Long An (VNA) - Agricultural businesses inthe Mekong Delta province of Long An are looking at ways to increase suppliesof their products to Ho Chi Minh City, the largest economic centre in thesouthern region.

Nguyen Ngoc Hoa, Deputy Director of HCM City’sDepartment of Industry and Trade, said that buying and selling was being donethrough modern distribution channels as well as traditional markets. Safe food,traceability of product origin, and post-harvest preservation are all importantparts of today’s agricultural production process.

However, there are only a few enterprises andcooperatives from Long An province that can satisfy these conditions.

If enterprises and cooperatives from Long An metthese conditions, they could become key suppliers to HCM City over the longterm, according to Hoa.

At the meeting between officials from HCM City andLong An province last week, representatives of Long An province’s enterprisesand cooperatives said that farmers in the province had not changed theirproduction habits. Many farmers are not producing goods under contract oraccording to market demand.

[Long An increases supply of farm produce to Ho Chi Minh City]

Farmers are also using levels of pesticides thatdo not follow required standards.

Nguyen Van Duoc, Vice Chairman of Long An province’sPeople’s Committee, said that Long An authorities had asked HCM City to shareexperiences and support local enterprises in applying high-tech production andpost-harvest preservation methods.

“Long An will create more connections betweenenterprises and cooperatives in the province with enterprises and largedistributors in HCM City. Long An would like to establish a supply chain ofsafe agricultural products and quality-assured products, following therequirements of the market,” he added.

To solve the problem, HCM City authorities saidthey would help Long An province’s producers to prevent and control disease andmaintain food safety by transferring high-quality breeding stocks and high-techbreeding methods.

Ninety co-operatives in Long An, including 30co-operatives producing under Vietnam Good Agricultural Practices standards,with capacity of more than 20,000 tonnes, supply about 500 tonnes ofagricultural products every day to HCM City.-VNA