During the previous dragon fruit GAP project 037/04VIE, growers were evaluated through a benchmarking study to determine the status of the dragon fruit producers against the standards re
Trang 1Extending export opportunities to plot dragon fruit growers through Good Agricultural Practices
small-Campbell J, Nguyen Van Hoa, Nguyen Huu Hoang
May 2010
A report prepared for:
Hassall and Associates International
Campbell, J Plant & Food Research, Nelson Nguyen Van Hoa, Nguyen Huu Honga Southern Horticultural Research Institute, Vietnam
PFR Client Report No xxxxx PFR Contract No 22663
Trang 2DISCLAIMER
Unless agreed otherwise, The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited does not give any prediction, warranty or assurance in relation to the accuracy of or fitness for any particular use or application of, any information or scientific or other result contained in this report Neither Plant & Food Research nor any of its employees shall be liable for any cost (including legal costs), claim, liability, loss, damage, injury or the like, which may be suffered or incurred as a direct or indirect result of the reliance by any person on any information contained in this report
This report has been prepared by The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited (Plant & Food Research), which has its Head Office at 120 Mt Albert Rd, Mt Albert, Auckland
This report has been approved by:
Trang 3Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development
CARD Project Progress Report
029/07/VIE
Extending export opportunities to small-plot dragon fruit growers through Good Agricultural Practices
Milestone 5 THIRD SIX-MONTHLY REPORT
October 2009
Trang 5Glossary
APHIS The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of USDA
BRC British Retailers Consortium: Global Standard - FOOD
CARD Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development
CAR Corrective Action Requirements
DARD Department of Agricultural Research and Development
EUREPGAP Euro-Retailer Produce Working Group; Good
Agricultural Practice
GAP Good Agricultural Practice
GlobalGAP GLOBAL Good Agricultural Practice
HACCP Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points
HAI Hassall and Associates International
ICM Integrated Crop Management
IPM Integrated Pest Management
SGS Société Générale de Surveillance
SOFRI Southern Horticultural Research Institute
USA United States of America
WTO World Trade Organisation
PPD Plant Protection Division
P&F R The Plant and Food Research Institute of New Zealand
TORs Terms of Reference
USDA United States Department of Agriculture
VIETGAP VIETnam Good Agricultural Practice
YPRMS Young Professional Research Management Specialist
Trang 71 Institute Information
small-plot dragon fruit growers through Good Agricultural Practices
Institute
Research Institute Ltd
Leonie Osborne
Completion date (revised)
Progress Report – October 2009
Contact Officer(s)
In Australia: Team Leader
Organisation Plant and Food
Research
Email: john.campbell@plantandfood.co.nz
In Australia: Administrative contact
Name: Mrs Leonie Osborne Telephone: +64 9 925 7232
Position: Executive Assistant Fax: +64 9 925 8626
Organisation Plant and Food
Research
Email: leonie.osborne@plantandfood.co.nz
In Vietnam
Trang 82 Project Abstract
3 Executive Summary
This report, Milestone 5, of the dragon fruit project 029/07VIE, covers the milestone
description “Third Six-Monthly Report”
All personnel from the previous dragon fruit project hold similar responsibilities in this
project and remain unchanged Due to promotion and increased responsibilities for the
project leader’s counterparts, Dr Hoa and Mr Hoang, development of the next tier of the
project personnel has been addressed by SOFRI management and the original dragon fruit team as part of project delivery
The Hoang Hau Dragon fruit Farm project pilot packhouse was audited against the BRC
Global Standard for Food Safety – Issue 5 The packhouse was very close to certification to the standard but a significant increase in the packhouse throughput and a need to increase skilled personnel levels and capability will delay full certification attempts until a new large packing facility, disinfestation equipment and coolstorage developments are in place and commissioned The project pilot packhouse has achieved GlobalGAP on-farm packing
Certification
The SOFRI project team has continued to provide technical assistance to the packhouse to ensure it progressed towards operating at the BRC Standards Transfer of the quality system responsibilities to the packhouse from the SOFRI project team is well advanced and the third party training for specialist components of the quality system has been completed e.g
HACCP and Internal Auditor certification of two senior packhouse personnel by SGS
Vietnam
