This is shared by Mr. Le Anh Trung, Foreign Affairs Director of Van Hoa Holding Group (Ho Chi Minh City) - main activities in the fields of official agricultural export to the Chinese market - at the Forum "Identifying the current situation of linking durian consumption and export in 2023 and solutions for effective and sustainable development of Vietnam's durian industry", took place on the morning of September 11.

Land 'storks' flocked to the gardens to set stakes

According to Mr. Le Anh Trung, Director of External Affairs of Van Hoa Holding Group (Ho Chi Minh City), currently Van Hoa Group has completed a packaging facility system in Dak Lak of up to 30,000m 2 with ^capacity . operates about 100,000 tons/year. The business's customers are the largest supermarket chains and wholesale markets in China.

Vietnam has 246 durian growing area codes officially granted by China

To improve productivity and export quality for agricultural products, Van Hoa Group is also constantly strengthening and developing the logistics chain to transport goods to reduce transportation costs and increase competitiveness. on the regular market.

For this year's crop in Dak Lak, Van Hoa Group has committed to supply about 20,000 tons of durian with Chinese partners and customers. However, with the current high price of durian, some of the business's partners and customers have moved to cut orders.

Particularly for Van Hoa Group, to maintain its commitment and ensure reputation with customers, the business must even accept to compensate for losses after each export shipment. With the above situation, the more businesses work, the more they will lose.

Therefore, maintaining commitments with partners will also be seriously affected and in the future the business will not be able to sell products to farmers as committed.

Mr. Le Anh Trung - Director of External Relations of Van Hoa Holding Group shared at the forum

Stating the current situation of the durian industry in the Eastern and Central Highlands regions, Mr. Le Anh Trung said that the Group has developed a policy to link production with farmers, including a training policy, Improve production capacity, develop planting area codes, and provide capital support of 50 million VND/ha.

Having gone through the Western and Eastern regions to the Central Highlands , up to this moment, Mr. Le Anh Trung said that the association plan has completely failed and the business is having to recover capital to support farmers.

“The durian profession is different from the pepper or coffee profession. Durian is a fruit. In the Western region, the situation is not as volatile as in the Eastern and Central Highlands regions because the farmers here are skilled and knowledgeable about durian. Farmers see benefits from linking with export businesses. Previously, production cooperation only took place with traders and small purchasing warehouses, but now farmers can link directly with export businesses," Mr. Le Anh Trung said.

In the Eastern and Central Highlands regions, there should be no problems, but in reality there are many problems. According to Mr. Trung, the story from the business itself is that even though there is a linked purchasing contract, the pre-harvest purchasing contract is 15-20 days, but due to rising prices, 2 months before that, traders Drivers and land "storks" rushed into the gardens to fix stakes. Farmers could not stand the pressure from the "butterflies" from the storks, causing distraction for the farmers.

This happens in two situations: if the price goes up naturally, the sale will still take place normally, but when the price goes down, traders and land brokers will ask to lower the price. If the price doesn't drop, they will keep maintaining the anchor garden. This will definitely affect people. In the end, farmers are still the ones who suffer.

Mr. Le Anh Trung raised the issue and said that during the process of the Group recovering capital, 40% of farmers understood the problem and hoped the company would continue to cooperate, but if the association policy failed, it would be very difficult to continue. continue to invest.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Chien, Director of Tan Lap Dong Agricultural Service Cooperative, Krong Buk district, Dak Lak province raised three concerns. First, some units own the growing area code but have not been able to purchase products from the code. However, from these growing area codes, some units still carry out normal export procedures. Second, if the growing area codes are standardized such as recording logs, tracking and monitoring harmful organisms... the selling price is equal to, or even lower than, other units. Third, competition to buy and sell takes place regularly. Domestic businesses are competing with each other and losing at home.

“The cooperative encountered a situation where many traders came to ask to buy durian without paying attention to the growing area code. When I asked why the product was exported without paying attention to the code, they patted me on the shoulder and said that buying and selling the planting area code is now too simple," Mr. Nguyen Huu Chien cited and suggested to the management agencies . Control and monitor more closely the issuance and management of planting area codes.

Many places overheat and overdo it in managing growing area codes, causing difficulties for export businesses

With the above difficulties, Mr. Le Anh Trung proposed that the authorities and the Dak Lak Durian Association organize propaganda to let people know the true value of durian. At the same time, organize guidance and training on knowledge and techniques for durian tree care for all farmers. From there, prices and quality can be stabilized, helping businesses and farmers feel secure in production and purchasing. Only then can the durian industry develop sustainably and long-term.

In addition, Mr. Trung also emphasized the role of the press and media in propaganda in production links between farmers and businesses.

Regarding growing area codes, currently some localities are overheating and overdoing the issue of growing area codes. Many places misunderstand this and lead to a situation where communes divide one business into one village and another into another village. that. This leads to a situation where businesses will not need to build good policies to connect with people. Decree 98/2018/ND-CP on policies to encourage the development of cooperation and association in the production and consumption of agricultural products will no longer be meaningful.

In addition, it is necessary to develop industry standards, which areas can grow durian, what varieties, how to harvest, etc. Based on these standards, localities can build plans for growing areas. In addition, the issue of linkage needs to be taken more seriously by all parties. It is the weakness in linkage that causes businesses to lose right at home, not to mention the export market.

Mr. Vu Duc Con - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development , Chairman of the Dak Lak Durian Association - said that currently 34 provinces across the country grow durian, of which 3 provinces grow over 10,000 hectares. "Even some provinces such as Lao Cai and Son La also tested the tree considered the "king of fruits". In total, the national output is estimated at about 900,000 tons. In particular, the durian harvest is sprayed quite evenly, from the South to the Central Highlands, then the Central Coast," Mr. Vu Duc Con emphasized.