Vietnam’s farm exports surge in H1, but food safety issues remain biggest threat

In the first half of the year, Vietnam sold US$29.2 billion worth of agricultural exports to the world, up 19% on-year.

A VietGAP-certified farm in Me Linh District, Hanoi. Photo: Lam Nguyen/The Hanoi Times

Coffee, rubber, rice, fruits and vegetables, cashews, shrimp, and wood are the seven groups of products with exporting values reaching more than $1 billion.

As an agriculture-specialized economy, Vietnam is among the top countries with the highest agricultural outputs.

Up to now, Vietnamese farm produce has tapped into nearly 200 countries and territories worldwide.

To achieve such results, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has worked with local authorities to develop production standards and safe farming zones.

Among notable policies are the two national projects on improving producers' and farmers’ compliance with food safety and quality standards in 2021-2030 and developing internationally standardized material farms in 2022-2025. The projects aim to build a network of safe, quality-met value chains for Vietnamese agricultural products.

According to the MARD’s Department of Agro Processing and Market Development, more than 2,500 value chains have been set up nationwide, more than 16,000 plantations with some 225,600ha of plants have received VietGAP certificates, nearly 760 fishery farms with nearly 11,000ha of ponds are certified, and more than 4,100 animal farms have met VietGAHP standards.

Food safety issues still a major threat

The non-compliance with food safety standards remains the biggest threat to Vietnamese agriculture, the department director Nguyen Nhu Tiep said.

He cited official data saying that 7% of all agricultural, aquatic, and forestry producers nationwide have not committed to meeting the food safety standards.

In January-June, MARD agencies inspected some 8,800 device producers and traders. Of the total, 900 facilities were fined with VND11.2 billion (US$446,000) worth of fines.

According to the MARD’s Department of Plant Protection, many farm export packages have been warned, returned, and demolished for not meeting technical and food safety barriers. Many local producers have suspended their products from being sold in other markets.

Nguyen Dinh Tung, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, said that failing to meet quality standards in other markets causes great losses for Vietnamese companies.

“The information related to warnings, returns, and suspension often gets widespread, and it scales down the reputation of Vietnamese farm products in the world,” he said.

“We may soon face the bans if no solutions are taken,” he said.

According to agricultural expert Nguyen Dang Nghia, the world sees Vietnam as one of the main suppliers of safe foods.

“It is essential that local producers gather themselves up to meet food safety standards. Or the world will turn its back on us.”

MARD’s Deputy Minister Hoang Trung is worried that Vietnamese farm exports may encounter more bans and suspensions if food safety issues are not resolved.

“The ministry has tasked professional units at the border to enhance their administration of the exports, even tracking down the information of producers and material zones,” he said.

He said that the units have detected and disqualified the packages that fail quality tests.

The deputy minister expected provincial authorities to develop their policies to test and filter the products to make sure they are not infected with viruses and bacteria.

Local authorities should enhance their quality checks at plantations, farms, and packaging facilities, ensuring they meet the requirements and their codes are well-monitored, he said.

The important thing is to secure the connectivity between plants, producers, packaging units, testing units, and exporters and make sure they meet the technical requirements of the export markets, the deputy minister said.