Producers of dragon fruit in Vietnam have seen prices for their fruit decline by about 60% since 2000, which can be attributed, in part, to their dependence on local and nearby exports There are about 10 major exporters in Vietnam but a significant portion of the total production is sourced from many small-holder growers During the previous dragon fruit GAP project 037/04VIE, growers were evaluated through a benchmarking study to determine the status of the dragon fruit producers against the standards required by high value export markets The project then proceeded to implement documented quality systems, training and mentoring in a “Pilot” of exporter, packer, and large and small-holder dragon fruit farms that met the standards of BRC Global – Food Issue 5 in the packhouse and GlobalGAP on the farms The established “working quality model” is now testing the high value markets of the United Kingdom, Europe and the USA This project, “Extending export opportunities to small-plot dragon fruit growers through good agricultural practices”, will complete the linkages with the high value markets, consolidate the pilot establishment to ensure sustainability, provide expansion of the pilot operation and establish new commercial dragon fruit operations in the Binh Thuan, Tien Giang and Long An provinces Large numbers of small-plot growers will have the opportunity to access high monetary value markets for their dragon fruit Transfer of the technology generated during the dragon fruit projects is available and is being applied to other horticultural crops
Trang 9The project pilot, Hoang Hau dragon fruit farmers’ group achieved GlobalGAP
re-certification during the previous reporting period and a successful random audit was
conducted by SGS Vietnam in October Two corrective action requirements (CAR) were identified during the audit and subsequently implemented
Recently there has been a major change in awareness in Vietnam horticulture of, and need for, food safety in the region and in particular the call by China that it will allow into the country only fruit from registered farmers, packers and exporters who can provide safety assurance and full product traceability
Project developed national capability has, from the beginning of the first dragon fruit project, been integrated into the SOFRI outreach and training services programme SOFRI is very well equipped and is responding to the challenge of providing guidance and training to ensure as many fruit producers as possible learn the skills necessary to enable them to meet GAP compliance The project outreach programme is expanding the replication of the first dragon fruit project pilot model into all project designated areas and the dragon fruit project team is very much in demand to assist GAP developments Momentum of the GAP initiative
in Vietnam has accelerated and delivery is being made at the appropriate standard to each specific circumstance e.g VietGAP for local market and near country exports, GlobalGAP, BRC, USA, and other market-demanded standards for high value export markets
Commercial dragon fruit packers/exporters who can meet market standards and are willing to invest in the development of small-holder farms to enable them to supply product complying with GlobalGAP Standards continue to be identified and provided with training assistance SOFRI’s skills and facilities for horticultural quality training/verification services, science to problem solve, continual industry improvement, analytical and diagnostic services to
industry, provision of training facilities and trainers, etc continues to expand
SOFRI and SGS Vietnam as a Certifying Body for auditing, certification and training have advanced their joint venture and have provided horticultural, technical and quality training to SGS specialists, SOFRI staff and industry personnel
The Plant & Food Research postharvest specialist, Dr Allan Woolf, has continued to mentor the SOFRI postharvest leader, Dr Nguyen Van Phong, to develop and implement his research programme to identify ways to extend the storage life of dragon fruit and to address market access issues Dr Phong, facilitated by the CARD Twinning Project, visited P&F R in
Auckland for a week-long study tour in June 2009 where the dragon fruit project postharvest research programme was advanced Significant progress has been made by Dr Phong during his limited time to the position in the areas of increasing the dragon fruit storage life,
postharvest storage life, development of the dragon fruit grade standards and contributing to the project’s postharvest outreach quality system implementation
4 Introduction & Background
This project is a continuation of the earlier project: “Developing Good Agricultural Practice
(GAP) systems for dragon fruit producers and exporters in Binh Thuan and Tien Giang provinces” 037/04VIE The aims of this project are to consolidate the GAP work of the previous project, deliver high value market benefits to increasing numbers of small-holder dragon fruit farmers of the Tien Giang and Long An provinces as well as Binh Thuan, to increase the capability of national personnel to implement GAP systems to international
Trang 10market standards and to establish improvement programmes for postharvest treatments and practices
The specific project objectives are:
Objective 1
To develop and maintain the market-driven GAP dragon fruit exporter, packer and farmer group working pilot, by:
¾ Attaining BRC certification for the pilot packhouse
¾ Maintaining GlobalGAP compliance for the farmer group
¾ Linking the pilot with high value export markets for compliant dragon fruit
¾ Expanding the working model pilot to the wider Binh Thuan dragon fruit production area and into the provinces of Tien Giang and Long An
¾ Establishing methods to mitigate constraints preventing dragon fruit farmers from accessing high value markets (for example: the role of the collector and traceability disruption)
¾ Mentoring GAP technology transfer capability at SOFRI
¾ Mentoring application of postharvest capability at SOFRI for direct application for quality improvement, extending shelf-life and problem solving
