Binh Thuan develops a ‘green’ dragon fruit chain

Blessed with a favorable climate and soil, Binh Thuan has become the “capital of dragon fruit” in Vietnam. The whole province now has approximately 26,000 ha of dragon fruit, down 4,000 ha compared to the post-Covid-19 period. The average output is 600,000 tons/year.

In order to improve the productivity and quality of dragon fruit products, Binh Thuan’s agricultural industry has been promoting the application of new technical advances in production. This province considers digital transformation the core of innovating growth models as it plays a very important role in the context of today's economic integration.

But the current situation poses a problem. Dragon fruit production in Binh Thuan strictly complies with the process and achieves VietGAP and GlobalGAP certifications, however, the products of the people and cooperatives must always be inspected before being purchased by enterprises, hence more pressure on production costs. The reason is that the purchasing enterprises do not have enough trust for the product quality, and farmers and cooperatives have no basis to prove that their products are safe.

Facing such a situation, Binh Thuan Agricultural Extension Center has built a "green” dragon fruit chain to trace the origin of products and certify information from the production stages to when the final products reach consumers.

According to Nguyen Duc Tri, Deputy Director of Binh Thuan Agricultural Extension Center, the unit has successfully built a “green” dragon fruit production process, promoting the application of technical and technological advances in production to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change.

To prove the production follows the green - clean direction, Binh Thuan Agricultural Extension Center has developed the “Carbon Footprints Tracking" model associated with the electronic diary application. Traceability of products is integrated with the databases, and the unit collects information about production from farmers and loads the data on the portal "https://thanhlongxanhbinhthuan.vn". With this transparency of product information, purchasing businesses can study "green" dragon fruit products and place orders.

Regarding initial implementation, Binh Thuan Agricultural Extension Center supports 4 enterprises and dragon fruit production cooperatives to participate in the "green" dragon fruit value chain. This includes Thanh Long Thuan Tien Cooperative, (Ham Liem Commune, Ham Thuan Bac); Hoa Le Clean Dragon Fruit Cooperative, (Ma Lam Town, Ham Thuan Bac); Ham Minh 30 Dragon Fruit Cooperative, (Ham Minh commune, Ham Thuan Nam) and Phuc Ha juice Co., Ltd. (Hai Ninh commune, Bac Binh).

“We make full use of resources from the projects of the People’s Commitee to train farmers on digital conversion and digital technology applications. Members of the cooperative can now record electronic diary in the process of production and processing on the application while still meeting the route of monitoring carbon footprints,” said Deputy Director Nguyen Duc Tri.

All information on the application is provided thanks to 24/7 interaction in the cooperative system (from the provincial level to the cooperative and its members). The application also regularly updates the fluctuations in production and business, the market, and information on guidelines and related policies.

The application also automatically makes statistics, forecasts and reports on the production situation of cooperatives in the province, as well as providing product information such as output, product specifications, production procedures, production diary for e-commerce platforms and online consumer platforms to improve market access.

The application system not only meets the requirements of 4 cooperatives in the project but also expands through the participation of more dragon fruit cooperatives in the province. Binh Thuan Agricultural Extension Center also built an electronic agricultural business portal to introduce green dragon fruit products and provide information on Binh Thuan’s production and processing facilities to customers. Customers can order online through the agricultural information portal and easily contact product supply facilities through the mobile application.

In the near future, Binh Thuan Agricultural Extension Center will continue to develop the application "Green Dragon Fruit Chain" using the platform of traceability of agricultural products, providing tracing services and certifying information from the production stage to market release.