Flying fruit to wing its way to US

Three experts from the US Department of Agriculture visited SOFRI last week to put forward a proposal to import longans and rambutans, Chau said.

Vietnam has the potential to increase export earnings through fruit, once fruit producers earn Global GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) certifications, said Chau.

Global GAP, formerly known as Eurep GAP, is a set of farm management standards created by European supermarket chains.

Chau said it would take at least a year for farmers to acquire the certification.

He said Vietnam has some advantages in the process, including the fact that large areas of southern provinces already cultivated longans and rambutans, with more than 120,000 hectares of orchards.

“SOFRI is willing to transfer technology [to the local cooperatives] and the fruit has been ordered by the US,” he said.

Chau urged longan and rambutan farmers to quickly contact SOFRI for assistance in meeting Global GAP production procedures.

“This is a golden chance that does not always come to us, so we must grab it immediately,” he said.

The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang has established a management board to oversee the procedures for local specialty fruits so that they can have certification by 2010, said Nguyen Van Phong, deputy chairman of the provincial People’s Committee.

The province will sponsor and assign technical officials to help local farmers conduct the procedures, he said.

“We will contact SOFRI to establish the procedure for local areas majored in planting longans and rambutans as soon as possible,” Nguyen Quoc Bao, deputy chairman of the southern Ben Tre Province’s People’s Committee, said.

“This is really good news to local farmers in Ben Tre Province.”

Other potential

New exports of other Vietnamese fruit have recently begun, including exports of grapefruit and mangoes.

Tien Giang Province-based MT Company Limited has exported around 1,000 tons of rambutans to the Republic of Korea and some US supermarkets, according to Tien Giang Center for Investment – Trade – Tourism Promotion.

Hanoi-based Xoai Company, meanwhile, exports longans and rambutans to Russia.

Dam Van Hung, a grapefruit farmer and trader of Mo Cay District of Ben Tre Province, said he exported 50 tons of grapefruits through a Hanoi export company to Germany last year.

Over the first eight months of this year, his output has increased to 80 tons and was expected to reach more than 100 tons by the end of this year, Hung said.

Local farmers are also exporting sapodillas to markets like Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

Russia and Europe are potential new markets for mangoes, dragon fruit and grapefruit from the southern provinces of Tien Giang, Long An and Ben Tre, said Le Quang Ninh of the Tien Giang Center for Investment – Trade – Tourism Promotion.

The country only exports 15 percent of its total fruit output, Chau said.

But recent trade promotions prove that Vietnam had huge potential to increase fruit exports, he added.

To grab the chance, local farmers should establish a good system of processing and reserving products after harvest, Ninh said.

SOFRI said that to date, three dragon fruit farms in Binh Thuan, a coastal province east of Ho Chi Minh City, have obtained Eurep GAP certification.

Star apples in Vinh Kim District of Tien Giang Province and Hoa Loc mangoes in Can Tho City have also been granted Global GAP certification.

Source: Tuoi Tre