Faced with increasingly stringent technical barriers from the international market, Vietnam's agricultural sector is undergoing a comprehensive reform. No longer merely stopping at a race for quantity, the current focus rests on tightening post-inspections, ensuring data transparency, and standardizing production processes to protect the national brand reputation.

From the story of the "passport" for dragon fruit

Lam Dong Province is currently one of the key agricultural raw material regions in the country, possessing a dragon fruit cultivation area of up to 25,800 hectares and an annual output reaching over 577,000 tons. To date, the locality has achieved an impressive growing area code (GAC) coverage rate, with nearly 98% of the area (equivalent to 25,213 hectares) granted 571 export codes.

However, practical management still confronts numerous challenges as the majority of the area (over 95%) is still managed by communal and ward-level representatives, leading to difficulties in supervising the production processes of individual smallholder farmers.

Evaluating the importance of this control, Mr. Tran Duc Thien, Deputy Director of the Sub-Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection of Lam Dong Province, affirmed: "Strictly controlling growing area codes and packaging facilities not only helps dragon fruit meet formal export requirements but also contributes to changing farmers' production mindsets toward transparency, safety, and sustainability."

To demonstrate the spirit of matching words with actions, in 2025 alone, Lam Dong provincial authorities conducted inspections on 238 growing area codes and 87 packaging facility codes. Through this, the province resolutely revoked 13 growing area codes and 2 packaging facility codes that failed to satisfy technical requirements or no longer had utilization needs. This represents a drastic move to eliminate weak links in the value chain.

The qualitative shift in growing area code management has been institutionalized by Decree No. 38/2026/NĐ-CP. This is regarded as the most critical institutional improvement to date, directly transferring responsibility to local governments to "closely follow" each orchard and warehouse.

By May 2026, the entire country logged 9,546 growing area codes and 1,525 packaging facility codes. However, the pressure to maintain quality is immense, as within just over a year, the Chinese side issued warnings to 403 growing area codes and 240 packaging facilities of Vietnam for non-compliance with regulations.

Amidst that context, Mr. Vo Van Hưng, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, emphasized a data-driven governance perspective: "Traceability does not merely aim to shorten processing times, but its core is to control quality, ensuring product safety and transparency. In the context of accelerated digital transformation, the agricultural sector needs to view data as the foundation of modern governance."

Deputy Minister Vo Van Hung also pointed out the future development model: "Sustainable agricultural development needs to rely on three tightly interconnected pillars: raw material zone planning, growing area code management, and traceability."

Digitalizing the value chain: From orchards to border gates

Mr. Nguyen Van Long, Director of the Department of Science and Technology (under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), stated that the Ministry's traceability system has been piloted effectively with durian fruits. As of May 25, 2026, the system has connected nearly 18,000 production facilities across 14 provinces and cities.

The efficiency of digitalization is highly distinct: "green lane" durian shipments can complete the entire process from the growing region to customs clearance in just 6 days. To enhance international recognition, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development sent an official diplomatic note to the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) to share information regarding this system and electronic identification label samples.

Not stopping at fresh fruit exports, the future direction is to elevate added value. In Lam Dong, the target by 2030 is to stably maintain 25,000 hectares of dragon fruit, reaching an output of 750,000 tons, but accompanied by rigorous requirements regarding VietGAP, GlobalGAP, and organic standards.

Regarding the upcoming roadmap, Mr. Tran Duc Thien, Deputy Director of the Sub-Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection of Lam Dong Province, stated that the Sub-Department will accelerate digitalization, review enterprise dossiers on China's CIFER system, and deploy synchronized management software. Concurrently, the province encourages enterprises to invest in deep-processing factories to diversify products, reducing consumption pressure on fresh fruits during peak harvest seasons.

Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development sent an official diplomatic note to the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China (GACC).

Through the diplomatic note, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development provided GACC with information regarding Vietnam's Agricultural Traceability System and several identification label samples serving the traceability of agricultural products consumed within Vietnam and exported. In the coming time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will evaluate the effectiveness of using identification labels for agricultural product traceability and will provide information to GACC. The Ministry also hopes that GACC will soon approve lists and technical dossiers related to growing area codes, packaging facilities, and testing laboratories serving Vietnam's agricultural exports to China.

The transformation from "issuing for the sake of numbers" to substantive management through growing area codes is shaping a new face for Vietnamese agricultural products: more transparent, safer, and firmer in the global market.

Source: Bao Dien tu Chinh phu