Vietnam to Boost Safe Vegetable Production

Vietnam will speed up a program to produce safe vegetable, fruit and tea meeting international standards of food safety and hygiene by 2015, the government of Vietnam said on its Website.

 

Under the program approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, 100 per cent of safe vegetable, fruit orchard and tea area will be in line with Vietnam Good Agricultural Practices (VietGap); and 100 per cent of total vegetable, fruit, and tea for both local domestic market and export will also meet VietGap and HACCP standards.

 

The state budget will help set up transport, irrigation and pumping stations, while provincial budget will support building wholesale markets, storages, trade promotion, and transfer of technologies in growing safe vegetable, fruit and tea.

 

Organizations and individuals investing in the production will get preferential policies in hiring land, while farmers are encouraged to cooperate with companies in producing, processing and consuming safe vegetable, fruit and tea.

 

Vietnam raked in US$212 million from exporting vegetable and fruit, and US$US$79 million from exporting tea in the first seven months of 2008, up 17.5 per cent and 32.6 per cent, respectively, against the same period of last year. (Chinhphu.vn)