Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ attends a forum on production and consumption of litchi and 52 key agricultural products in Bắc Giang Province yesterday. – Photo VGP

BẮC GIANG – The northern province of Bắc Giang should pay more attention to development plans for regions growing lychee trees and closely follow market demands.

Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ made the statement at a forum on production and consumption of litchi and 52 key agricultural products held in Bắc Giang Province yesterday by provincial People’s Committee.

This year, Bắc Giang has harvested a large volume of lychee at a high selling price, but should improve post-harvest storing and processing of lychee, Huệ said. The province should develop co-operatives to produce and trade lychee and other major products at a large scale.

The deputy PM asked China to create favoUrable conditions for customs clearance of Việt Nam’s agricultural products.

In addition, Bắc Giang should focus on logistics to support the distribution of lychee and work with the border provinces and cities to promote consumption of this product.

Especially, the provincial authorities should collaborate with Chinese agencies to help businesses of two countries trade lychees. That would lead to official trade contracts, reducing risk for both lychee growers and consumers.

In addition, the province should promote the application of technology and production models according to the standards of GlobalGAP and VietGAP.

Meanwhile, he asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to negotiate with countries that Việt Nam has signed free trade deals with to export agricultural products.

To promote the consumption of lychee at home and abroad, deputy minister of industry and trade Đỗ Thắng Hải said Bắc Giang needs to maintain stability in areas growing lychee trees and increase areas growing lychee according to the standards of VietGAP and GlobalGAP. That would ensure clean standards for products.

For the domestic market, it is important to continue to promote the consumption of lychee by connections between production regions of the farming products and wholesale markets, trade centres and supermarkets, Hải said.

During the forum, representatives of farming districts in Bắc Giang province proposed the township authorities of Pingxiang Town, Hekou District, Guangxi province, China help agricultural products get customs clearance as soon as possible.

Representatives of Lạng Sơn and Lào Cai provinces pledged to not let agricultural products export stagnated at the border gate and to work with Chinese authorities in solving difficulties in import and export activities.

Chinese representatives lauded the quality of Bắc Giang lychees this year and said they will try to quickly solve customs procedures. There are more than 200 traders purchasing large numbers in the districts of Bắc Giang Province and some localities of Hải Dương Province.

Dương Văn Thái, deputy chairman of Bắc Giang Province People’s Committee, said this year, Bắc Giang has 28,000ha growing lychee trees, 1,000ha less than last year. It is expected to have output of 150-180 thousand tonnes, including 90,000 tonnes developed under VietGAP standards and 10,000 tonnes under GlobalGAP standards.

Trần Quang Tấn, director of Bắc Giang Department of Industry and Trade, said the provincial People’s Committee has a plan to promote lychee consumption and State agencies and sectors would have production and business plans for the fruit.

This year, the province expects to sell about 80,000-90,000 tonnes at home, accounting for 50 per cent of total output, and export the same volume.

In the export market, China is still a big market, with most of the fresh lychee exported to this market.

In addition, Bắc Giang will look to increase its exports to the US, EU, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Malaysia and expanding export markets in the Middle East, Thailand and Canada.

Many businesses have registered to buy lychees to export to the US, Australia, EU, Middle East, Canada and Thailand, said Tấn. - VNS