Vietnamese dragon fruit has become an important export in recent years. However, Vietnam’s export value of dragon fruit to the EU is dropping due to the fact that Vietnamese dragon fruit has not yet met the GAP standard.
GAP may be understood as a food hygiene and safety standard and a visa for fruit to enter the EU market. The fact that Vietnamese fruit has not met any standard on food hygiene and safety is a difficulty for export activities. In particular, it is necessary to develop the GAP standard for dragon fruit as a large material supply area of the fruit has been formed in Vietnam. The EU is a large market for dragon fruit from Vietnam, Thailand, Israel, Malaysia, Nicaragua and Ecuador. Vietnam used to export around 700 tonnes of dragon fruit to the market each year. However, in recent years, the export volume has dropped, to 40 per cent in 2004. It is expected to continue to fall in 2005.
Robert Webster, director of the Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative (VNCI) project, said that Vietnam’s export volume of dragon fruit to the EU had fallen as the fruit had not met the GAP standard yet. Dr Nguyen Minh Chau, director of the Southern Fruit Research Institute (SOFRI) said that if Vietnamese fruit did not meet any standard on food hygiene and safety, even the Metro Vietnam supermarket chain would not import Vietnamese fruit, let alone foreign markets. The Metro chain would buy dragon fruit from Thailand, whose fruit has met the GAP standard.
A piece of good news is that the Dragon Fruit GAP Project has been implemented under the sponsorship of the AUSAID, the USAID and SOFRI with a total investment capital of US$433 million for two and half a years. A signing ceremony for the project sponsorship was held in Ho Chi Minh City in early October, 2005.
Dr Chau said that by 2010, the dragon fruit farming area of Binh Thuan would have reached 11,000 hectares. Farming areas in Tien Giang, Long An and many other provinces would increase rapidly. Dragon fruit is considered a means of fighting poverty and hunger among thousands of farmers in the affected regions. Therefore, a successful application of the GAP standard on dragon fruit would offer great benefits, acting as a premise for the standard application on other Vietnamese fruit and helping improve its competitiveness. Also, according to Chau, dragon fruit has been selected as the first fruit have the GAP standard applied because the farming area of the fruit in Binh Thuan province is large enough to form a concentrated material supply area, producing disease-free and high quality fruit for export.
In particular, Vietnam’s dragon fruit has become a favourite choice in the EU for its high mineral and nutrition content. However, according to Webster, Vietnamese farmers would have to overcome many difficulties, including a change of their farming habits. They have to keep diligent notes in their books about the farming and tending process of the fruit plants. Also, their gardens will have to meet hygiene and safety standards. This cannot be changed in one day. With a lot of dragon fruit failing to qualify for hygiene and safety standards, none of the shipment of fruit will be able to enter the EU market. Also, packages will have to meet standards on colour and materials.
Nguyen Ngoc Hoa, deputy head of the Agriculture Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that dragon fruit was of great comparative advantage to Vietnam. The fruit has great development potential and will offer farmers great economic benefits. Therefore, despite many difficulties, it is necessary to develop the GAP standard for the fruit, which will be a premise for the application of the standard on other Vietnamese fruit products.
Long Khanh
Vietnamese
