Da Lat Vegetables Get “Passport”

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Not only being the pride of Da Lat people, Da Lat vegetables are also a very familiar brand name to domestic and international consumers

Largest organic vegetable growing area in Vietnam

At present, Lam Dong province has a vegetable growing area of 43,800 ha with annual output of 1.3 million tonnes. Da Lat City and its surrounding districts of Don Duong, Duc Trong and Lac Duong account for 41,519 ha, or about 94 per cent of the province's vegetable area, and harvest 1,014,348 tonnes a year, or 80 per cent of the province’s vegetable output. Over the past years, the Da Lat vegetable industry has proactively approached and applied scientific and technical processes like applying biotechnology to seedling reproduction, cultivation techniques, harvesting techniques, preservation and packaging, applying high-tech and clean technology to step up production development to enhance product quality to meet consumer tastes. Food safety and hygiene management is always a priority. All economic sectors are paying increasing attention to investment in high-tech and technical solutions to improve vegetable quality. Therefore, the quality of Da Lat vegetables is always highly appreciated in domestic and international markets.

 

The province of Lam Dong has seven GlobalGAP certified vegetable production units, one Organic certified vegetable production unit, 73 VietGAP certified vegetable production organisations and individuals, and 55 certified organic vegetable production organisations and individuals. Da Lat vegetables have gradually affirmed their brand name and competitiveness in the market, evidenced by increasing annual output and nationwide consumer markets, particularly in major cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Nha Trang and the south central coast. Some types of high-grade vegetable products are been exported to Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, EU countries, the United States and Australia. Vegetable export value reached US$18.2 million in 2011.

 

Brand confirmed

In March 2012, the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP) officially granted the certificate of exclusive brand for Da Lat Vegetables or Rau Da Lat. Dalat Vegetables-labelled products must be produced and processed in accordance with VietGap and Global Gap safety standards. The exclusive brand certification and nationwide protection of Da Lat Vegetables is a great success for Da Lat City and an extremely important passport for Da Lat vegetables to continue asserting their position in domestic and foreign markets.

 

Da Lat People's Committee also issued a decision to grant use rights of certified brand to eight vegetable production organisations and individuals in Da Lat City, Don Duong, Lac Duong and Duc Trong districts. Certified units included Anh Dao General Agricultural Service Cooperative; Xuan Huong Cooperative; Organik Dalat J.V. Co., Ltd; Trinh Nhi Agricultural Products Co, Ltd; Dalat Gap Co., Ltd; Lam Dong Agricultural Products Foods Joint Stock Company (Da Lat City); Phong Thuy Farms (Duc Trong district); and Phu Si Nong Private Enterprise (Don Duong district). To be certified and use the "Da Lat Vegetables" brand name, organisations, units and individuals engaged in cultivating, processing and trading vegetables in the region must stringently implement VietGAP requirements and standards in vegetable production as stipulated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and ensure product quality during all stages of processing. The city's authorities will regularly inspect certified units. If they fail to meet given criteria, they will have their certificates revoked. With these standards, consumers can trust in the quality and safety of Da Lat vegetables.

 

To expand organic vegetable production areas meeting VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards from 2011 to 2015, the province has focused on planning vegetable production areas, including detailed planning for high-tech application to vegetable production on an area of 7,200 ha. The province will certify high-tech applied vegetable production areas and high-tech applied agricultural enterprises.

Organic foods

Organic foods are those that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.

Organic farmers depend on:
1. crop rotation,
2. green manure,
3. compost,
4. biological pest control,
5. mechanical cultivation to keep their soil productive and to control pests.

Organic farmers do not use:
1. synthetic fertilizers,
2. synthetic pesticides,
3. plant growth regulators and
4. genetically modified organisms.

For most of human history, agriculture can be described as “organic”; only during the 20th century was a large supply of new synthetic chemicals introduced to the food supply. The organic farming movement arose in the 1940s in response to the industrialization of agriculture known as the Green Revolution.

