Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Ensuring the stable and consistent quality ofagricultural products of cooperatives is critical to achieveing sustainableexports, in which the linkage with enterprises played a key role.

Unstable and sub-standard quality of agricultural products remained the biggestworry for exporters.

Nguyen Trung Dong, Principal of the College of Management for Agriculture andRural Development, said that the export market for agricultural products wasexpanding. China this year officially opened its doors for five products of Vietnam.However, high standards were set to ensure quality.

While cooperatives were identified, together with enterprises, as the coreforce for agricultural production, the production quality remained belowexpectations, he said.

Ho Duc Minh, Director of the Van Xuan Phat Import-Export Company – one of 25packers granted codes to officially export durian to China – said that farmersplayed an important role in the supply chain. However, many of them did not payattention to ensuring product quality.

Ngo Tuong Vy, Deputy Director of fruit export company Chanh Thu, said thatthere was a lack of uniformity in product quality as farmers and cooperativesdid not cooperate with each other to follow certain standards.

Bui Ba Bong, former Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, saidthat the agricultural sector was aiming to build production areas in whichevery participant was held accountable and managed with transparency.

Only when the linkage between cooperatives and enterprises was enhanced, could Vietnam’sagricultural products move forwards and ensure sustainability.

According to Pham Thi Thu Hien, Director of the Plant Phytosanitary Centre 2,many markets requested that the growing areas and packing facilities ofexporting countries be put under close monitoring with codes issuedperiodically.

Growing areas and packing facilities needed to comply with the requirements ofeach market, which would differ among products, and even between the sameproduct she said.

Hien said that the issuance of codes for planting areas and packagingfacilities was mainly for fruit but not for products with large export volumessuch as rice, tea, pepper, and coffee. There were still instances of fraud inthe use of growing area codes, which was affecting the prestige of Vietnameseproducts, she said.

Hien said that enterprises should work closely with farmers to develop thegrowing areas and protect the codes, as well as improve product quality.

Le Thanh Hoa, Deputy Director of the Agro Processing and Market DevelopmentAuthority, said that besides following standards like VietGap and GlobalGap inharmony with the requirements of import markets, cooperatives needed to makeplans for production and processing in line with investment in equipment toproduce products with high quality.

Training on phytosanitary rules should also be provided regularly, Hoa added.

Stressing that ensuring product quality to meet export standards was a pressingconcern, Hoa said that the Government should implement consistent policies indeveloping cooperatives and the rural economic sector together with support toimprove quality standards for agricultural products.

Bui Phuoc Hoa from the Business Association of High-Quality Vietnamese Productssaid the linkage between farmers and enterprises should be strengthenedtogether with transparency in responsibilities and benefits.

Guidance should be provided to help farmers increase their understanding of thebenefits when complying with standards and ensuring stable and consistentproduct quality./.