E-commerce as a bridge connecting farmers and consumers

The Fruit and Vegetable Research Institute (FAVRI), the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD), and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) implement Component Four of the Agriculture Program for Food Security 2030 - AgriFoSe2030 in Vietnam in the districts of Yen Chau (Son La) and Chuong My and Quoc Oai (Hanoi) within one year, beginning in July 2021. Under the auspices of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the Swedish Agricultural University and Faculty of Human Geography at Lund University, the program is administered (Sweden).

The Workshop on "Reporting on research results and policy evaluation on e-commerce for fruit products in Vietnam" was recently organized by IPSARD, FAVRI, and ICRAF within the framework of the Project to share research results, evaluate policies on e-commerce for fruit products in Vietnam and collect feedback from stakeholders on ways to promote farmer participation in e-commerce for fruit in Vietnam.

The representative of FAVRI, B.S. Le Nhu Thinh, stated that the value of e-commerce in Vietnam's agricultural goods, especially fruits, has increased over the last five years. The value of Vietnamese agricultural goods sold on e-commerce platforms surpassed USD 9.5 billion in 2019. Additionally, e-commerce helps farmers sell their fruit goods during the Covid-19 outbreak.

"Several e-commerce sites facilitate the marketing and consumption of suburban fruit goods. While a growing number of farmers are promoting their fresh fruits and processed fruit products directly on social media platforms like as Facebook and Zalo, this trend is expected to continue ", B.S Le Nhu Thinh stated.

Consequently, FARVI's role in the Project "Component 4 of the Agricultural Program for Food Security 2030 - AgriFoSe2030" is to collect secondary information from the General Statistics Office, the Statistics Department of Son La Province, Hanoi, and documents related to fruit consumption trends, particularly with plum, longan, mango, and pomelo, in order to identify consumption trends among urban populations.

Additionally, FARVI conducts surveys and research of consumers, collectors, wholesalers, and retailers in order to comprehend the patterns of fruit consumption and trade, as well as their participation in fruit sales through commercial channels.

IPSARD, FAVRI, and ICRAF have been exploring the supply and market of four fruit products, including plum, mango, pomelo, and longan, as well as connecting Hanoi's suburbs and the province of Son La to Hanoi. The project further provided farmers with e-commerce training sessions. It is anticipated that these training sessions would enable small-scale fruit farmers to better adapt to market needs and provide consumers with safe, high-quality fruit.

Mr. Tran Dai Nghia, IPSARD's representative, stated that the unit has been and will continue to assess the socio-economic effects of the booming e-commerce of fruit products on farmers' income and the efficiency results of the development of the fruiters commodity chain for Son La and Hanoi, as well as the conditions for smallholder farmers to meet the requirements of urban and smoothly participate in e-commerce channels and develop "safe" farming systems, through the issuance of relevant policies.