Extending export opportunities to small-plot dragon fruit growers through Good Agricultural PracticesCampbell J, Nguyen Van Hoa, Nguyen Huu Hoang, Rankin M K May 2010 A report prepared
Trang 1Extending export opportunities to small-plot dragon fruit growers through Good Agricultural Practices
Campbell J, Nguyen Van Hoa, Nguyen Huu Hoang, Rankin M K
May 2010
A report prepared for:
Hassall and Associates International
Campbell J Plant & Food Research, Nelson Nguyen Van Hoa, Nguyen Huu Hoang Southern Horticultural Research Institute, Vietnam
Rankin M K Young Professional, CARD, Hanoi, Vietnam
PFR Client Report No 25657 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
Trang 5Contents
4.1 Identification and progress in grower GAP and packhouse compliance in Binh
4.2 Documentation of fruit volumes, market access and returns to growers for new
13 Appendix 7 Long An Co-op info collected from the meeting on 3 November
2009 26
14 Appendix 8 Dragon fruit farm data survey compliance GlobalGAP Standard
Trang 6Glossary
BRC British Retailers Consortium: Global Standard – FOOD
CARD Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development
DARD Department of Agricultural Research and Development
EUREPGAP Euro-Retailer Produce Working Group; Good Agricultural
Practice
GlobalGAP GLOBAL Good Agricultural Practice
HAI Hassall and Associates International
MARD Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
P&FR The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research
SOFRI Southern Horticultural Research Institute (formerly Southern
Fruit Research Institute)
UK United Kingdom
VIETGAP VIETnam Good Agricultural Practice
Trang 7Extending Export Opportunities to small-plot dragon fruit growers through Good Agricultural Practices Page 1
1 Institute Information
Project Name Extending export opportunities to small-plot
dragon fruit growers through Good Agricultural Practices
Vietnamese Institution Southern Horticultural Research Institute (formerly
Southern Fruit Research Institute)
Vietnamese Project Team Leader Nguyen Van Hoa
Australian Organisation The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food
Research
Australian Personnel John Campbell, Allan Woolf, Leonie Osborne and
Marlo Rankin
Date commenced February 2008
Completion date (original) February 2010
Completion date (revised)
Reporting period Expansion of Pilot Model
Contact Officer(s)
In Australia: Team Leader
Name: John Campbell Telephone: +64 3 9073602
Position: Project Leader Fax: +64 3 9073596
Organisation Plant & 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 & Food Research Email: leonie.osborne@plantandfood.co.nz
In Vietnam
Name: Dr Nguyen Minh Chau Telephone: +84 73 893 129
Position: Project Champion Fax: +84 73 893 122
Organisation Southern Horticultural Research Institute Email: mch@hcm.vnn.vn
Trang 82 Executive Summary
Expansion of the Binh Thuan dragon fruit project pilot model to the farmers, packers and exporter in the wider Binh Thuan, Tien Giang and Long An Provinces has made significant progress during this project (Output 1.2) Contributing factors to that
progress include:
• An efficient, GlobalGAP certificated pilot of farmer, packer and exporter as the
“model” for replication
• A highly proficient national team of quality practitioners to deliver the
technology transfer and generic documentation to self motivated groups and to individuals and new groups wishing to develop GAP quality systems for dragon fruit and other crops
• The rapid and sustainable expansion in volume of compliant stakeholders
• The global need for “Safe, Legal and Quality” produce and the subsequent market driven compliance standards requirement to enable access to those markets
• Excellent publicity for the adoption of GAP principle’s and for the practical work being undertaken
• A trend within the Vietnam horticultural industry to get behind the GAP
programme to receive the benefits of safe food, safer homes/living for the
producers, through GAP implementation, accountability and environmental awareness
SOFRI and the dragon fruit projects have built a strong foundation for the countrywide GAP initiative in a sustainable way and SOFRI and the country’s horticulture industry are responding to the wider needs of the initiative as expansion momentum grows The dragon fruit project expended considerable energies throughout both projects to encourage farmers and packers to adopt GAP but the decision to implement GAP lies with the individual The project team has been resolute in its drive to implement GAP: many farmers and packers have received training, improved their operations and/or gone on to achieve GlobalGAP or VietGAP certification (Appendix 1)
The project has found great difficulty in gathering reliable data necessary to document: fruit volumes; market access; and returns to growers; for existing and new packhouses and grower groups Some marketing information has been included in this report but it has been beyond the resources of the project to accurately determine the impact of the project
