Tạ Văn Tường. — Photo kinhtedothi.vn

Tạ Văn Tường, deputy director of Hà Nội Department of Agriculture and Rural Development talks to Kinh tế & Đô thị (Economic and Urban Affairs) newspaper on food safety for consumers.

What is the status of co-operation between Hà Nội and other provinces in the consumption of agriculture products?

The Hà Nội Department of Agriculture and Rural Development recently organised quite a few exchange visits to production and business units in Hà Nội and then to share experiences with their peer organisations in other provinces and cities nationwide. 

Such visits have helped us understand Hà Nội’s potential in co-operation and sharing experiences with other provinces, particularly requirements for agro products to be sold in the city. On average, between 30-40 minutes of co-operation on the consumption of agricultural products were signed between the Hà Nội Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and provinces and cities nationwide.

To promote chain production and consumption for agro products from other provinces in the capital, what has the Hà Nội municipal authority done to cultivate consumers’ confidence in the products’ safety?

We have co-operated with 21 northern provinces and cities to develop a supply chain of food safety in Hà Nội. We have a total of 461 food safety supply chains nationwide. Meanwhile, many provinces and cities have formed agriculture production chains to supply their products to Hà Nội. For example, the northern province of Sơn La has signed a contract to supply Hà Nội with vegetables meeting Vietnamese Goods Agriculture Practice or VietGap and or Bắc Ninh Province will supply Hà Nội with the Dabaco chicken. Meanwhile, every year, the northern province of Tuyên Quang supplies to Hà Nội some 600 tonnes of Hàm Yên orange, two tonnes of green tea and 6,000 litres of honey.

Has Hà Nội faced any challenges in bringing agro products from other provinces to the city?

We have faced many challenges in bringing agro products from other provinces to Hà Nội. One of the biggest challenges is that quite a few provinces have not developed their annual co-operation plans on what particular products they will supply us. Adding to that problem is that some Hà Nội enterprises don’t show interest in investing in the processing of agricultural products. Further, some agro-forestry products sold in the chain markets don’t have trademarks.

In short, we need big efforts to diversify the supply of products from other provinces to Hà Nội consumers.

What should Hà Nội do to solve this problem?

To get more agro-products from other provinces sold in the city, the Hà Nội Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has sent many working groups to different provinces to discuss co-operation with them to bring their high-quality products to Hà Nội consumers. Of course, in our discussions, we emphasised the importance of sound management for the products, from farm to fork.

During our negotiation, we promised to support the enterprises to achieve the highest quality of their products, particularly in their investment in the phase of processing and product consumption in a chain.  We have also promised to help farmers to apply hi-tech to develop advanced models in their agricultural production. — VNS