Assisting farmers in recognizing the advantages of planting and farming area codes

On August 10, Minister of MARD Le Minh Hoan worked with affiliated units to develop planting and agricultural area codes with the goal of ensuring the production of high-quality and safe goods that meet not only export but also local demand.

With this objective in mind, the minister said that the items eligible for planting area codes should be extended, including animals and plants. More precisely, he recommended that the discussion focusing on defining the size, legal organization, and criteria necessary to satisfy the code's granting requirements.

According to Deputy Minister of MARD Le Quoc Doanh, when products are given planting and farming area codes, they will satisfy quality and safety standards and will facilitate the connection of consuming units.

As a result, the MARD will establish a procedure to govern the issuing of codes for planting and farming regions with the slogan "from simple to tough," concentrating initially on critical criteria and then expanding on others.

Nguyen Nhu Cuong, Director of the Department of Crop Production, proposed that the process of allocating planting area codes to crops be divided into two stages, beginning in 2021 and ending in 2025.

The first phase will concentrate on national key goods produced on a big scale and with high production, which will serve both export and local consumption. After 2025, the timeframe will be extended to include more plant items.

In the area of fisheries, Tran Dinh Luan, head of the Directorate of Fisheries, highlighted a number of roadblocks that need to be addressed, including the sluggish and insufficient communication between authorities and farmers.

Additionally, the public is unaware of the objective of registering and developing planting area codes, and the authorities have not established a system for inspecting, examining, and properly addressing infractions.

As an experienced unit in granting planting area codes for export products, Director of Plant Protection Department Hoang Trung suggested that in the coming period, the factor of granting planting area codes for critical local products could be added to the set of criteria for evaluating the New Rural Program.

Minister Le Minh Hoan responded, "We need to advocate for farmers and convince them of the advantages of being given planting and agricultural area codes. From there, we'll begin implementing the strategy using the simplest steps possible for farmers to understand and follow."

The Minister has tasked the Department of Crop Production with selecting goods to deploy and issuing planting area codes for domestic use in the near future. The subjects are large-scale goods that have been exported and pose many market concerns.

Additionally, cooperate with local governments to promote cooperative group formation in order to simplify the issue of planting area codes. "It is feasible to begin with small cooperative groups led by a leader in order to unify the manufacturing process and then progress to bigger forms of collaboration," the minister added.

He also requested that Ministry units explore convening conferences between companies and local governments to discuss how to address this problem in the near future.