HCMC – Vietnamese Good Agriculture Practices (VietGAP) was introduced four years ago with the Government’s assistance for development, but insiders still find it unfeasible without specific policies.
Vo Mai, vice president of the Vietnam Gardening Association, said since VietGAP was introduced, farmers and consumers had considered it a set of standards for safe agricultural products. However, due to the lack of appropriate adjustment to the market requirements, several producers awarded with VietGAP certifications have turned to their old production methods.
“Most VietGAP practitioners told me they did not know where to sell their products, and could only sell them in the beginning. The products were later counterfeited by other producers,” Mai said.
Sharing the same view, Bui Cong Thanh of the agricultural cooperative Quyet Thang in Tien Giang Province said he was not keen on applying VietGAP though Quyet Thang Cooperative had been supported VND3 billion to build a processing plant and teach pineapple growers VietGAP techniques.
“Quyet Thang’s pineapple cultivation is applying VietGAP, but we stop at harvesting stage and do not continue on to processing and packaging under the standards,” he said. He explained the expenses of processing and packaging accounted for over 30% of the production costs, thus the cooperative would incur losses given the current market prices.
Another headache for VietGAP practitioners is that other producers use their VietGAP packages and labels on normal products and launch into the market.
To encourage the application of VietGAP, aiming to integrate with GlobalGAP, the Prime Minister earlier this month signed Decision 01/2012/QT-TTg on supporting 50% of the expenses on infrastructure development like traffic and waste treatment system for VietGAP practitioners.
However, Director Nguyen Van Long of the HCMC-based Huong Canh Co., Ltd. said the supporting capital is hard to receive because of the cumbersome procedures.
Vo Mai said the Government has only assisted the production stage, while the output is neglected. Many agricultural cooperatives have received VietGAP, or even GlobalGAP certifications, but are still struggling with outlets for the produce, she stressed.
She suggested a unified VietGAP label should be applied nationwide to help consumers identify genuine VietGAP products. At present, every VietGAP practitioner has a different label, which is easily counterfeited, Mai noted.
According to Thanh of Quyet Thang Cooperative, though his firm has registered for Tan Lap Pineapple trademark, some other production units still sell Tan Lap Pineapple that are not originated from Quyet Thang Cooperative.
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