Spending approximately VND 70 trillion to promote Vietnamese gingseng

Long-term approach

On June 15, the MARD and the Quang Nam Provincial People's Committee co-hosted a seminar on the establishment of a program to develop Vietnamese ginseng by 2030, with a view toward 2045. 

According to the Vietnam Administration of Forestry, Vietnamese ginseng is a valuable, rare, and valuable medicinal plant. A number of regions have produced and developed ginseng, primarily Ngoc Linh ginseng, including Quang Nam and Kon Tum provinces with a total area of about 6,000ha. Initially, planting and cultivating ginseng produced jobs and raised income for locals, particularly ethnic minorities in distant and inaccessible locations, improved infrastructure, and fostered to the construction of a new rural area.

In addition, several businesses have concentrated on product processing and diversification to expand the ginseng consumption market. Due to a lack of raw material area, assured varieties, deep-processing factories, advertising, and branding, however, the cultivation, processing, and consumption of ginseng have lagged behind its potential and strength.

To increase the value of Vietnamese ginseng, the MARD sent a document to the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and eight provinces about the evaluation and review of past projects and programs, as well as the establishment of a ginseng program by 2030.

The program has 6 component projects including Investigating, evaluating, and zoning ginseng conservation associated with forest protection and development; Developing areas of planting materials, to develop concentrated ginseng; Research, developing, and selection of varieties; Promoting sustainable and comprehensive processing and trading of Vietnamese ginseng products along the value chain; Branding, market promotion, trade promotion; To develop infrastructure of ginseng growing areas in association with infrastructure development of ethnic minorities and mountainous areas. The estimated capital is nearly VND 70,000 billion. 

It aspires to develop and market Vietnamese ginseng as a high-valued commercial good, with a national brand mane attached to the sustainable use of forests. It is based on the strengths and potential of each locality, contributes to the development of the local socio-economy for ethnic minorities, and ensures the security and defense of the nation.

By 2030, the entire nation will have approximately 200,000 hectares of natural ginseng in natural forests, primarily distributed in the provinces of Quang Nam, Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Lam Dong, Nghe An, Lai Chau, and Lao Cai, in conjunction with forest protection, forest development, and biodiversity conservation. Forming a 27,000-hectare ginseng planting material concentration in the provinces of Quang Nam, Kon Tum, Gia Lai, and Lai Chau. The Ngoc Linh ginseng field in Quang Nam, Kon Tum, and Gia Lai covers 25,900 hectares, but the Lai Chau ginseng region is 800 hectares.

The initiative also intends to supply at least 80 percent of mass-produced Vietnamese ginseng types with standard quality, legal origin, and regulated cultivation. In which at least fifty percent of seedlings are grown from tissue to achieve new yield and product quality breakthroughs.

According to Mr. Vu Thanh Nam, Deputy Director of the Department of Special-Use and Protection Forest Management (Vietnam Administration of Forestry), given the area of ginseng in our nation by 2030, the exploited yield will reach between 500 and 700 tons meeting GMP - WTO standards. Concurrently, there are at least five facilities or factories for preliminary processing and processing of Vietnamese ginseng that exceed GMP - WTO requirements; there are 50 to 100 products of high quality and added value, including branded items on the international market.

Several bottlenecks

According to provincial leaders, ginseng farming has generated a significant supply for producers in recent years. To progressively improve the value of ginseng, localities have directed the development of high-quality products in response to market needs, linking up raw material production and product consumption and encouraging investments in the field. Since then, household groups, association groups, and manufacturing and processing businesses have been established. The area dedicated to ginseng cultivation in the region keeps expanding annually.

Nonetheless, investment and growth of ginseng plants in their existing locations continue to confront constraints and challenges. As in the province of Kon Tum, more than 50% of the projected development area for Ngoc Linh ginseng is in an area of special-use forest that is carefully protected. Therefore, the growth of Ngoc Linh ginseng is restricted, as the 2017 Forest Laws prevent internal incidence to special-use forests.

In addition, the quality management of Ngoc Linh ginseng, particularly the identification of origin and quality, resulted in the emergence of several counterfeit ginseng products on the market, which negatively impacted the company's image and brand. In addition, the financial capital required to cultivate Ngoc Linh ginseng is considerable; to plant 1 hectare is expected to cost billions of dong, making it unaffordable for most people.

Ngoc Linh ginseng is being exploited as a commodity as compared to being acknowledged as a "national treasure" with countless cultural legends associated with its survival.

It is vital to protect the genetic resources of the native Ngoc Linh ginseng seed without hybridization. Before extending the planting area and geographical population of Ngoc Linh ginseng, it is important to create a digitized and coded biological and legal record. Rapidly construct a national brand strategy for Ngoc Linh ginseng, and promote and deploy state resources for the birth of super goods extracted and processed from Ngoc Linh Ginseng with exceptional value and increased use-to-value.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh, stated that in recent years, a technical method to grow ginseng has been established, enticing enterprises to invest, produce, process, and create value products. This is the initial stage, a hint to proceed with a more systematic procedure.

"Developing a program to cultivate Vietnamese ginseng is difficult, particularly for ginseng. This is only the beginning; there is still a great deal of work to be done. Therefore, I propose that the Vietnam Administration of Forestry conduct field trips to localities in order to investigate in depth such topics as planting, harvesting, processing, and preservation in order to include them into sub-projects and components.