Organic food production is a heavily regulated industry, distinct from private gardening. Currently, the European Union, the United States, Canada, Japan and many other countries require producers to obtain special certification in order to market food as “organic” within their borders. In the context of these regulations, “organic food” is food made in a way that complies with organic standards set by national governments and international organizations.

In the United States, organic production is a system that is managed in accordance with the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) of 1990 and regulations in Title 7, Part 205 of the Code of Federal Regulations to respond to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. In most countries, organic produce may not be genetically modified. It has been suggested that the application of nanotechnology to food and agriculture is a further technology that needs to be excluded from certified organic food. The Soil Association (UK) has been the first organic certifier to implement a nano-exclusion.

State takes the lead in organic food farming

Vegetables from rural areas are sold in Metro Supermarket in Ha Noi's Hoang Mai District. To cash in on the demand for organic vegetables, the Government has set up a company to grow organic fruit and vegetables in Dan Phuong District.—VNA/VNS Photo Bui Tuong

HA NOI — To cash in on the demand for organic vegetables, the Government has set up a company to grow 6,000 tonnes of organic vegetables and fruits in Ha Noi's rural Dan Phuong District.

The plan is to grow enough organic vegetables and fruits in the district's three communes to supply northern and national markets – and create jobs and incomes for local people.

Project owner, Ha Noi Investment and Rural Development Co Ltd, will build rural roads, water pumping stations and drainage systems, preparation sheds and other facilities.

Meanwhile, a programme to give the vegetables an organic label that makes them recognisable in the marketplace is underway in Ha Noi.

To pilot the scheme, Nguyen Hong Anh, deputy head of Ha Noi's Plant Protection Department, said the department was using 250ha in Van Duc Commune in Gia Lam District beside the Red River opposite Ha Noi City.

Hong Anh said about 1,000 families in the commune were taking part in the programme.

He added that the commune already produced about 40-45 tonnes of organic vegetables a day, of which 70-75 per cent were labelled.

The labelled organic products have been widely sold in Ha Noi and other places including northern Hung Yen, Nam Dinh and Quang Ninh provinces as well as central Da Nang City.

Hong Anh said labelled organic vegetables were sold more quickly as consumers were more convinced of their quality.

The price of vegetables produced in Van Duc Commune was higher than other products of the same types in the market by VND500-1,000 per kilogramme, he added.

The programme has also been expanded to 50ha in each of two other communes, namely Thanh Tri District's Duyen Ha Commune and Phuc Tho District's Thanh Da Commune.

Hong Anh said the sales of organic vegetables would be promoted with the help of an online sales floor.

The website will update the price list of green products and take orders from consumers.

This way, consumers may order products via the website and will bear only a delivery charge rather than paying money to retailers.

Hong Anh added that by 2014, labelling for organic vegetables would be made compulsory.

Tran Cong Thang, head of the Strategic Policy Section under the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture, said the current supply met only 14 per cent of Hanoian's demand for organic vegetables.

The popularity of organic foods has grown because of public concerns about the unsafe quality of green products, especially unquarantined imports. — VNS

ORGANIC PRODUCE IN VIETNAM

As uncertainty grows over imported and locally-grown produce, ‘organic’ labels are becoming more common around the city. But what do they really mean? By Chris Mueller. Photo by Alex McMillan.

With so many local markets and streets packed with produce sellers, the only thing more astonishing than the options are the prices.

But amid so little regulation, many shoppers are hesitant to buy produce on the street, opting instead for supermarkets or smaller shops where green ‘organic’ stickers on prepackaged fruits and vegetables are becoming more commonplace. But are they really organic — and does it make a difference?

The fruit and vegetable industry in Vietnam, while regulated, still struggles to meet international food standards, which most farmers find too costly. So, much like in the US food industry, they pump their crops full of chemicals to increase yields or prolong the shelf life of the produce.

