New fruit and vegetable export strategy introduced

Việt Nam's fruits and vegetables have penetrated in 50 markets worldwide, with the total export turnover of US $407 million last year, said the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT).

However, just 10-15% of the country’s fruits and vegetables are for export or used as inputs of processing plants.

Thus the export turnover only accounts for 2.5% of the total figure of agro-exports.

To realize the above targets, as mentioned in the strategy made public in Hồ Chí Minh City last week, Việt Nam will expand the area for fruit and vegetable cultivation to 1 million hectares by 2010, including 255,000 ha for export products.

The MARD is focusing its investment on research and cross-breeding of high-yield and high-quality varieties.

The Ministry also pledged to assist fruit and vegetable exporters to improve their brand names and supply farmers with better inputs, especially seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and post-harvest technologies.

At the same time, there should be solutions to help farmers and exporters to boost export through more professional marketing, advertisement and trade promotion activities.

By Hải Minh