MARD seeks solutions to promote farm-produce processing, market

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has sought solutions to promote farm-produce processing and develop farm produce market.

The solutions were discussed at the National Conference on Promoting Farm-Produce Processing and Market Development this year in the morning of April 28.

This is the first national conference focusing in depth on one of the driving forces of agricultural restructuring to develop the farm-produce market.

The conference, held in the Mekong Delta City of Can Tho, is a practical activity of the agricultural sector to quickly implement the 13th National Party Congress' Resolution as well as deploying the agricultural restructuring plan for the period of 2021-25 that would focus on added value following the Government’s direction under the Decision No 255/ QD-TTg dated February 25, 2021.

The conference has reviewed farm-produce processing and market development in a new situation that combined many challenges and opportunities. Especially, the new situation has put in the flexible and rapid change of the world's farm-produce processing technology trend.

The conference also assessed applying digital technology to optimise production and resources in the farm-produce processing and the transfer of scientific and technical advances in post-harvest technology in order to increase the value of farm produce for export.

Besides, the conference’s participants had shared trends of the world farm-produce market and pointed out issues relating to standards of agricultural production; building and protecting brands and supporting the development of geographical indications for businesses.

The participants also mentioned problems of opening the farm-produce market to improve the current institution and increase enforcement efficiency and linkage in the market.

During the one-day conference, the participants also discussed topics, including the world's current trend of processing technology and problems of preservation and processing farm produce; direction to promote the application of data science in farm-produce processing and market development; creating value-added products for the agriculture sector from shrimp by-products; connecting technology with farm-produce market; and protecting intellectual property for Vietnamese farm produce.

Statistics from the ministry’s Agro-product Processing and Market Development Department show that this year, the rice output is estimated to reach 43.98 million tonnes, sweet potato is estimated to reach at 1.3 million tonnes; vegetables and beans are estimated to reach 17.1 million tonnes.

The number is 788.4 thousand tonnes for mango; 1.1 million tonnes for dragon fruit and 674 thousand tonnes for pineapple, the department said.

Aquatic exploitation is estimated to reach 3.6 million tonnes while aquatic production is estimated to reach 4.4 million tonnes, the department said.

The country now has 7,500 agro-forestry and aquatic product processing enterprises and tens of thousands of small-scale aquatic product processing producers.

It is estimated that they could preliminarily process and preserve about 120 million tonnes of agricultural, forestry and aquatic materials each year.

The domestic farm-produce distribution system contains a total of 8,500 traditional markets, including 94 wholesale markets; and 1,500 supermarkets, 240 trade centres and 15 exhibition and fair centers. Besides, there are other forms of online marketplaces.