HCMC – Efforts to promote fruit framing in accordance with Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) by the agriculture ministry are not paying off and the program is moving at a snail’s pace as farmers earn little profits compared to greater labor.

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Growers say the GAP standard not only increases productivity and quality but also paves a smoother way for their fruits to enter choosy markets, but exports have so far been stagnant and most of GAP products are sold locally. Therefore, given a much higher cost of farming under the standard, farmers are now shying themselves away from GAP.

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Lo Ren Vinh Kim Star-Apples Cooperative, widely known for its high-quality star-apples, has rapidly expanded its GAP-cultivated fruit orchards from only seven hectares to the current 55 hectares since it acquired the Global GAP in 2008.
However, the cooperative has been able to export some 10 tons of the fruit to England and Canada out of its total annual yield of 400 tons, leaving almost all its produce for local consumption, said Nguyen Van Ngan, head of the cooperative.
“I’m afraid that the area under GAP cultivation will shrink in the coming time if the cooperative couldn’t find ways to export the fruit,” said the head of the cooperative in Tien Giang Province.

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“Although a Global - GAP star apple is sold a few thousand Vietnam dong higher than the normal fruit, the revenue is not attractive enough as farmers have to invest a large amount of time and effort in the farming,” he said.
Similarly, Tran Van Sang, head of the Nam Roi Pomelo Cooperative in Vinh Long Province, told the Daily that the cooperative last year exported just 30 tons or two containers of Global GAP fruit out of its annual yield of 600 tons.

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According to the Agriculture Ministry, there have been 103 cooperatives with 2,500 hectares applying Global GAP and its localized version Viet GAP. Despite encouraging results including higher productivity and better quality owing to less chemical use, unstable sales are menacing the future of GAP cultivation.

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Nguyen Minh Chau, director of the Southern Fruit Research Institute in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang, GAP cultivation needs a careful master plan in terms of kinds of fruit, cultivation area, selection of strains, techniques, training for farmers and especially the outlet for the crops.
“Although the ministry has issued a decision in 2008 to guide the certification of VietGAP, it is not sufficient to guarantee a sustainable future for safe fruit and vegetables in Vietnam,” he said.

The agriculture ministry said last week it would deploy the Viet GAP program in plantation, husbandry and seafood sectors. The ministry has required southern provinces to select and round up the most valuable fruits into specialized areas, each ranging from 200 to 500 hectares, for en-masse production.

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Natural conditions have favored fruit cultivation in Vietnam, especially in the southern region where the total area has amounted to more than 770,000 hectares now from nearly 570,000 hectares ten years ago

(Saigontimes)