HCM City (VNA) - Creatingefficient supply chains for safe farm produce is essential to guarantee salesas well as ensure quantity and quality, delegates told a seminar in Ho Chi MinhCity on December 28.

There have been many programmes to connectagricultural co-operatives and businesses, with encouraging results, but thereare hurdles to developing linkages between them, they said.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Tran Thanh Nam said the biggest obstacle is the surge in supplyduring the harvest season and businesses’ inability to consume largequantities.

That is a common problem everywhere in thecountry, he said.

He called on co-operatives and farmers totweak their cultivation to ensure steady supply for the whole year.

According to Pham Trung Kien, deputygeneral director of Saigon Co.op, to ensure quality and adequate supply of farmproduce at its outlets and reduce intermediaries, Saigon Co.op has linked upwith more than 20 co-operatives for around 16,000 tonnes of safe farm produce(mainly fruits and vegetables) a year.

It has also tied up with Tan Tien Co-operativein Vinh Long province to procure 130 tonnes of safe rice since September lastyear.

But Saigon Co.op has faced problems becausefarmers sometimes did not strictly comply with its requirements.

In Vinh Long, the scale of the project hasnot been consistent and has fluctuated between 45ha and 75ha due to the failureby co-operative members to participate consistently, he said.

He said co-operatives should developlong-term production plans, produce based on market demand, and apply advancedtechnologies in their production process.

Dinh Thi Phuong Khanh, deputy director ofthe Long An Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the provincehas over 11,500ha growing safe vegetables, producing over 186,000 tonnes ayear.

It has 21 co-operatives and enterprisesgrowing VietGap-certified vegetables on a total of 90ha, she said.

To be able to join retailers’ supplychains, farmers and agricultural co-operatives must obtain at least VietGapcertification, but the cost of getting and renewing the certificate is veryhigh, causing difficulties for the former.

“The Government should consider subsidisingfarmers,” she said.

She also said the Government should enhanceinspection and supervision of the farming process and make zoning plans forsafe farm produce so that it can solicit investors.

Nguyen Anh Dung, head of the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development’s Agency for Agro-product Processing andMarket Development, Region 1, said there are 700 supply chains for safe farmproduce in 50 provinces and cities mainly for vegetables, fruits, tea, pork,egg, rice, and seafood.

However, demand for safe farm produce wasmuch higher, he said.

The supply of safe farm produce was notdiverse enough and there were not enough retail outlets, he said.

Tran Minh Hai of the College of Managementfor Agriculture and Rural Development II said developing linkages betweenproducers (farmers and co-operatives) and businesses would be a win-win act.

Farmers/co-operative members would getmarket information and inputs, be taught farming techniques and helped withbuilding brands and selling their products at reasonable prices, he said.

Businesses would have a steady supply withconsistent quality, he said.

According to the Agency of Cooperatives andRural Development, at the end of 2016 there had been 10,756 agricultural co-operativesin the country. - VNA