease by an average of over 1%/year; more than 50% of establishments processing and preserving vegetables and fruits for export will achieve advanced production technology and capacity; attract 3 - 5 enterprises to invest in vegetable and fruit processing in the province.

Chairman of Mo Duc District People's Committee Pham Ngoc Lan said that in order to effectively implement the project on developing the vegetable and fruit processing industry, the province needs to pay attention to investing in and upgrading the irrigation system and internal traffic for large-scale concentrated production areas, in accordance with the planning of each locality. In particular, it is necessary to develop a logistics system to serve the trade of fresh vegetables, pre-processed and processed vegetables at agricultural wholesale markets. At the same time, it is necessary to consolidate and maintain cooperatives producing and consuming vegetables and fruits to supply vegetables to the provincial market and units linked to processing and consuming according to the value chain.

On the side of enterprises and cooperatives, local authorities need to create a transparent and favorable mechanism regarding land funds and procedures for investors when participating in the field of fruit and vegetable production and trading. According to Director of Binh Duong Agricultural Cooperative (Binh Son) Bach Hung, in order to connect production with the consumption market, the province needs to implement policies to attract and orient enterprises to invest in concentrated fruit and vegetable growing areas, promoting the formation of production chains from building growing areas to preliminary processing, processing and consumption of products. Specialized agencies need to transfer to farmers the process of producing safe fruits and vegetables, meeting VietGAP and organic standards; post-harvest product preservation techniques; and building product identification labels to ensure product traceability. At the same time, support farmers, develop consumption networks through supermarkets, agents, retail stores with safe vegetable certification... Thereby, contributing to the formation of a chain linking production, processing, and consumption of vegetables in concentrated, safe vegetable and fruit production areas.

THANH PHONG

Source: https://baoquangngai.vn/kinh-te/nong-nghiep/202504/xay-dung-khu-vuc-san-xuat-rau-qua-tap-trung-8461798/