Enhance the planting area codes management

According to Mr. Hoang Trung, Director of the Plant Protection Department, the issuance and management of planting area codes and packing facilities is one of the top priorities of the Plant Protection Department in carrying out the task of agricultural product development. The whole country has about 4,000 growing area codes and 2,000 packing facilities spread over 50 provinces and cities. It is a vast number that requires attention and synchronization from the central to local levels, at all levels, ministries, departments, and branches.

In the first two months of 2022, the export turnover of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products reached US$ 8 billion, up nearly 30% over the same period in 2021. The leading agricultural product group is estimated at over US$ 3.2 billion. Those are encouraging numbers, requiring the management of growing area codes to be raised one step further to meet the increasing requirements and regulations of the world market.

Recognizing that trade in agricultural products is growing, the Department of Plant Protection has also identified a "dual-task" that must be completed, which is to both ensure an increase in the number of newly issued planting area codes following international practices; while maintaining and managing the quality of the assigned planting area codes. In 2021, the Department advised the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on a plan to set about 90% of the planting area codes to the localities responsible for management.

The Plant Protection Department has repeatedly guided and propagated the need to identify critical crops, strengths, and potential for export, using that as the basis for granting planting area codes. To do this, the locality must take the necessary initiative and take advantage of external impulses such as support from businesses and international organizations.

"We must take measures to rectify and attach agricultural production to the industry value chain. All production, harvesting, processing, storage, and distribution stages must proceed according to standards. However, reporting and updating from some localities is still slow, affecting the opportunity to bring agricultural products to the world", said Mr. Hoang Trung.

Recently, the Plant Protection Department has sent a mission to the southern provinces of An Giang, Dong Thap, Ben Tre, and Tien Giang to inspect and evaluate the development of planting areas and packing facilities in reality. The Plant Protection Department exchanged and discussed the difficulties in granting and managing the planting area codes and packaging facilities to find ways to solve them with the locality.

The Plant Protection Department has planned to connect businesses, prioritize the purchase of agricultural products in growing areas with full cultivation logs; Posting complete information about the growing areas that have been granted codes on the websites of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the system of Sub-departments, or the People's Committees of all levels for convenience in communication.

To manage the planting area codes well, the local government must pay attention to this issue. In fact, provinces and cities with clear policies and guidelines on growing area codes do well, from production organization to productivity, quality, and product value.

Secondly, localities need to assign tasks clearly and clearly define the focal point for information and management on planting area codes: the Sub-Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection or The National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department.

In addition, the Plant Protection Department also proposed the option that at the Sub-department level, the Department only conducts the new inspections, while the Plantation and Plant Protection Station, the District Agricultural Service Center, carry out the monitoring of the planting areas, packing facility has been issued the code.

Thirdly, the training and improvement of the qualifications of local officials should be maintained regularly. Before instructing people, technical staff must have a clear understanding of the requirements and regulations of the export market.

Fourthly, the locality must devote adequate resources to perform the tasks, must be close to the people in sampling, analysis, and periodic inspection.

"Locals need to make plans to propagate and disseminate to people the importance of granting and maintaining planting area codes. Decentralizing the management, issuing new planting area codes, and packing facilities are not only to move towards a green, responsible and transparent agriculture with consumers but also as a solution to implement the Strategy for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in the 2021-2030 period", Mr. Hoang Trung emphasized.