3 Introduction & Background
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
Trang 9Extending Export Opportunities to small-plot dragon fruit growers through Good Agricultural Practices Page 3
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”, is attempting to 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 and increasing numbers of small-plot growers will have the opportunity to access high monetary value markets for their dragon fruit
The project objectives are documented in the periodic progress reports
Project outreach delivery
Pre-project vision
• Completion and maintenance of the Hoang Hau dragon fruit pilot model in Binh Thuan GlobalGAP Certification achieved for the farmer group, packer and exporter
• To replicate the first dragon fruit project pilot process in the Tien Giang and Long An Regions
• Introduce entrepreneurial exporters to create momentum and market linkages on farmer owning crop to market/exporter on commission basis
• To return increased dragon fruit sales revenue back to farmers from high value markets
• SOFRI dragon fruit team to migrate from doing complete development of holder farmers; to passing the mantle to the exporter/cooperatives leadership; to providing expert support to industry; ultimately charging for services to assist SOFRI to implement the Decree 115 directive
small-• Build up the foundation and capability within SOFRI for consultancy and
technical backstopping, based on good science, to the horticultural industry
• Utilise the stimulation of increased revenue to the farmers from certificated fruit
to high value markets to provide outreach programme expansion momentum
Project delivery
The most significant dragon fruit project achievements relative to this report are in the areas of human resource and infrastructure development This, and the previous dragon fruit project, has intentionally prioritised the development of the foundation and
appropriate infrastructure and skills for Vietnam’s GAP quality horticulture initiative This should ensure it has the best chance of meeting the needs of a market driven export industry, which can improve the livelihoods of small-holder dragon fruit farmers
through access to high value markets
At the commencement of the dragon fruit project, a very ambitious programme of outreach was planned, particularly for the provinces of Tien Giang and Long An
Although good and sustainable progress has been made during this period of reporting, there is a time lag between what was envisaged in the outreach programme and what has been actually achieved During this period, the writers expected to be able to report
Trang 10that farmers, packers and exporters were taking full responsibility for making the
market driven GAP changes thus reducing the demand on the SOFRI dragon fruit team However, although good progress has been achieved, GAP development still requires a considerable effort by SOFRI specialists
Progress constraints have been identified and corrective action is being implemented to allow the outreach programme to gather momentum as planned Those constraints include:
• Project personnel time and resources committed to the upgrading of operation manuals demanded by the shift from EurepGAP to GlobalGAP and to meet compliance with the new GlobalGAP standard; also the BRC standard upgrade from Issue 3 to Issue 5 Operation Manuals compliant to the upgraded standards have now been completed
• Delays caused by farmer reluctance to progress towards GAP implementation owing to possibility of receiving resource support through provincial project funding Provincial GAP project possible resource availability has been
communicated but is not yet available A rapid increase in the uptake of GAP by small-holder dragon fruit farmers is expected when resources become available
• A significant amount of time is taken by the professional quality practitioners to ensure GAP technology transfer targets only those operators who are serious about meeting their chosen standard requirements
National capability and project sustainability achievements of note include
• Trained and qualified SOFRI quality practitioner personnel to lead the GAP changes:
o 1 New Zealand Organisation for Quality Trained and Certificated
Internal Auditor: who subsequently, with the assistance of the project leader, presented the Internal Auditor course to SOFRI science personnel
o 35 people were trained and Certificated as Internal Auditors; also 29 received HACCP training and Certification; and 21 received Farm Safety Working and Primary Emergency Aid training and certification by SGS Vietnam to global standards Both SOFRI and private sector personnel received training The lists of people attending the various courses appear in the dragon fruit project Milestone 5 report (Refer to Appendix
