At the second congress of the Vietnam Coconut Association. (Photo: VNA) According to VCA Deputy General Secretary Cao Ba Dang Khoa, coconut has beenplanted on a total area of some 200,000 hectares across the nation, generatingincomes for nearly 390,000 farmer households.
Earlier, coconut’s values were not tapped to the fullest extent, resulting inthe export turnover of just over 100,000 USD in 2009, he said, adding during itsfirst tenure of 2010-2023, the VCA has recommended policies and orientations to developthe coconut industry to competent ministries and sectors, while connecting withfood, handicraft and plantation industries to improve coconut products’competitiveness.
Additionally, the association has accompanied farmers and enterprises to betterproduction capacity, helping affirm coconut brands and prestige in the domesticand foreign markets, thus increasing export revenue, he stressed.
Last year, Vietnam shipped 940 million USD worth of coconut-based andcoconut-related products. In the first months of 2023, export revenue experienced asharp fall due to global headwinds, however, from the second quarter, robustsigns have loomed on the horizon, with the US and the EU allowing imports ofVietnamese coconut, and China considering official import of the fruit.
Vietnam is now home to 90 coconut businesses, 42 of which producescoconut-based goods. Besides Ben Tre, which is considered the country’s coconut capital, otherlocalities have zoned off hundreds of hectares of land for coconut farming, includingLong An, Tay Ninh, Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan and Binh Dinh.
A 14-member executive board of the VCA for the 2023-2028 tenure was elected at thecongress, with Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh re-elected as the VCA President.
Thanh said as the VCA eyes to develop the coconut industry into a spearheadproduction and export sector, and capitalise on the economic value of productsmade from coconut, it will continue building standard coconut cultivation areasas well as working to form a coconut map, providing necessary data forinvestors and businesses.
Particularly, the association will support farmers in cultivation, harvest andprocessing to stabilise coconut prices, and help coconut firms sharpen competitiveedge and develop markets./.
VNA
