Vietnamese agricultural products are still facing many difficulties, especially in demanding markets with high competition.

View of the workshop “Clean Vietnamese agricultural products - Solutions to enhance competitive advantage - Brand building and sustainable development”. Photo: Pham Tran Trung-VNA

On November 18, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vinh Long province organized the Workshop "Clean Vietnamese Agricultural Products - Solutions to enhance competitive advantages - Brand building and sustainable development".

At the workshop, experts and scientists focused on discussing and evaluating the improvement of output and quality standards of clean Vietnamese agricultural products - solutions from input factors of the production process; clean Vietnamese agricultural products - solving the problem of consumer trust; building Vietnamese agricultural product brands - lessons learned and development strategies; building logistics in agriculture - solutions to ensure the supply of agricultural products in domestic and foreign markets...

According to economic experts, agricultural products are one of the important industries, contributing positively to the overall export turnover of the whole country. Vietnamese agricultural products are exported to more than 180 countries, including major markets such as the EU, the United States, and China. In addition to key products such as rice, coffee, cashew nuts, and pepper, in recent years, tropical agricultural fruits have also created strong attraction in the world market due to their unique characteristics and low competitiveness.

Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vinh Long Province, Van Huu Hue, said: Vietnamese agricultural products are still facing many difficulties, especially in demanding markets with high competition. Vietnam's key agricultural products face many strict technical barriers from production to consumption, which somewhat reduces the potential and competitive advantage of Vietnamese agricultural products in the market.

In Vinh Long, a province with agricultural land accounting for about 78% of the total natural land area, the locality has recently paid attention to green and clean agricultural production, including organic production, high-tech application, brand building, and geographical indications. However, production activities still face many challenges, especially the fragmented and small-scale agricultural production, the lack of concentrated production areas; uneven product quality and product designs that do not meet the requirements of importing countries, especially developed countries.

Associate Professor, Dr. Le Nguyen Doan Khoi, Can Tho University, said that the clean agricultural product market in Vietnam is developing but still faces many challenges. Issues such as lack of knowledge about sustainable agricultural production, lack of infrastructure and financial resources, and competition from unsafe agricultural products are still major obstacles. In addition, Vietnamese consumers are not yet accustomed to paying more for clean products, leading to low consumption of clean products. Therefore, raising awareness and building consumer trust are important factors to promote domestic agricultural product consumption.

According to Mr. Le Nguyen Doan Khoi, a transparent supply chain will be the key to building trust. A transparent traceability system helps consumers easily verify information about the origin, production process and quality of farmers. In addition, transparency in the supply chain also helps consumers easily access information about product standards and certifications. Dr. La Bao Truc Ly, Can Tho University of Technology, said that logistics costs currently account for 20-25% of the value of goods, higher than in other countries in the region, making it difficult for Vietnamese agricultural products to compete. To solve this problem, the government needs to introduce tax support policies and encourage private investment in logistics infrastructure. At the same time, investing in digitalization and applying advanced technology will help improve supply chain linkages and reduce costs. To develop a comprehensive and effective agricultural logistics system, there must be a roadmap and coordination between solutions from state management agencies, logistics service enterprises and commodity manufacturers.

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Luu Thanh Duc Hai, School of Economics (Can Tho University), the failure to build brands for agricultural products for a long time has caused domestic agricultural products to only export raw materials with very low economic benefits. Building a brand for a business's products is difficult, and the agricultural product brand of a specific locality is even more difficult.

This shows that the direction of the Vietnamese agricultural product market at this time is to develop high-quality, sustainable agricultural product brands that meet domestic and international standards. It is important to have close coordination between farmers, local authorities and enterprises in supporting policies, investment capital and science and technology in building and developing brands./.

Source: Bnews