There are many technologies for preliminary processing, processing and preservation in Vietnam, but we must find ways to effectively apply these technologies in practice.

At the “Workshop on improving capacity in preliminary processing, processing, and preserving agricultural, forestry, and fishery products according to regulations to ensure food safety and market demand”, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Lan Huong, Faculty of Food Technology, Vietnam Academy of Agriculture, said that Vietnam's current agricultural product processing capacity only reaches about 8%, the remaining 92% is mainly consumed in fresh form, while the world's agricultural product processing rate has reached 37%.

Pre-processing and preserving agricultural products to keep them fresh longer also helps increase their value and promote exports. Photo: TN&MT

Of the processed products, dried products account for 10%, bottled water accounts for 40%, frozen products account for 36%, and other pre-processed products account for 14%.

The Institute for Agricultural Market and Institutional Research (Vietnam Academy of Agriculture) reported that 70% of agricultural products produced in the North are consumed fresh.

In Hanoi, the entire city has up to 14,000 production and business establishments, of which nearly 11,000 are processing establishments, but 80% are small-scale businesses. Pre-processing and processing establishments in Hanoi currently include 3 types: enterprises (36.5%), cooperatives (2.5%), and households (61%). Up to now, semi-automatic technology applied by enterprises, cooperatives, and households accounts for 70%.

The fact that more than 90% of agricultural products are still consumed in fresh form has created a problem in the market, because according to a survey, about 20-25% of processed and instant foods in the country only meet the standards to be consumed in the city's stores and supermarkets and only meet 20% of people's needs, the rest are imported from abroad and from other provinces.

Regarding exported agricultural products, according to experts, markets such as the US, EU, etc. often highly value processed products. And even if fresh agricultural products are exported, it is still necessary to apply appropriate technologies to keep them fresh longer to increase the economic value of cooperatives and enterprises.

However, the production of fresh agricultural products is Vietnam's strength and many countries also want to import fresh agricultural products from Vietnam. But how to apply fresh preservation technology, prolonging the freshness of agricultural products to improve export efficiency requires cooperation between cooperatives, enterprises, and management agencies.

In addition, the input material factor is also very important. Because raw materials that meet quality standards through preliminary processing and processing by machines will produce products that meet standards.

Thus, preliminary processing, processing and preservation technology is still very necessary to keep agricultural products fresh longer, which also helps increase value and promote exports. Therefore, the main goal in the coming period is to invest in technology, build policies to support technology in preservation, deep processing, packaging with facilities, enterprises producing and trading agricultural products, and register for trademark protection for agricultural products.

However, developing a modern agricultural processing system in accordance with international standards is still a long story, requiring solving a series of problems from determining markets, linking production and consumption of agricultural products; then mechanisms, policies, capital, technology...

Specialized agencies play an important role in creating favorable support and legal policies to encourage businesses to invest in research, apply technology to the agricultural sector, tax incentives, loan interest rates... At the same time, it is also necessary to ensure the creation of favorable conditions for businesses to access capital through the banking system.

In addition, businesses also play a leading role in researching, developing and implementing technological solutions in the production, preservation and processing of agricultural products. The investment and commitment of businesses are decisive factors for the success of this process. In addition, businesses also strengthen cooperation with research institutes and universities to research, develop and apply technology suitable to market needs.

Source: Doanh Nghiep Tiep Thi Magazine