Eliminating the "intransparent" agricultural situation

 

Dong Nai is also focusing on promoting traceability of livestock and crop products, especially supporting farmers in granting planting area codes for key local crops.

Transparency for products

Product traceability is becoming an inevitable trend, contributing to improving the competitiveness of livestock and crop products in both domestic and export markets. The Government has also approved many programs and projects assigned to the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to support businesses and farmers in localities across the country to apply modern technology to build an access system origin.

In the field of cultivation, the Production Unit Code is a necessary and mandatory condition for traceability. The granting of planting area codes as well as the good implementation of traceability are opportunities to increase the competitiveness of agricultural products in both domestic and export markets. Here, the Production Unit Code is an identifier for a growing area to facilitate monitoring and control of production, product quality, and crop traceability. To be granted a planting area code, farmers must produce according to safety standards; keep a farming notebook or a field diary during the farming process.

Accordingly, the issuance of a Production Unit Code not only helps consumers and authorities easily trace the origin, meeting the requirements of the importing country through production according to a certain process with epidemic control and control, and ensure the food safety, but also help farmers be aware of production problems closely related to product quality and cost. This can be seen as the key in building trust in the quality and reputation of agricultural products in both domestic and international markets.

Mr. Nguyen The Bao, Director of Suoi Lon Mango Cooperative, Xuan Loc District said that the cooperative is one of the pioneers in the province in granting the Production Unit Codes. Participating in the program, farmers are greatly supported, especially in terms of implementation costs. Having the Production Unit Code, Suoi Lon mango brand is also better recognized by both domestic and export markets; Especially, Suoi Lon mango is now eligible for export to other countries, including fastidious markets.

As the livestock capital of the country, Dong Nai is among the top provinces pioneering the application of high technology in traceability for livestock products. Since many years ago, Dong Nai has actively implemented projects on traceability of livestock products such as: pork, chicken, poultry eggs, etc. Specifically, the project of wearing rings to trace the origin of pigs from the farm; use QR codes for food traceability; Te-food program (traceability software, livestock management) using blockchain technology.

Mr. Nguyen Truong Giang, Director of the Provincial Sub-Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, said that the program to trace the origin of pork and chicken products in the province increasingly attracts a large number of businesses, slaughterhouses, and livestock farms to participate into the program. By 2020, the province has 90% of the total pig herd and 37.5% of the total chicken herd carrying out traceability. Particularly, the Te-food program, which was piloted in the province in 2019, also attracted many businesses in the livestock industry to participate. By the end of 2020, the province has 272 establishments declaring the traceability through Te-food software. This model is continuing to be replicated and applied to farms and households. The good implementation of livestock traceability will make livestock management more convenient, and at the same time increase the value of Dong Nai pork and chicken and aim for export.

The province is also implementing a project to trace the origin of essential foods of animal origin in the province for the period of 2021-2025. In which, it is expected that many modern and traditional retail channels in the province will be strengthened, expanding the traceability of livestock products in the direction of high technology, product management from farms, slaughterhouses, preliminary processing, processing to distribution and retail channels.

The factory chicken farm at Long Thanh District provides processing enterprises for export to Japan with clear traceability. Photo: Phan Anh

Building the quality reputation

With the trend that consumers are increasingly concerned about food safety and hygiene, not only slaughtering and trading units but also livestock households are interested in implementing product traceability. Mr. Nguyen Quang Tho, Director of Thy Tho Co., Ltd, Bau Tram Commune, Long Khanh City said that when African swine fever broke out, the source of pigs brought to market in Ho Chi Minh City was controlled. Stricter control makes pigs safe; traceability has a more competitive advantage in the market. “Product traceability is clearly the most important basis for quality control and disease control on animal products. However, for this certification to be more and more trusted by customers, the origin of products from livestock households to slaughterhouses and distribution to the market needs to be managed more closely and effectively," - Mr. Tho said.

According to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Linh, Deputy Director of the General Department of Standards, Metrology and Quality, the international market is very demanding in terms of product traceability in both production and trade. In this case, both farmers and businesses must strictly implement the traceability of agricultural products. In addition, domestic consumers also increasingly need transparency for goods, especially food and food, so "traceability" is considered the "key" to create trust for consumers. This gives them peace of mind to use products of clear origin and guaranteed quality; At the same time, it helps prevent commercial frauds, and contributes to branding for Vietnamese products.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Toan, Director of the Department of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development added that in the period of 2021 - 2030, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has determined to increase the application of technology in production. Processing, building, and operating a traceability system for agricultural products is one of the important orientations to realize the goal of promoting domestic and export markets, enhancing added value for the industry, connecting with the National Product Traceability Portal and contribute significantly to building the brand of Vietnamese agricultural products. Thus, traceability is the trend of both domestic agricultural productions, not only export goods.

Mr. Toan affirmed: “Traceability is more important than ever, requiring the efforts of state management agencies, including the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and other agencies. Ministries concerned in perfecting institutions, mechanisms, and policies. At this point, the traceability must be made stronger, more synchronous, feasible, fully responsive, and not passive before any market requirements and standards.

Phan Anh

According to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan, an intransparent agriculture will lead to consequences that need to be rescued. Because domestic consumers also turn away from domestic agricultural products since they are worried about unsafe products. Intransparency in the normal state is difficult to control, when there are many influencing factors, the more intransparent it is, the more easily it is broken, the coordination is not in the right place. Therefore, it is very important to perform well the traceability of agricultural products and regain their reputation in the market.