1 in this report for Farmer training and DF team involvement)
o Two people were trained for the Certificated Lead Auditor Course (LAC)
by SGS Vietnam: this requires the completion of practical application to the standard of United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) prior to full certification
o Approval by MARD for SOFRI to be a Certifying Body for the VietGAP Standard: using the two LAC operators to undertake external audits and approve certification (Refer to Appendix 2 in this report for signed Vietnam document)
o Qualified project personnel provide high quality GAP training to
farmers, packers and exporters: VietGAP and GlobalGAP for farmers and GlobalGAP on-farm packing, BRC and specific market standards for packers and exporters
o Although the emphasis is on dragon fruit, several other horticultural crops are addressed in the quality initiative using the trained quality practitioners
Trang 11Extending Export Opportunities to small-plot dragon fruit growers through Good Agricultural Practices Page 5
• Infrastructure developed by project personnel and project initiation (SOFRI):
o Project personnel involved in policy decisions/making at Government level
o Project personnel taking a lead role in the development of the VietGAP Standard (see Appendix 3, photo of standard cover, hard copy plus electronic version)
o Project personnel invited to develop VietGAP Standard and training materials for all fruit of Vietnam, includes the VietGAP auditing check list development (Appendix 4 check list)
o GAP supportive services have been developed: registered facilities for the analysis and monitoring of soils, plant material, water quality, etc Diagnostic, applied research, problem solving, etc
o Market linkages between farmers, packer and exporters
o Centre of excellence at SOFRI to provide high quality standard technical services and support to industry and strong working relationship with SGS Vietnam
Linking packers with exporters
Note: SGS is a world-wide quality operation, which operates at the same level globally
SGS Vietnam is supported, mentored and monitored by SGS New Zealand, who verify all certification audits and authorise the issuance of Certificates of Compliance by SGS Vietnam
Benefits from the achievements include
• High quality training and support for the evolving GAP initiative in Vietnam at all levels Great care is taken to ensure recipients of training are most likely to have the integrity to implement the selected quality standards, fully and honestly
• A private sector GAP capability in dragon fruit and other crops that has every chance of being sustainable in the future
• A private GAP horticulture sector which is aware of the high value market standards and the serious need to rigorously comply with the standards as a prerequisite to accessing and maintaining high value markets
• Credibility for the Southern Horticultural Research Institute for its lead role in the dragon fruit quality initiative:
Trang 12o At the provincial and country level for Quality Standards implementation and development
o In the Southeast Asian Region through quality practitioner presentations
at meetings and conferences
o Globally for systems and processes which ensure product compliance to access sophisticated, demanding and expanding markets, and for the fulfilment of WTO obligations
o Systematic development of GAP in Vietnam’s horticulture industry in a controlled way and prioritising sustainability
4 Expansion of Pilot Model
4.1 Identification and progress in grower GAP and packhouse compliance in Binh Thuan, Tien Giang and Long An Provinces
Specific project delivery for the project targeted provinces:
Binh Thuan
1 The Binh Thuan dragon fruit project pilot packhouse received compliance
certification for the GlobalGAP Standard (for a full account of the change of standard at the pilot packhouse please refer to the project Milestone 5 report)
a The project pilot packhouse continues to advance towards the BRC standard under project team training, mentoring and Internal Auditing This is
preparation for the commissioning of a new, large packhouse being
constructed
b The pilot packhouse is very close to BRC compliance and has achieved approval as a registered supplier to the USA
c There were concerns regarding the pilot packhouse management’s
commitment to providing, training and retaining sufficient quality/qualified people in key areas of the packhouse operations to reach and subsequently to maintain BRC compliance Too much reliance is being placed on one quality leader only at the packhouse Mentoring to mitigate this constraint has been initiated and is continuing; the delay of implementing the BRC standard to the new packhouse may/should assist to mitigate the human resource
