An organic coconut grove in Bến Tre Province’s Thạnh Phú District. — VNA/VNS Photo Công Trí

BẾN TRE — Bến Tre Province is taking measures to effectively improve value chains for eight key agricultural products, including coconut, green skin and pink flesh grapefruit, rambutan, longan, ornamental plants and flowers, pigs, cows, and saltwater shrimp.

The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province began to develop value chains for the eight agricultural products five years ago under the provincial Party Committee’s resolution on building and improving value chains for key agricultural products.

Of the products, the value chains of coconut, green skin and pink flesh grapefruit, and rambutan have been developed.

Up to 18,787ha of coconut, or 24 per cent of the province’s total coconut area, have value chains.

The country’s largest coconut producing province has 52 co-operatives and 18 co-operative groups that link with companies to form value chains for coconut.

The province has 58ha of its 3,787ha of rambutan and 374ha of its 9,442ha of green skin and pink flesh grapefruit under value chains.

It has 17 rambutan growing areas that have been granted production codes for exporting to China and the EU.

Huỳnh Quang Đức, deputy director of the province's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the province has many companies that participate in developing value chains and farming areas for the eight agricultural products.

The value chain of coconut has been significantly increased in scale, quality and added value, he said.

However, the value chains of pigs, cows and saltwater shrimp have only been developed in initial phases, he said.

The production scale and output of saltwater shrimp, longan, pigs, cows and ornamental plants and flowers that are planted under value chains are still small and have not reached the province’s targets.

Bến Tre is the delta’s largest producer of ornamental plants and flowers.

The province targets to reach a production value of US$1 billion for coconut and saltwater shrimp in 2025, and $500 million for cows and ornamental plants and flowers.

The provincial People’s Committee has assigned the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in co-operation with relevant departments and localities, to implement measures to further develop value chains and clean growing areas for the eight agricultural products.

The province will boost advocacy activities to promote value chain development, will improve the operational efficiency of existing agricultural co-operatives and develop new ones for the eight agricultural products.

It will strengthen linkages among farmers, between farmers and companies, and among companies to create stable farming areas.

It has more than 9,000ha of coconut, rambutan, green skin and pink flesh grapefruit, longan, and saltwater shrimp that have been granted certificates of good agricultural practices (GAP) or organic standards. — VNS