The approach and methodology of this project will be similar to the previous project For example:
¾ The New Zealand project team provides mentoring for GAP, understanding quality systems and technology delivery to SOFRI project and other personnel
¾ SOFRI personnel deliver their GAP quality system and technology skills to the dragon fruit industry
¾ The private sector takes up the technology and expands/improves the model at the level required by high value export markets
¾ The systems applied enable the small-holder dragon fruit farmer to access increased
revenue from compliant fruit being exported
Trang 11¾ As the project progresses, the New Zealand project team will reduce their input into
project management and increase their role of mentoring
There have been major developments at the Hoang Hau packhouse pilot since the previous report The dragon fruit production area supplying the pilot packhouse (especially that area owned by the packhouse operator) has dramatically increased and is now approaching full production The small pilot packhouse, which the project has been assisting the packer to implement and operate to the BRC Standard, can no longer handle the quantity of fruit being received at the packhouse for packing
Hoang Hau has built a new large packhouse for future expansion but this facility has yet to
be completed and commissioned In the interim, Hoang Hau packs fruit at close to the BRC Standard for high value markets in the pilot packhouse and the balance of the produce
through the previously used shed using an improved version of the old system
It is the intention of the packer ultimately to use the new, large packhouse for the packing of all dragon fruit handled
Mr Hiep, the Hoang Hau packhouse owner, has now decided not to attempt to achieve BRC Certification for the small pilot packhouse but will implement the BRC Standards to the new, large packhouse when operational
During Dr Allan Woolf’s visit, the dragon fruit project team, especially the postharvest sector lead by Dr Phong and Dr Allan Woolf, have assisted Hoang Hau with packhouse
development ideas and recommendations It is expected that Hoang Hau will advance their systems, human resource development and training, and operations in the new packhouse in preparation for BRC Standard Certification when commissioned
This development is unfortunate for the dragon fruit team in its endeavours to have the pilot packhouse meet the BRC Standard but this is a commercial operation and the decision is out
of the influence of the team The project leader understands the situation and supports the decision, especially if the packer addresses the earlier concern of improving his human resource obligations to enable the packhouse to operate at the BRC Standard
Trang 12During the GlobalGAP re-certification of the pilot’s supplying farms, the SGS Vietnam Certifying Body external auditors identified that the packhouse was operating at the BRC Standard and immediately certified the packhouse at the GlobalGAP Standard for on-farm packing A copy of the certificate can be seen in Appendix 1 GlobalGAP Certificate
#4049928422903
The Hoang Hau new packhouse
Hoang Hau Internal Audit & Equipment repairs for maintenance and noise control 5.1.2 Documentation of numbers and volumes of dragon fruit from small-holder farmers
(Output 1.2, Activity 1.2.1, & 1.2.2)
Attempts to access documentation of numbers and volumes of dragon fruit from small-holder farmers have had little success Binh Thuan MARD agreed to provide the official statistics for this during the project leader’s visit but the project has not received the information
It is also very difficult to access reliable market, fruit volumes and returns data direct from packer/exporters as they see this information as commercially sensitive
There has been little market access change/progress to that reported in the previous project milestone report; indeed the global recession has dramatically increased pressure and
advancement of market linkages through dragon fruit exporters Reduced prices paid to farmers for dragon fruit have been reported and an increase in numbers of small-holder farmers accessing high value markets is currently unlikely
Trang 13Long An packhouse development – design and GlobalGAP Standard operations
5.1.3 Project initiated dragon fruit farmer, packer, exporter and market linkages progress
(Output 1.1, Activities: 1.1.1 & 1.1.4 and Output 1.2; Activity 1.2.1 & 1.2.2)
Largely, the need for the project to locate increased market linkages is currently unnecessary, owing to the situation as documented in the Milestone 4 report The dragon fruit project has concentrated its effort on increasing the GAP implementation and capability within the country For example:
• The SOFRI project team was instrumental in the development of the new VietGAP Standard, which is now the accepted standard in the provision of safe, legal and high quality fruit on the local market; it also meets the prerequisite conditions that give access to the Chinese and near neighbour markets as evidenced in local media
(Appendices 2 & 3)
• Development of the national capability to manage the VietGAP standard through training; at the farmer level, at the packer level, at the Certifying Body and auditing services level and infrastructure development has progressed well
• Expansion of GlobalGAP through training from its application to dragon fruit in the Binh Thuan region to the regions of Tien Giang and Long An for dragon fruit and across other fruit crops