b In spite of significant correspondence between the project and Ticay, no progress has been reported to date
c Constraints impeding progress are being identified and mitigated This component is only part of a wider association with Mr Li Hai Long of Ticay – Bao Thanh Co Ltd., which is also to address development of GlobalGAP small-holder farms; on-farm compliant packing facilities and linkages with high value markets in the provinces of Tien Giang and Long An (Appendix
5 email to Long)
Trang 13Extending Export Opportunities to small-plot dragon fruit growers through Good Agricultural Practices Page 7
There is a DARD development programme in the Binh Thuan province introducing Good Agricultural Practices to small-holder dragon fruit farmers to the MARD VietGAP Standard, which was largely developed by the SOFRI dragon fruit team
The Binh Thuan DARD GAP programme’s status includes:
• Stated target for 3000 small-holder dragon fruit farms operating at, and certificated to, the VietGAP Standard, enabling access to the Chinese markets
• A target of some 125 groups, cooperatives and individual farms
• Approximately 350 farms are Certificated to VietGAP Standard
• Most training presented by the Binh Thuan DARD
• Auditing and Certificating also done by a separate section of the Binh Thuan DARD (reported that auditors are separated from trainers)
• In the future, external auditing and certification will be undertaken by approved Certifying Bodies such as SOFRI who have been involved in improvement of this situation
• Some technical transfer has been provided by SOFRI staff
Tien Giang
Background
In Cho Gao, district of Tien Giang province, a dragon fruit cooperative with ~20
members was set up in 2006 but there have been low levels of commitment Dr Vo Mai (Vinafruit) was originally involved in establishing the cooperative In order to achieve the objective of getting new farmers GlobalGAP certified, Mr Hoang made many visits
to the area and held discussion groups to ensure that all farmers were aware of the
commitment involved if they decided to pursue certification as a group From this
process, 14 farmers in this area (~10 ha) were identified; 8 were members of the old cooperative and 6 were non-members It was anticipated that the group could receive GloblalGAP certification by the end of 2009 However, the group has since decided that they want all farmers in the cooperative (and new farmers to join) so the group has expanded to 23 farmers with approximately 15 ha Mr Hoang has put in significant effort with this group with mixed returns The main inhibiting factor for obtaining
GlobalGAP certification for the entire group appears to be the lack of commitment from the cooperative leader This has been further complicated by the introduction of a
provincial project in June 2008 that aims to get 100 ha of dragon fruit GlobalGAP
certified The provincial project will make interest-free loans available to farmers and this has prevented some members from making their own investments in the necessary toilets and chemical storage facilities as they are waiting for these loans to become available
Progress made at Farmer level
• The Cho Gao group have received training in IPM, ICM, farm safety & First Aid
by SOFRI specialists
• Two internal audits have been conducted by SOFRI Quality Practitioners
• Chemical storage and toilets have been built for 17 out of the 23 members
• All farms have been cleaned
• All members have limited the use of pesticides; they are familiar with the requirements for with-holding periods and record keeping and have made good progress in these areas
Trang 14Dragon fruit healthy; snail infestation; snail damage blossom rot;
Packhouse level
At the time that the project expansion phase began, the plan was for the SOFRI team to work with Mr Long of Ticay Ltd to help to build a relationship with farmers in Long An and Tien Giang provinces to secure certified fruit for export Mr Long has his own certified farm and packhouse operations in Binh Thuan and was looking to expand An initial meeting with Mr Long and the project team was held on 1 April 2009 at HCMC
in the Ticay office Follow-up emails were exchanged shortly after this and the CARD team were informed on 7 May 2009 of Ticay receiving certification for the Tesco’s Nature’s Choice approved supplier scheme On 3 June 2009, an email was sent by SOFRI (Dr Hoa) to Mr Long to provide him with some information about the Long An and Tien Giang provincial projects to certify 30 ha and 100 ha of dragon fruit,
respectively The SOFRI team provided options to Mr Long as how he could become involved (See Appendix 6 email from Dr Hoa to Mr Long) Unfortunately in spite of further informal discussions, nothing concrete has come out of this relationship and it appears that Mr Long is taking a “wait and see” approach to these activities rather than committing to work with producers and SOFRI at the ground level For this reason, while Mr Long has not been excluded from the project, other options for relationships with commercial packers/exporters have been explored
