Farmers belonging to the Nhân Tâm Agricultural Service Co-operative in Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu Province’s Xuyên Mộc District harvest longan on lands that have been allotted farming codes. —VNA/VNS Photo Hoàng Nhị

BÀ RỊA – VŨNG TÀU — The south-eastern province of Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu is helping farmers register codes for their lands to facilitate exports.

To get a production unit code, a farmer should have at least 6ha and practise Vietnamese good agricultural practices (VietGAP) or other equivalent quality standards.

The province has eight farming areas that have been granted codes by the Plant Protection Department.

A 29.5ha longan growing area and two banana areas covering 420ha in Xuyên Mộc and Châu Đức districts export to China, two longan areas covering 24ha in Xuyên Mộc export to the US and Australia and three grapefruit areas covering 50ha in Phú Mỹ Town export to the EU.

There are also two establishments that package bananas for export to China and South Korea that have codes.

Phan Thế Hoành, director of the Nhân Tâm Agricultural Service Co-operative in Xuyên Mộc District, said the co-operative received a code for its 29.5ha of longan orchards in 2018 and exports the fruit through official channels to China.

During the last longan harvest season, it completed procedures to export to Japan and now ships an average of 12 tonnes a month to that country.

The codes have helped improve the competitiveness of agricultural products and develop sustainable value chains for agricultural products, Hoành said.

Nguyễn Chí Đức, head of the province’s Plant Protection and Cultivation Sub-Department, said the sub-department is helping farmers register codes for key fruits.

It is petitioning the plant protection department to grant the codes to four grapefruit growing areas in Phú Mỹ Town for exporting to China, he said.

It is in the process of applying for the codes for four dragon fruit growing areas with a total of 57ha in Xuyên Mộc District and six durian growing areas with a total of 80ha in Châu Đức District, he said.

These areas have already got VietGAP certification, he said.

The province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has applied for VietGAP and GlobalGAP certification, and developed value chains for agricultural products of high quality for exports.

It has promoted advocacy to enhance farmers and companies’ awareness of the need to strictly comply with requirements related to the codes.

The Sông Xoài Green Skin and Pink Flesh Grapefruit Co-operative in Phú Mỹ Town has 18ha of grapefruit farms that produce 540 tonnes a year of organic fruits, maintains a schedule of the cultivation and has a brand name.

Hồ Hoàng Kha, deputy director of the co-operative, said the grapefruits meet conditions to be exported to China and the EU.

The co-operative is completing procedures to apply for the code, he said.

“We hope [we] receive the code soon to facilitate exports.”

Agricultural products that meet export requirements but do not have the codes face difficulties, according to many co-operatives. VNS