The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development agreed to simplify procedures for granting growing zone codes and packing facility codes, untying obstacles for the export of durians and Vietnamese agricultural products.

On the afternoon of July 13, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development organized a Conference to gather comments on the draft Government Resolution regulating the simplification of administrative procedures regarding growing zone codes and packing facility codes.

Three groups of obstacles needing to be untied immediately

Speaking to open the conference, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Hoang Hiep stated that this is a “very large, very urgent” task when the Ministry has only two days remaining to complete the dossier for submission to the Government under instructions. In parallel with the comprehensive amendment of Decree No. 38/2026/ND-CP, the Government agreed to promulgate a resolution to immediately handle urgent obstacles in granting growing zone codes and packing facility codes. Promulgating the resolution is necessary against a backdrop where Central Highlands durians have only around 10 days remaining before entering their peak season, while multiple localities are facing difficulties when deploying current regulations.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep stated that the resolution's target is reducing compliance costs for people and enterprises, while concurrently powerfully switching from pre-inspection to post-inspection. The Ministry determined that there are three major groups of obstacles needing to be resolved.

First is the regulation on the minimum area of 10 hectares against a growing zone. Multiple localities, particularly in the Central Highlands, possess a large count of small-scale growing zones, thereby failing to satisfy this condition. The new draft orientates to grant codes on the basis of proposals from individuals, households, household groups, cooperatives, organizations, or enterprises without placing heavy weight on the area factor.

Second is the intercropped plant issue. The deployment process demonstrates that multiple localities have not yet unified the way of understanding regulations on intercropping in Decree No. 38/2026/ND-CP, leading to confusion when granting growing zone codes. Third is the process of granting growing zone codes and packing facility codes. The Ministry's perspective is simplifying administrative procedures and shortening processing times but still guaranteeing traceability capacities and satisfying the requirements of importing markets.

“Granting growing zone codes fast, neatly, and accurately only serves as the necessary condition to serve the upcoming durian export. To make exports seamless, there remain multiple other tasks that the Ministry and localities must continue to execute,” the Deputy Minister emphasized.

At the conference, Director General of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection Huynh Tan Dat presented two options of the draft resolution. Option 1 ties growing zone codes with land plot identification codes within the national land database. Under this direction, if a land plot already possesses an identification code, people declare directly; if not yet possessing one, they coordinate with the commune-level People's Committee to establish an identification code. Option 2 concentrates on immediately handling urgent obstacles regarding area, intercropped plants, and administrative procedures, while integrating land data will be executed after the national database is completed.

The representative of the drafting agency stated that, under Option 2, registration dossiers will be minimized to the maximum, combining the application form and the explanatory sheet into a single unified form. After submission on the National Public Service Portal, codes will be granted within 3 days. Prior to sending the list to markets demanding export registration, provincial-level specialized agencies will execute post-inspection.

Contributing comments at the conference, multiple localities argued that there is a need to harmonize management demands and feasibility. Ms. Dang Thi Thuy, Deputy Director of the Dak Lak Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, leaned toward the option of tying codes with land plot identification codes. According to Ms. Thuy, this way of doing will help manage uniformly from the Central level to localities and reduce legal risks for specialized cadres.

Dak Lak currently manages three groups of growing zone codes, including those already accepted by China, those waiting for approval, and those being deployed under Decree No. 38/2026/ND-CP. The province sets the target to digitize the entirety of around 41,000 hectares of durians to serve management and data connection. However, the locality also stated that there remains plenty of area not yet granted land-use right certificates or related to agricultural and forestry farms, therefore proposing the commune-level People's Committee to confirm the actual area against these cases.

Meanwhile, Mr. Vu Đình Cuong, Deputy Director of the Lam Dong Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, basically selected Option 2 in the direction of simplifying procedures but requested assigning the commune level to execute pre-inspection of growing zone codes and keeping the confirmation regulation against cases not yet possessing land plot identification codes.

Ms. Nguyen Thi To Tran, Deputy Director of the Gia Lai Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, agreed with removing the minimum area regulation but argued that there is a need to clarify the responsibility of commune-level People's Committees in confirming origin and land-use status to avoid dumping the entirety of risks onto provincial-level specialized agencies. The representative of Dong Thap also unified with Option 2 but requested assigning the commune level to execute pre-inspection and post-inspection of growing zone codes, while packing facility codes will be in charge by the provincial level.

Heading toward production management and traceability

Concluding the conference, Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep stated that the Ministry basically unified to select Option 2 but absorbed a number of contents of Option 1. Accordingly, growing zone codes are granted on the basis of land plot locations. In cases where the land plot is already present within the land database, available information is utilized; in cases where it is not yet present, the commune-level People's Committee must confirm the actual location and area. “This regulation both guarantees legal safety for localities during the code granting process and creates favorable conditions for future management work,” the Deputy Minister said.

The Ministry also unified to supplement pre-inspection and post-inspection minutes and inspect process guidelines within the appendix of the draft. Against growing zone codes serving the domestic market, valid dossiers will be granted within 2-3 working days and regulatory agencies execute post-inspection thereafter. Against cases registering for export, specialized agencies or the commune level assigned with tasks will execute pre-inspection within a maximum timeframe of 10 working days, fully inspecting conditions under the requirements of each individual importing market prior to sending the code list abroad. "The 10-day timeframe is necessary to guarantee thorough inspection and hold the prestige of Vietnamese agricultural products. Just a few violating codes returned by importing nations can also affect the prestige of the entire commodity sector,” the Deputy Minister noted.

According to Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep, innovating code granting work this time does not merely serve export but also heads toward the targets of managing production, traceability, and guaranteeing food safety for both the domestic market and export. Against the Chinese market, the Ministry will coordinate with related ministries and sectors to work with the Chinese side to accelerate the recognition of codes already sent over, while concurrently researching to adjust protocols in the direction of increasing proactiveness for Vietnam. In parallel with that, the Ministry will tightly control packing facilities and growing zones carrying high risks aiming to guarantee requirements on plant quarantine and food safety.

The Deputy Minister also requested Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development to advise provincial People's Committees to deploy a “growing zone code data campaign” to rapidly digitize and standardize growing zone information across the entire locality. The Ministry concurrently encourages farming households to link into collaborative groups and cooperatives to form large-scale growing zones, reducing the count of codes to be granted and generating conditions to construct local agricultural product brands. “This is an opportunity for localities to drive production linkages and construct their agricultural product brands, instead of each household manufacturing on a small scale with a separate code,” the Deputy Minister emphasized.

Under the plan, starting from July 15, the system of granting growing zone codes and packing facility codes will be deployed under the form of a full-process online public service. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will organize training for localities right on the afternoon of July 14 and requests cadres directly executing professional duties to participate fully.

Source: Bao Cong Thuon