It is noteworthy that the downturn of the global economy has made it very difficult for dragon fruit exporters to achieve good prices for their product It was reported by Mr Hiep of Hoang Hau, that his long-term high value markets respected the GlobalGAP status of the farm/packer/exporter and were continuing to conduct business with him at a time when non-GlobalGAP markets were being lost
Trang 145.1.4 Development of the previous pilot outreach delivery
(Output 1.2, Activity 1.2.1 & 1.2.2, Output 2.1 Activity 2.1.1)
Delivery of the project outreach programme based on the project pilot to the Tien Giang and Long An provinces has progressed The Milestone 6 report covers GAP training efforts made
by the dragon fruit team, the CARD Young Professional and her counterpart, other SOFRI staff and Binh Thuan DARD The training has not been restricted to just dragon fruit; other crops that have been included are mango (GlobalGAP), longan (VietGAP), rambutan
(VietGAP), citrus (VietGAP) and pineapples (Cert VietGAP – 20 ha)
Expansion of the pilot model in brief includes:
Binh Thuan:
• Support has been provided to elevate to competency of the pilot model which has expanded its operations due to new plantings reaching maturity and an increase in packhouse throughput
• The Ticay GlobalGAP Certified packhouse and supplying dragon fruit farms continue
to operate in compliance and export to local and high value markets
• The DARD initiative to train and have more than 3000 ha of Binh Thuan dragon fruit certificated to the VietGAP Standard has progressed with >300 ha now compliant
• The dragon fruit project team continues to identify small-holder dragon fruit farmers and provide them with training towards GlobalGAP
Tien Giang:
• The project team continues to provide training for the Cho Gao cooperative development towards GlobalGAP standards compliance Specific training includes:
o IPM; ICM; Farm Safety; First Aid
o Two Internal Audits completed
o Chemical storage and toilets constructed
• Provincial funding is being provided to assist farmers and packers implement GAP
• Project initiated market/packer linkages with Mr Long of Ticay have not yet progressed
Long An:
• SOFRI has been contracted to a provincial project to assist with the development of GAP to the GlobalGAP Standard Identified groups include:
o 60 small-holder dragon fruit farmers with 30 ha
o Development of a tourist farm of 1.8 ha demonstrating GAP
o The Dong Xuan Hoi cooperative of 37 farmers and 38.25 ha
o An Luc Long group of 9 farmers and 9.55 ha
Trang 15Long An: farmer group training
Direct transfer of the dragon fruit GAP initiative to citrus
5.1.5 Review of postharvest practices, recommendations for immediate improvements, and
opportunities for further research to improve postharvest performance of dragon fruit
(Objective 2, Output 2.1 Activity 2.1.1, 1.1.4)
The postharvest leader, Dr Nguyen Van Phong, mentored by Dr Allan Woolf, implemented his planned research programme to extend the storage life of dragon fruit The project purchased temperature data recording equipment to enable Dr Phong to measure treatments when taking his laboratory-based results and applying them in a packhouse under
commercial conditions (refer to Section 10 Statutory Declaration; Equipment and other Services section)
A series of postharvest trials aimed at extending the storage life of harvested dragon fruit, cold treatment for disinfestation and rots control treatments has been implemented, with the results to be fully reported in the end-of-project report Scientific papers are also being generated from the dragon fruit project postharvest component and initial trials indicate
Trang 16major gains in the postharvest storage life of dragon fruit can be expected and confirmed through shipping trials
Developing SOFRI postharvest capability to support industry
There are two components currently being developed by SOFRI (which includes the dragon fruit project personnel) on their campus to enhance the Institute’s postharvest capability to support the horticulture industry Both have input by the project and SOFRI teams:
1 Development of an appropriate SOFRI packhouse, processing and postharvest facility
to handle experimental and commercial crops grown on the research farms It is intended to operate the facilities at the GobalGAP Standards developed during the dragon fruit projects Through operating the facilities, SOFRI personnel will not only conduct research work but will also develop commercial postharvest skills for
returning to industry in the form of new ideas/systems/protocols and industry problem solving It is envisaged that technology transfer and value adding to SOFRI products will provide revenue for SOFRI
2 The development of the Research Farm for research plus the production of crops for commercial gain: for example; high value new releases from the various breeding programmes packed in the postharvest facilities and sold in high value export
markets Provide a secure area for germplasm collections and the production of quality/certified healthy and true to type propagation material for release to industry
New proposed SOFRI packhouse and postharvest facility; Old proposal building
The combination of the two initiatives will enable SOFRI to export commercially and