Given the internal problems associated with the Cho Gao group and the lack of
commitment from Mr Long, the project has thus far been unable to identify a suitable existing packer/exporter to partner the Cho Gao farmer group In addition, the role of the provincial government in agribusiness activities in this province appears to be strong Rather than encouraging private sector investment, the provincial government has informed farmers that they intend to fund the development of an export packhouse The packhouse will be managed by the province and they aim to compete with existing collectors/packers to secure supply from the 100 ha of certified fruit from the provincial project that SOFRI is supporting While the details of this packhouse project remain unclear at this stage, it is without doubt that a state-owned and managed export
packhouse will find it challenging to compete against already established export
packhouses with strong customer bases such as those of Mr Hiep and Mr Long in Binh Thuan It is also unlikely that they would be able to achieve certification for
internationally recognised quality standards without significant outside help
Trang 15Extending Export Opportunities to small-plot dragon fruit growers through Good Agricultural Practices Page 9
Additional information about the Cho Gao Cooperative and the attitudes of their
members can be found in Appendix 7 (notes from field work dated 3 November 2009 and notes from the project leader visit)
Long An
Background
SOFRI was requested to provide technical support (as a consultancy) for a provincial project in Long An in February 2009 Dr Hoa negotiated the terms of the project so that rather than general agronomic support for dragon fruit farmers, SOFRI would focus on providing technical support towards the achievement of GlobalGAP standards
Suggestions were presented to the Provincial Project Committee and were accepted Project duration is April 2009–June 2011 The aim is for 30 ha to be GlobalGAP
certified (~60 smallholders) The provincial government has also requested a 1.8-ha
‘tourist farm’ to be set up that demonstrates GAP practices and can be used for
recreation
This decision to extend the dragon fruit pilot model developed in Binh Thuan in
conjunction with a provincial project in Long An means that farmers involved in this project at the outset could get access to some small amounts of funding for necessities like construction of toilet facilities and chemical stores that the CARD project could not fund It also means that stronger ties between SOFRI and provincial governments are beginning to be built as SOFRI presents itself as a service provider for quality
management in accordance with its implementation plan developed under the Twinning Project By working in conjunction with a provincial project, greater sustainability is also anticipated post-CARD project completion (February 2010), as SOFRI has
committed to working with dragon fruit farmers and DARD in this province to ensure that GlobalGAP certification is achieved
Progress made at Farmer level
Two groups of farmers were identified and selected for participation in the Long An Provincial project/expansion phase of the dragon fruit pilot model The Dong Xuan Hoi Cooperative had 37 dragon fruit farmers with a combined total of 38.25 ha, and the An Luc Long had nine members with 9.55 ha in total A baseline farm survey was
conducted with all members to assess their current level of compliance with GlobalGAP standards The results from this survey can be found in Appendix 8 Some key findings from the survey were:
• Both groups are made up of relatively experienced dragon fruit farmers with over 75% of all members having grown dragon fruit for 5 years or more
• All farmers had a good level of basic education (reading, writing) and all had access to a telephone Interesting to note that 16% of cooperative members also had access to internet/email
• Only 14% of farmers in the Duong Xuan Hoi Cooperative sell directly to an exporter, with all other farmers in both groups selling directly to collectors However, over 75% of farmers in each group believe that their fruit is ultimately sold to an exporter
• Over 60% of farmers in each group had already built a toilet and hand-washing facilities for workers on the farm
• Over 45% of farmers in both groups already had separate storage facilities for fertilisers and pesticides
Trang 16• Basic protective gear (e.g mask, gloves) were worn by the majority of farmers
in each group when spraying chemicals
