Promoting sustainable pepper production and trade

On March 30th, the Department of Plan Protection (MARD), together with the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) and the Sustainable Spices Initiative Forum (SSI) had signed a memorandum of understanding with an eye toward promoting sustainable pepper production and trade in Vietnam in the 2021-2025 period.

The event received the attendance of several units in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam, the Embassy of Netherlands, the Vietnam Pepper Association and some companies in the pepper manufacturing, processing and trading sectors.

In accordance with the memorandum, all the parties involved are committed to cooperate and coordinate in the implementation of the plan to promote sustainable pepper production and trade in Vietnam until 2025. To be specific, the Department of Plan Protection will play the role of the focal point to promote the completion of the system and capability policies in the management of instructions for responsible use of pesticides.

Moreover, the Department also promotes safe pepper production links, supervises food safety, and traces the origin of pepper for export in order to spread the pepper production scale and meet the market’s standards for safe and sustainable production.

In the meantime, SSI is responsible for coordinating with the European Spice Association (ESA) and the American Spice Association (ASTA) on the quality requirement of the market and for connecting to member companies to invest in sustainable production in the supply chain in Vietnam. On the other hand, IDH plays the role of technical advisor, financial support and coordinates the support of international organizations for this PPP (public-private partnership) endeavor.

At the signing ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Quy Duong, Deputy Director of the Department of Plant Protection, had spoken that Vietnam was the biggest pepper producer and exporter in the world. Vietnamese pepper accounted for about 60% of the pepper traded around the world.

However, Vietnam's pepper industry is facing major challenges such as low selling prices, lack of sustainability, and failure in meeting the ever-tightening requirements of the world markets.

According to Mr. Duong, an effective increase of PPP is an appropriate explanation for this problem on the basis that each side can demonstrate their strengths.

Mr. Nguyen Quy Duong emphasized that the government would support creating a favorable policy environment for the private sector to display their active role in connecting markets and ensuring sustainable production, meeting the requirements and standards of the market.

"I believe that the agreement signed today will become a great driving force, pushing Vietnam’s pepper industry to achieve the goal of sustainable production", reaffirmed Mr. Nguyen Quy Duong.

Meanwhile, Executive Chairman of SSI in Vietnam, Mr. Alflons Van Gulick, said that SSI is a global forum, bringing together the world's leading companies in the spice industry with strong commitments to sustainable commercial trade.

"The Vietnamese pepper industry is an extremely important source of materials for SSI, and SSI is committed and proud to be a companion contributing to the sustainable development of the Vietnamese pepper industry, thereby helping our business and trade more sustainable”, said Mr. Alflons Van Gulick.

In respect of IDH in Vietnam, Director Huynh Tien Dung said that the cooperation between IDH and Vietnam had occurred for many years. In recent years, through the connection of IDH, SSI has cooperated with the PPP Group for the pepper industry in many activities.

Nonetheless, the signing of this memorandum of understanding has shown that the commitment of cooperation has risen to a higher and more comprehensive level.

“The efforts and commitments of cooperation between parties have been acknowledged by the European Union (EU). Early this year, the EU has supported a project to promote sustainable commercial production for Vietnamese pepper, with IDH, Vietnam Pepper Association, and European Spices Association being implementation partners. This project will serve as an important factor to contribute to support Vietnam and SSI to fulfill the commitments to the most efficiency.”, said Mr. Huyen Tien Dung.