identify the separate steps of the value chain to the market while retaining ownership of the product Farmer retention of product ownership to the customer is a system the dragon fruit projects have continuously attempted to implement but have been unable to do so because of packer/exporter resistance The comparison, with advantages/disadvantages, of farmer product ownership to the customer compared with the current practice of produce being bought at the farm gate is urgently needed to verify that small-holder farmers are getting a fair deal The comparison would highlight if there is an unreasonable profit margin being taken by the packer/exporter currently and the study could leverage an increase in dragon fruit returns to the farmer
Trang 17Postharvest process, cool chain and storage life improvements
Dragon fruit Grade Standards development
As well as developing the applied postharvest research programme, Dr Phong and the project leader have also developed Dragon fruit Quality Grade Standard Charts from existing post harvest material and from project photos The charts document defined levels for each quality characteristic of the harvested dragon fruit and includes:
¾ Maturity: at the number of days after flowering; for Binh Thuan and Tien Giang/Long
An (there is approximately a two-day difference between provinces)
¾ Charts based on no chemical maturity advancement intervention
¾ GA3 treatment effects on fruit maturity
¾ Fruit shape
¾ Russet levels (skin blemishes)
¾ Physical damage
¾ Bruises
¾ Punctures and cuts
¾ Bird damage and insect chewing
¾ Fruit cracking
¾ Mealy bug infestation
Yet to be completed includes charts of:
¾ Bract colour (progressive appearance stage following best practice storage trials)
¾ Stem condition (required following the recent change in method of harvest)
¾ Flower end condition
¾ Chilling injury (and frozen fruit damage)
The charts will be accompanied by written descriptions for each category (yet to be
completed) and include information of the range of days from flowering (to cater for
provincial variability); internal fruit pulp quality values such as soluble solids, pH levels, fruit pressure, etc
The standards are a “living document” and will be reviewed and upgraded by SOFRI
periodically It is intended to place the standards on the SOFRI website, which will
subsequently house the Grade Standards for other crops as they are developed The SOFRI website is currently being redeveloped and will include the dragon fruit Grade Standards SOFRI will also maintain the Grade Standards component and progressively expand it to cover other fruit crops of Vietnam Refer to Appendix 4 Dragon fruit Grade Standards and their use
Trang 185.2 Smallholder Benefits
(Objective 2, Output 2.1, Activity 2.1.1; Objective 3, Output 3.1, Activity 3.1.1, 3.1.2)
The small-holder dragon fruit farmers are benefiting from project activities through the countrywide horticulture quality initiative, which now consists of several national and
international Standards that are appropriate for horticultural crop producers and when
implemented/certificated provide access to most/all markets As reported previously, the standards that have been adopted for the dragon fruit project and subsequently been
expanded include:
• VietGAP; largely developed by the SOFRI dragon fruit project team: The VietGAP
standard is appropriate for Vietnam’s local market and near neighbour exports
• GlobalGAP; implemented by the dragon fruit project team to farmer groups and
on-farm packing: The GlobalGAP standard is appropriate for high value market access
• BRC; implemented by the dragon fruit team: The BRC standard is appropriate for
top level packing and export operations and although complex enables direct access
to elite markets as well as all other markets requiring lesser standards
• Country- and market-demanded standards; USA – includes irradiation disinfestation
of fruit; Japan – includes heat treatment disinfestation of fruit; Tesco’s, Marks and
Spencers, BioGro, Fair Trade, etc These market standards are add-ons to an
operational standard such as GlobalGAP
The progression of the standards level from VietGAP through GlobalGAP to BRC and end country- and market-demanded standards were adopted by the dragon fruit project to
top-“fit” the market levels and progression of GAP quality uptake in Vietnam’s horticulture VietGAP is an excellent standard to provide safe, legal and high quality produce at the local market level and to provide a safer and more environmentally responsible place for the small-holder and family to live The VietGAP standard is a compatible document with the
GlobalGAP standard and it is relatively simple to progress from one level to the next The same applies when up-grading from GlobalGAP to BRC
The SOFRI dragon fruit project team fully understand the various quality standards, are qualified as trainers and auditors and are extremely proficient at implementing the standards
in various levels of operations and across all horticultural crops This team has developed quality manuals appropriate to the needs of the dragon fruit project initiative Currently SOFRI continues to maintain the GAP technology transfer using skills acquired during the dragon fruit project This is a permanent component of SOFRI’s activities and recognised in recent staff promotion and responsibilities but has not reached a commercial GAP technology transfer unit level at this stage
There has been an intentional progression for both dragon fruit projects ultimately and sustainably to enable small-holder dragon fruit farmers to access high value markets In brief, this has generally been to:
• Develop the national capability for the understanding, implementation, maintenance
of quality systems, which are market driven standards and provide access to markets
at all levels, for Vietnam’s horticulture industry production, initially targeting the dragon fruit industry
Trang 19• Implement selected standards to certification level to demonstrate the importance of the standards of operating and for the access of markets through development of a compliant pilot cluster
• Communicate the need for the GAP quality initiative at the political, provincial, industry, exporter, packer and farmer levels
• Develop infrastructure to support and maintain the GAP initiative
• Expand delivery of the GAP initiative through the project outreach and encourage the private/commercial sector to pursue the GAP quality initiative
• Reach critical mass for the industry and mentor for sustainability
The various standards are progressively being implemented into Vietnam’s horticulture at an ever increasing rate even at this time of global recession when fruit prices are suppressed It
is expected that GAP quality implementation will rapidly accelerate when good prices return Project postharvest and other initiatives (mentoring) are working at waste reduction and problem solving of industry constraints which, when resolved, have the potential to greatly increase profits Should those improvements be passed onto the farmers then it is expected that all industry stakeholders will willingly convert to GAP quality production
5.3 Capacity Building
(Objective 3, Output 3.1, Activity 3.1.1, 3.1.2)
National capacity building continues to follow that described in the previous report
(Milestone 4) Although the dragon fruit project team is unchanged since the last report, the senior SOFRI dragon fruit team personnel have received promotion:
• Dr Hoa has been elevated to Vice-Director of SOFRI with significantly increased
responsibilities
• Mr Hoang has been elevated to Deputy Head Division of Research Management &
International Relations He has increased his specialist “quality practitioner”
responsibilities at SOFRI; in support of the Director; in MARD and internationally for presentations, publications, standards development and technical transfer
responsibilities
• National capability development of the next tier at SOFRI has been addressed by the original dragon fruit team as part of project delivery It includes increased project responsibilities for Mr Nguyen Than Hieu, Deputy Head of Plant Protection Division and Dr Phong, the postharvest leader
• SOFRI is now an Approved Certifying Body for the VietGAP Standard SOFRI has trained and accredited certifying auditors and staff in Internal Auditing, HACCP management and Farm Safe Working and Primary First Aid A list of the participants can be seen in Appendix 5
Trang 20
Vietnam Horticulture Bureau Certificate certifying SOFRI as a Certifying Body for the VietGAP Standard
Checklist for the Auditing of Fruit and Vegetables to the VietGAP Standard
Trang 21• SOFRI is moving closer to the commercial horticulture industry through the dragon fruit project activities and through research being conducted for increasing the storage life of harvested dragon fruit
• The association between SOFRI and SGS continues to expand
• The project leader continues to mentor the development of a holistic approach to the adoption of Good Agricultural Practices in Vietnam’s horticultural industry, as evidenced in Appendix 6 SOFRI research farm and general project mentoring
5.4 Publicity
Publicity enjoyed by this dragon fruit includes:
¾ Dr Hoa on TV on during October 2009
¾ Dr Nguyen Van Hoa: Article in: Tropical Fruit Net, Issue No 12, January 2009
http://www.itfnet.org (Appendix 7)
¾ Mr Nguyen Huu Hoang with Dr Nguyen Minh Chau giving a presentation to the Tropical Fruit Network in Malaysia, 17-20th August 2009
¾ Mr Nguyen Huu Hoang’s presentation to APEC on 27-29 August 2009 titled
“Traceability in Agricultural Production and Trade – Challenges for Economic Developing and Implementing the System
¾ State President Nguyen Minh Triet’s visit to SOFRI 30 July 2009 published in VOVNews 31 July 2009
It is clear that the dragon fruit project has enhanced the capability of those SOFRI staff
leading the project and it is pleasing to note those involved being recognised for their skills through promotion In turn, the elevated SOFRI project team attaining positions of increased responsibility are delivering to SOFRI and the GAP horticulture industry in a way that will greatly increase the chances of the sustainability of the dragon fruit project initiative
The project leader continued to transfer more responsibilities to the SOFRI project team during this reporting period and provided quality mentoring based on practical experience to SOFRI staff, farmers and packers during project visits
Trang 226 Report on Cross-Cutting Issues
6.1 Environment
This project is designed to implement, as a minimum, quality systems to the market standards
of BRC Global – Food Issue 5 for the exporter/packhouse and GlobalGAP for all supplying dragon fruit farmers
As part of both standards, there are documented systems to ensure that all environmental impacts are evaluated, issues identified, corrective action implemented/risk
minimised/mitigated and documented