• Record-keeping by all farmers is generally poor In relation to yield records, cooperative members had a better idea, with 43% claiming that they keep complete records compared with only 22% of farmers in the An Luc Long group In relation to pesticide record keeping, both groups performed poorly, with 16% of cooperative members and 22% of the An Luc Long group claiming
to keep complete records
The findings from this survey were presented back to these two groups and discussion was held about the potential for combining the two groups to reduce the cost of
certification (i.e 47.8 ha of dragon fruit to be certified as a group) Appendix 9 shows the cost of GlobalGAP compliance data
Compliant agrichemical and fertiliser store, First Aid and toilet facilities
In addition to informal visits made by the project team to identify suitable farmers and conduct the baseline survey, the following formal training activities/discussion sessions have been conducted by SOFRI project staff:
1 Merged the GAP group, An Luc Long Group to Duong Xuan Hoi Cooperative (October 2009)
• Findings from the baseline survey were reported back to farmers and farmers in An Luc Long group asked if they would be prepared to join as members of the Duong Xuan Hoi Cooperative to attain GlobalGAP certification as one group Members of the An Luc Long group agreed
• Divided the Cooperative in to five GAP units (4 units in Duong Xuan Hoi and one unit in An Luc Long) Each group has 9–10 members Each group has two leaders, one head and one deputy head This small-group quality management model has proven successful in other projects in this area (e.g Tien Giang VietGAP Pineapple project) as it encourages farmer ownership of the GAP
Trang 17Extending Export Opportunities to small-plot dragon fruit growers through Good Agricultural Practices Page 11
implementation process through farmer-to-farmer training and group regulation to ensure consistent implementation of GAP requirements
2 Trained the merged group of farmers at Duong Xuan Hoi on pest and diseases on dragon fruit and their management and Dragon Fruit
cultivation (6/11/2009)
• Dragon fruit cultivation conducted by Mr Nguyen Huu Hoang
• Dragon fruit pests and their management conducted by Dr Nguyen Van Hoa
• Dragon fruit diseases and their management conducted by Mr
Nguyen Thanh Hieu
• Discussed the steps for GlobalGAP implementation in Long An (chaired by Dr Hoa) As an outcome of this discussion, an MOU was established between SOFRI, Chau Thanh DARD, Packer and the Cooperative Management Board outlining the responsibilities and commitments of each stakeholder group An MOU was also established between the Cooperative Management Board and the members
• Total farmers attended training course: 40 farmers
3 Trained the merged group of farmers at Duong Xuan Hoi on GlobalGAP, Agrichemicals safety management, Fruit harvest and Handling (20
November 2009)
• GlobalGAP standards training course: General Regulations, Farm base, Crops base, Vegetable and Fruit base, more emphasis on Dragon Fruit crop, by Dr Hoa
• Safe Agrichemical uses by Mr Hieu
• Guidelines for diary recording by Mr Hieu (production diary, chemical use diary, chemical purchasing diary, fertiliser purchasing diary, fertiliser use diary, fruit selling diary and the diary for labour use)
• Fruit Harvest and handling, by Mr Nguyen Thanh Tung (SOFRI Post-harvest Department)
• Total farmers attended training course: 40 farmers Although the formal training for the Long An GlobalGAP farmer group has only
recently been conducted, a high level of commitment by these farmers and good
awareness of the basic principles of GAP have been observed by the project team Given these factors, it is anticipated that from this point forward, progress will be rapid Additional information about the Duong Xuan Hoi Cooperative and the attitudes of their members can be found in Appendix 10 titled “Tien Giang outreach group information”
A very promising relationship with a commercial packer in Long An has also been identified which appears likely to be sustained well after project completion
Packhouse level
At the time that the Long An project began, the plan was for the SOFRI team to work with Mr Long (Ticay) to encourage him to work with farmers to secure the output of the
30 ha of certified fruit for export Although Mr Long currently has no packhouse
facilities in Long An, from meetings held earlier in 2009 and emails exchanged, it appeared that he would be prepared to invest in this area provided he could secure enough fruit However, as discussed above, his willingness to commit to the project at
