The Lá Lành brand of clean vegetables is available for the first time in the central province of Bình Định. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyên Linh

HCM CITY — The Lá Lành brand of vegetables grown to Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices standards in the central province of Bình Định has hit the market.

It is being sold by Big C Quy Nhơn supermarket since July 6.

The development of the Lá Lành brand is one of the key components of the five-year New Zealand Aid Programme-funded Bình Định Safe Vegetables Project which begun in 2016.

The collaborative project between the governments of Việt Nam and New Zealand is implemented by the Bình Định Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited.

Its goal is to improve the safety and economic and environmental sustainability of vegetable farming and the safety of consumers.

It is being put into practice in eight target districts and towns in the province.

Phan Trọng Hổ, director of the province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said, “The launch of Lá Lành branded produce is significant for Bình Định safe vegetable farms.

“The area under Lá Lành safe vegetables will be expanded and [the produce] will be sold through commercial channels throughout the country.”

The cultivation systems used by farmers growing produce under the Lá Lành brand are suited to local conditions and have been designed carefully for safe production and post-harvest handling and to meet high food quality and safety standards, Dr Michael Lay-Yee, programme director for the project, said.

The New Zealand ambassador to Việt Nam, Wendy Matthews, said more than 500 households have benefited so far from the project. — VNS