This project continues to train recipients to the same constantly evolving standards and to manage their operations in a manner that will have minimal impact on the environment The project will also continue to explore ways to reduce the carbon footprint within the GAP dragon fruit industry
6.2 Gender and Social Issues
During both CARD dragon fruit projects, implementation has systematically addressed gender and social issues For example, Good Agricultural Practices demand good working conditions, appropriate treatment of labour, observation of good health and safety practices, and equal opportunity for both men and women These conditions are reinforced through the implementation of the quality standards of GlobalGAP and BRC In addition to these basic standards requirements, the elevated standards of Tesco’s, Marks and Spencers, etc will guarantee that good employee working conditions prevail and will be confirmed through spot third party (ethical) audits
Documentation of good working conditions, responsibilities and accountabilities appears in the Dragon Fruit Quality Manual text, specifically in the position description section
The dragon fruit pilot packhouse employs a greater number of women than men under very good working conditions that have been improved to comply with the BRC Standards; a model that will be encouraged during the outreach programme
7 Implementation & Sustainability Issues
7.1 Issues and Constraints
The issues and constraints identified in the previous dragon fruit project and documented in the previous report are still relevant for this project and, as with the previous project, are being systematically addressed, initially by the project and stakeholders but ultimately it will
be the industry responsibility to resolve industry issues
7.2 Options
The two dragon fruit projects have set a strong foundation for the expansion of the GAP initiative in Vietnam The national personnel are capable of further implementation of the quality initiative and have the skills to guide it through further expansion and resolve
constraints
Trang 23It is gratifying to observe many issues highlighted in earlier project reporting being
addressed This is especially apparent with infrastructure development, industry support, and the provincial plans to make resources available to farmer groups to assist them to comply with selected standards
7.3 Sustainability
Full implementation of the project as described in the project document will establish a
dynamic GAP dragon fruit industry with strong markets and trained personnel that will
provide the best chance for the GAP quality initiative to be sustainable
National personnel, both in the private and public sectors have a very strong desire to
maintain the sustainability of the dragon fruit project developed GAP quality initiative at the commercial and support services levels and are very well equipped to respond to the
challenge
8 Next Critical Steps
The next critical steps include:
1 Existing project pilot
• Facilitate small-holder dragon fruit farmers to achieve GlobalGAP compliance and become contracted suppliers to the pilot packer or one of the outreach exporters
• Improve the storage life of dragon fruit to facilitate improved fruit quality in the high value markets and to transport product by sea freight
• Mentor for honest quality systems maintenance and operation, market coordination, attracting small-holder dragon fruit farmers to become contracted suppliers, etc
2 Outreach
• Continue the development of other exporter/packer/farmer group units based on the project pilot GAP working model for the wider Binh Thuan, Tien Giang and Long An provinces
• Outreach efforts will continue with small-holder dragon fruit farmers, packers and exporters (will include the GlobalGAP on-farm packer option) The project recruited a “significant private sector exporter/dragon fruit operator” to assist the project team to reach large numbers of dragon fruit farmers for improvement, without incurring an impossible/unsustainable workload obligation for the project team as reported in the last report Little progress has been made to date with this association—it needs reinvigorating
Trang 24• Identify high value markets; advance the preferred provider status between the packer/exporter and the market Mentor the SOFRI team to work with the market for problem solving and constant improvement
4 Reporting
• Complete Milestone 6: Expansion of pilot model
• Complete Milestone 7: Final Project report
There are no major constraints to project implementation/completion
9 Conclusion
The conclusion comments of the previous report, Milestone 4, are still appropriate; however, lower product prices at the farmer gate have put increased pressure on the rate of uptake of the VietGAP, GlobalGAP and BRC Standards It is expected that the rate of formal GAP quality uptake will increase rapidly once fruit prices return, especially if there is a fruit price advantage through standards certification
All objectives of the project document are being satisfactorily addressed/progressed, with some sectors far exceeding project expectations
Trang 2510 Statutory Declaration
STATUTORY DECLARATION
COLLABORATION FOR AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
CARD Project Title: Extending export opportunities to small-plot dragon fruit growers through Good
Agricultural Practices CARD Project Number: 0029/07VIE
We the undersigned hereby declare that during the period 01/05/2009 to 31/10/2009 we have delivered the