Trang 18this stage has been limited The SOFRI project team are certain that once the Long An group is certified, Mr Long will be interested in purchasing their fruit; however, he has not demonstrated a willingness to provide any practical support to farmers at this stage For this reason, the project team has been on the lookout for an alternative packer who would be more willing to work directly with the farmer group even at this early stage Mrs Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai was recently identified as a potential commercial partner for the Long An farmer group She is an established dragon fruit packer who packs a minimum of 20 tonnes per day (maximum of 60 tonnes) to sell to wholesalers in China and wholesalers and exporters in Binh Thuan Average price received for Class 1 fruit (>460 g) is 8,000VND/kg and for Class 2 (<460–300 g) is 6,000VND/kg Highest price received is 15–16,000VND/kg during off-season or during special occasions (Tet) This price includes the cost of the transport fee from Long An to HCMC, packaging and labour At this stage she has no formal quality systems in place and packs only to meet the requirements of her wholesalers, which are considered to be minimal (i.e packs to grade standards) She was previously the Marketing Manager of the Duong Xuan Hoi Cooperative and remains a member She has a very good relationship with cooperative members and is willing to provide support to farmers for fertiliser or small seasonal finance loans if they will commit to selling fruit to her in the future Mrs Mai has
recently purchased land next door to her packhouse (6,000 m2) and has expressed a willingness to invest in the construction of a packhouse that would meet
GlobalGAP/BRC standards
Land for Mrs Mai’s packhouse development
The SOFRI team have already begun to provide support to make this a reality Dr Phong has designed the plans for this packhouse, which have been presented to Mrs Mai Her son-in-law Quach Tinh (Mr Tinh) will be responsible for the management of the new packhouse They do not currently have any export customers requiring GlobalGAP certified fruit but she believes that the demand is there, particularly for the European market Although she is worried about the risks of becoming a direct exporter (e.g non-payment for received goods), she is prepared to invest in order to further develop her business At one stage there was some suggestion of cooperation with Mr Long but she has had no further contact from him on this issue They have not done any financial planning for the new packhouse and do not have a good estimate of how much it will cost to establish nor how long they should expect before they get a return on their investment They have requested support from SOFRI to help them estimate costs and given SOFRI’s involvement in the CARD funded PFR Twinning Project and current project to develop a business plan for the fresh-cut processing plant, they will have the
Trang 19Extending Export Opportunities to small-plot dragon fruit growers through Good Agricultural Practices Page 13
capacity to help Mrs Mai to develop a packhouse development business plan in the future
Mrs Mai’s existing packhouse development planning
CARD project support for SOFRI Counterpart in Agribusiness skill development
In June 2009, the selected SOFRI counterpart (Mr Lap) attended the final project
workshop for the CARD Agribiz project at Hue College of Economics (HCE) and he also participated as an observer in the project completion impact evaluation He later received all of the training materials that were provided for extension officers in this project There are three main training modules and they cover Agribusiness Planning, Farm Analysis and Marketing and Supply Chains Support was offered by the CARD team to help him work through these modules if he required assistance and he was introduced to and provided the contact details of Dr Xuan (Dean of Faculty of
Economics) at HCE in case he wanted to follow up with HCE for further assistance or training opportunities in the future
Although Mr Lap has not requested additional assistance from the CARD team, he has begun to extend his agribusiness skills on his own He has been in contact with a
university lecturer at Can Tho University (CTU) who teaches a short-course on value chains and he has begun to develop some presentations for farmers to introduce them to the value chain concept He is currently working on an ADB project that focuses on three crops in three provinces (Longan in Tien Giang, Rambutan in Ben Tre and Pomelo
in Vinh Long) with the objective of improving fruit competitiveness and market
linkages Given the limited time frame of the CARD dragon fruit project and the main focus on GlobalGAP certification for farmers, there has been insufficient time for training farmers in farm business planning and analysis skills While it is acknowledged that these skills still remain critical to help farmers gain a better understanding of how
to maintain and grow their farm businesses, it is hoped that by exposure to the training material from HCE and CTU, Mr Lap will develop the skills and confidence to support farmers in these aspects He will work in conjunction with other key SOFRI staff such
