Seminar calls for farm production, consumption link-ups within southern economic hub
Localities in the Southern Key Economic Region need to enhance co-operation to develop safe agricultural areas and ensure consumption of safe food and farm produce, heard a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City on June 4.
HCM City (VNS/VNA) —Localities in the Southern Key Economic Region need to enhance co-operation todevelop safe aꦫgricultural areas and ensure consumption of safe food and farmproduce, heard a semin꧒ar in Ho Chi Minh City on June 4.
Nguyen Huynh Trang, deputy chairman ofthe city Department of Industry and Trade, said linkages for production andconsumption of agricultural products and foods is important for promotingeconomic development in the region and the application of good agriculturalpractices. The seminarsought to collect participants’ opinions on zoning areas for safe agriculturalproduce and foodstuffs and suggest policies for localities in the region forbuilding linkages in production and consumption of agricultural produce andfoods from the region, she said. Localitiesin the region have enhanced food safety management and adopted VietGAPstandards for cultivation and animal breeding, but only 5-10 percent of theproducts meet those standards. The cost ofgrowing vegetables to VietGAP standards is higher than conventional methods,while productivity is lower and the appearance of the vegetables is not veryattractive, participants said. Modern distributionchannels can buy around 20 percent of vegetables grown to VietGAP standards. Sofarmers have to sell the rest at traditional markets at normal prices, whichdiscourages them from adopting the standards, they added, suggesting thatlocalities should make plans for safe farm produce production and consumptionas well as expand the application of VietGAP standard in production. Representativesof many provinces and cities in the region said building a wholesale market andcentre for agricultural products and enhancing food safety management from theproduction to consumption stages are urgent requirements. They alsocalled for enhancing traceability of products to ensure food safety. Producersmust focus more on building brands for their products and improve productdesigns so that they could be exported, they added. The region,which consists of HCM City and seven provinces – Tay Ninh, Binh Phuoc, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Long An, and Tien Giang -- plays a special role in the country’ssocio-economic development, accounting for more than 45.5 percent of its GDP./.
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Delegates at the seminar in HCM City (Photo: VNA) 