Take the case from about a year ago, when farmers were found injecting their fruit with chemicals to make them ripen quickly and stay fresh longer. While one chemical, ethephon, is the most widely used plant growth chemical in the world, others are more dubious.

According to Thanh Nien newspaper, there was widespread use among fruit growers of a chemical produced by a company in District 12. The company refused to say what the chemical actually was. Others were found using a yellow substance imported in unmarked containers from China that were injected or sprayed onto fruit and vegetables.

Then there are the constant reports of unregulated vegetables and fruits imported from China being confiscated across the country.

So health-conscious consumers increasingly are seeking out the green ‘organic’ stickers.

Nguyen Ba Hung, who has a PhD from the National Institute of Agriculture in France, says Vietnam does not have any organic regulators or issue any certifications.

Hung is a partner and general director of Organik Farms in Dalat, which has a popular shop in District 2 that stocks produce and meat, much of which is labeled as organic.

But both Hung and his partner, John Fast, admit their farm, which has been in operation since 2004, is not certified organic, meaning that the organisation in the Netherlands that issues the certificate has yet to give it to them.

Hung says they expect to receive it next month, adding that he is not aware of any vegetable farms in Vietnam with real organic certifications.

Organic food has been the rage in the west for years, but more recently many have come to view it more as a marketing hoax and another narcissistic way for the upper classes to spend their money, rather than a healthy choice.

In the United States there is a constant battle between supporters of organically grown food and those of conventional growing techniques. The newest major study about organic food, from Stanford University, suggests that organic produce doesn’t have a significant nutritional advantage over conventionally grown foods.

But in Vietnam, the slow movement towards organic is more about living a healthy lifestyle and having at least some accountability.

“We get a lot of Vietnamese customers now who don’t want organic food for themselves, but want their children to eat well,” Hung says.

As with most things in Vietnam, change is slow, and other farmers are slow to adopt safer practices.

“The average Vietnamese Dalat farmer is short-sighted,” Fast says. “They produce thousands of tons of polluted waste from their vegetable production.”

This in turn pollutes the soil surrounding the farms, which was a huge obstacle Organik had to overcome in order to get certified.

“Normally on organic farms, if you want certification, you have to wait six or seven years to get all the residues out of that soil,” Fast says.

But luckily their farm was on largely virgin land and they were able to cover up most of the tainted soil. Fast says that even now they have to deal with illegal coffee growers using pesticides encroaching on their land, and once someone tried to sell off part of their farm to other farmers.

Another major challenge with growing organically here is logistics. Refrigerated trucks are unreliable, with drivers often turning off the refrigeration to try to save money on gas. And even when planes are used, problems are common.

“One time a plane full of vegetables for Ho Chi Minh City ended up on Con Dao Island,” Fast says. “It wasn’t worth it for us to pay to get it back, so it just went to waste.”

Hung says he doesn’t expect organic produce for the local market to pick up steam anytime soon because, on average, organic growing techniques only produce half the amount conventional methods do. Yet local demand is growing.

“Vietnamese are becoming more worried about their health,” he says. “More and more sicknesses are coming from the chemicals on vegetables.”

Dragon fruit gotten Global GAP

HA NOI (VNS)— Dragon fruit has taken the lead in Vietnamese fruit exports, recording the highest growth and value last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Exports were worth about US$150 million, an increase of more than 40 per cent over 2011 and comprised about 45 per cent of the country's total fruit exports.

Vietnamese-grown dragon fruit is now sold in more than 30 countries and territories.

Exports to China more than doubled in volume (107 per cent) and value (176.5 per cent). The Korean rates were 136 per cent and 114 per cent, respectively.

Besides traditional markets in China, Thailand, Indonesia and Holland, Vietnamese dragon fruit has now penetrated Chile, Brunei and Greenland.