as Mr Hieu who teaches farmers the importance of good record keeping for quality management
A register of GAP progression in dragon fruit and other crops is provided in Appendix
11 Farmer Training Status spreadsheet
Trang 204.2 Documentation of fruit volumes, market access and returns to growers for new packhouses and grower groups
Fruit volumes and values
It has been difficult for the dragon fruit project to clearly define and get accurate data for dragon fruit volumes and values presented and sold in the different markets of pre-certification and post-certification
Some of the causes include:
• The packer, grower or group feel it is commercially sensitive information
• Quoted prices paid to dragon fruit farmers for their fruit are very unreliable for comparing between buyers, and between markets; owing to:
o Fruit sold direct to the market; sold on the plant; sold through a collector; sold to the packhouse; freight paid; etc
o Seasonal fluctuations in price
o Fruit quality and pre-sorting prior to packing requirements or acceptance
at the next stage in the process
• Project requests for official production data are unfulfilled It was expected to access the following information from official sources:
o Local market — retail at the local village level; retail in city supermarkets; value at the farm gate over time
o Pre-GAP volumes and values for exported dragon fruit
Asian countries except China
China
United Kingdom and Europe
United States of America
United Kingdom and Europe
United States of America
Japan/Korea From the project leadership perspective, undertaking the comparison at this time
between the non-project intervention dragon fruit value chain and resulting returns to the small-holder farmer and the project delivered full GAP compliant value chain is premature and unrealistic Significant components of the CARD dragon fruit project delivery that have yet to be realised include:
• Extended postharvest storage life of dragon fruit leading to lower cost sea freight transport options; longer shelf life at retail; buyer confidence in the product —
Project initiated SOFRI postharvest storage trials indicate storage life of
dragon fruit can be greatly extended
• Control of postharvest diseases: waste reduction in the market place (currently significant quantities of fruit are disposed of in the market place Such fruit have
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incurred full production, postharvest, freight, documentation control costs for no return/also incurring penalties for disposal costs); reducing postharvest diseases also elevates the quality of all fruit thus improving value, market demand;
customer allegiance; buyer confidence — Project initiated SOFRI postharvest
trials indicate storage diseases of dragon fruit can be controlled
• The ability of a certified GAP dragon fruit operation to systematically improve using linkages with science is just being realised and implemented Improved product returns, customer satisfaction and waste reduction will provide a major lift to industry revenue/viability
• Current small quantities of GAP compliant dragon fruit and fragmented selling operations are not conducive to obtaining full potential returns Product
branding, coordinated selling, standards compliance and good marketing will greatly increase product value and returns to farmers
The CARD dragon fruit projects, through SOFRI, have established the foundation for the systematic development of a quality driven dragon fruit industry in Vietnam
National personnel and developing infrastructure has the skills and capability for this industry to reach its full potential and to transfer the benefits across to other
• Asian countries except China
GAP standards not currently a requirement but there is a shift towards safe, legal and quality production, handling and exporting for all horticultural product
Traceability of product and agrichemical residues (MRLs) are primary concerns
• China
GAP standards, particularly for traceability, MRL compliance, safety and registration are now a pre-requisite for all exports to China, particularly for the high value market
The VietGAP Standard developed by SOFRI meets all the current Chinese market requirements
• United Kingdom and Europe
Compliance with the GlobalGAP Standard is the minimum requirement for fruit entering the UK/Europe market
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) Standard Certification can facilitate direct access to higher value markets with specific presentation and packaging
Specific markets, such as: BioGro, Tesco’s, Marks and Spencer, etc also demand their additional and special (Brand) standards prior to product acceptance In most cases, the increased returns justify the effort to meet these elevated standards For example, product with BioGro Certification