following inputs to assist in implementation of the above project
1: PERSONNEL INPUTS
Australian Personnel Provided
(Name)
Days in Vietnam
Days in Australia
Trips to Vietnam
Dr Nguyen Minh Chau 25
Mr Nguyen Huu Hoang 60
Mr Nguyen Thanh Hieu 40
Dr Nguyen Van Phong 25
Others 40
2: EQUIPMENT AND OTHER SERVICES
Equipment & Other Services Description Budget Limit
Year 1
Year 2
Temperature recording equipment and software (Postharvest – 8 non-probe
units 2 with probes: delivered to, and used by Dr Phong; SOFRI Postharvest
Leader)
ILTE-953130 Temprecord multi-trip green 8 @ NZ$176
ILTE-953131 Temprecord M/Trip & Straight S/S probe 2 @ NZ$294
ILTE-953188 Temprecord USB Reader & software 2 @ 175
Total less 7.5% discount = NZ$2,170.06
NZ$2,170.06
Trang 263; EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES HANDOVER
This is to certify that the above personnel inputs have been delivered and the equipment and services identified above provided has been handed over to the Lead Vietnamese Institution
Signed for the Australian Institution by a duly
authorised officer in the presence of witness
Signature of Witness
Louise Malone
Science Group Leader, Applied Entomology
Leonie Osborne Executive Assistant
Signed for the Vietnamese Institution by a duly
authorised officer in the presence of witness
Signature of Witness
Trang 27Project Progress Against Proposed Objectives, Outputs, Activities And Inputs
MEASURES
Information Required Objective 1 Market driven pilot
Output 1.1 • Pilot linkage with a high
value market
• High value market in UK/Europe purchases pilot fruit
• Risk: Pilot fails to achieve/maintain BRC/EUREPGAP Certification
• High value markets have been established by the pilot and are advancing towards preferred provider status This is currently evident by the GlobalGAP compliant pilot maintaining EU markets at this time of global recession
• Any quality, delivery, other issues are being addressed in a mutually beneficial and sustainable manner between the packer/exporter and market with SOFRI technical support – especially fruit quality and cool-chain
• Markets in UK/Europe demand the GlobalGAP certified product and fruit has been sent to the USA market following independent certification
by that market and after the fruit has been disinfested by the use of irradiation
• GlobalGAP certified fruit/systems facilitate access to UK/Europe markets but BRC certification, when achieved, will access higher value markets
• The pilot packhouse has achieved GlobalGAP Certification and is delaying BRC implementation until a new large packhouse has been completed and commissioned
Activity 1.1.1 • Identify and negotiate
with high value markets for the sale of compliant fruit from the pilot
• High value markets established
• Assumption that compliance is maintained
• Risks from not maintaining compliance;
non-compliant operators contaminating the market place
• Acceleration of high value market identification and supply will increase in step as the volume of certified product increases
• Market opportunities in the UK, Europe, and the top end markets in China are being supplied
Dragon fruit has been supplied to the USA
Japan is still an opportunity to be accessed/tested
• A constraint with price for service and irradiation equipment failure as well as exporters undercutting each other has been reported
Trang 28CODE NARRATIVE PERFORMANCE
MEASURES
Information Required Activity 1.1.2 • Pilot in compliance • Successful external audit
• The project team has assisted the pilot to meet compliance to the new standards and performed several internal audits
• Mentoring for the GlobalGAP certified farmer group to operate in compliance continues and this is confirmed by successful re-certification
• The area in the re-certification was increased from 80.19 ha to 438.019 ha
• The project is confident that the new large packhouse will attain certification to the new BRC Issue 5 Standard when commissioned
Activity 1.1.3 • Pilot improvement • Pilot responds to market
driven improvements and special initiatives
• Assuming there is a need
• Assuming personnel with the appropriate skills are available for improvement implementation
• Small-holder dragon fruit farmers continue to be identified and trained to the GlobalGAP Standard as a prerequisite to becoming contracted suppliers to the pilot packer/exporter
• Project mentoring for the pilot unit continues to assist the unit, to maintain compliance between its annual certification audits and the project team will utilise the pilot working model as a demonstration when establishing new units in each target province
• The pilot, both at the packhouse and in the farmer group, have a very high level of understanding and competence in BRC and GlobalGAP standards and are extremely motivated to achieve and maintain compliance with the standards
Activity 1.1.4 • Research new and extend
existing markets
• New high value market opportunities identified
• Existing markets developed into increased value opportunities
• Assuming GAP dragon fruit industry maintains compliance
• Assuming Industry willing to respond to market improvement challenge
• New high value markets are being identified
• Another high volume dragon fruit exporter has been included in the project initiative
• The exporter has significantly more high value market demand for dragon fruit that meets the certified Standards than he can access
• The exporter will actively assist the project to link small-holder farmers (some through