The average export price was at $539.5 per tonne, 6 per cent higher than last year. The highest prices were $4,500 per tonne to Russia, and $3,600-3,630 per tonne to Japan, $2,760 to the US, $2,160 to Canada and $2,100 to Britain.

China was the biggest dragon fruit importer from Viet Nam, however, price were lowest at only about $396 per tonne.

In August, dragon fruit became the first Vietnamese fruit allowed to be shipped directly to the US without prior radiation tests. The tests are now held after arrival.

The US Patent and Trademark Office has also recognised "Binh Thuan dragon fruit" as the name for fruit from Binh Thuan Province. It is the country's largest dragon-fruit producer with total planting of more than 16,000ha and an output of 600,000 tonnes per year.

According to the ministry, dragon fruit will continue to prosper this year. However, to expand markets, more fruit must meet international standards, such as GlobalGAP, VietGap and EuroGap.

According to Tran Ngoc Hiep, director of Hong Hau Dragon Fruit Farm Company Ltd in Binh Thuan Province, exporters should complete production processes according to international standards and then transfer these advanced techniques to growers.

Tran Huu Danh, director of Long Viet Company in Tien Giang Province said exporters must be careful to maintain quality and prestige.

The GAP Agriculture Joint Stock Company recently begun to export dried dragon fruit to the US, creating an opportunity for value adding. — VNS

Organic food favorability brings great opportunities to Vietnam’s rice

VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of Vietnamese enterprises have been trying to develop organic food which is in high demand in the world market. However, it is still impossible to organize the production in large scale because of the required heavy investments.

Professor Vo Tong Xuan, a well-known rice expert, affirmed that Vietnam has successfully produced real organic rice – Hoa Sua brand rice, cultivated in the U Minh forest area in Ca Mau province, certified by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

This is a biologically friendly product, the cultivation of which does not harm the environment, while it can satisfy all the requirements set by USDA NOP (National Organic Program).

The organic rice has been exported to the UK as well, but in very small quantities, about 600 kilos.

Great opportunities for Vietnam

According to Le Thi Tu Anh, General Director of GAP Agriculture JSC, Vietnam has been known as the biggest rice supplier, but its rice is always cheaper than Thailand’s.  

Vietnam’s rice is believed to contain a high concentration of mercury, therefore, a lot of rice samples offered to the Singaporean and European markets have been refused.

The representative of a rice export company said Vietnam’s fragrant rice exports remain very modest, because the rice varieties are prone to insects; therefore, they need much pesticide.

However, the great opportunities for Vietnam have come, as Thai rice has become less favorable in the world market. A businessman specializing in distributing Vietnamese farm produce in the US has confirmed that Thai rice has been selling more slowly at the Vietnamese community’s market in Cali.

The Thai rice’s fragrance evaporates after some days, thus raising a doubt that the rice is aromatized.

“This would be a great opportunity for Vietnam’s rice,” Tu Anh said, explaining that Thai rice, in fact, has been cultivated with chemical fertilizer as well, however, the pesticide content in the rice is lower than Vietnam’s, because Thai only have one crop every year.

Making organic food, but how?

The low export prices of the normal rice, plus the increasingly high demand for organic food both have prompted Vietnamese enterprises to produce organic rice. However, developing organic rice would be a thorny path.

According to Xuan, Vietnam’s rice needs to have at least two certificates – Global Gap and USDA, to be able to penetrate the US market. However, it would be easier to bring rice products to the US with USDA’s certificate, though it is less costly to obtain USDA certificate than Global Gap.

Tu Anh from GAP Company said the high production costs would make Vietnamese farmers hesitate to develop the organic food program.

At first, no one believed in the company’s organic food development program, from farmers to local agriculture departments. Despite a lot of preferences offered by GAP, the company only could persuade farmers to grow organic rice on an area of 400 hectares.

Anh said her company has spent VND20 billion on the first phase of the project so far which she borrowed from relatives. Meanwhile, commercial banks refuse to fund the project because they don’t believe in the feasibility of the organic food project.