The Vietnam–China Protocol opens export opportunities for pomelos while setting strict mandates on cultivation areas, pest control, and origin traceability.

On April 15, 2026, Vietnam and China signed a Protocol on phytosanitary requirements for exported pomelos and lemons. This represents an important milestone opening the opportunity to introduce Vietnamese pomelos into the Chinese market through official channels. Concurrently, it sets higher requirements for production organization, growing area management, pest control, packing facilities, and origin traceability.

Facing this opportunity, Bac Ninh Province is orienting the development of pomelo areas that satisfy export requirements, step-by-step elevating value and building stable raw material zones. The focal point rests on managing growing area codes and packing facility codes, controlling harmful organisms and plant protection chemical residues, and ensuring origin traceability.

Tightening management from growing areas

According to the Protocol, pomelo growing areas and packing facilities exporting to China must be registered with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and approved by the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) prior to export.

Growing areas must be strictly managed, with farmers adhering to production protocols and maintaining comprehensive farming logs to ensure traceability. Simultaneously, growing areas must apply Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) or equivalent standards, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), and monitor and control harmful organisms of concern to China.

According to Mr. Vu Tri Dong, Deputy Head of the Bac Ninh Plant Cultivation and Protection Sub-department, to export pomelos to the Chinese market, growing areas must fully comply with the provisions in the Protocol, with special emphasis on bagging fruit to control oriental fruit flies.

"Growing areas must apply the provisions in the Protocol and implement fruit bagging 60 days before harvest to achieve the best control against damaging fruit flies," Mr. Dong stated.

Alongside bagging, cultivation areas must install traps to monitor fruit flies, regularly conduct field surveys, and proactively apply appropriate control measures. Pest control must be maintained throughout the entire production season rather than focused solely just prior to harvest.

This also serves as a meaningful requirement for elevating fruit quality. Fruit bagging limits pest infestation risks and contributes to creating products with uniform appearance.

Strict control from orchards to packing facilities

Controlling plant protection chemicals is one of the key tasks to maintain the export market. Growers must use chemicals strictly under regulations, targeting the correct pests, adhering to proper dosages, and respecting pre-harvest intervals. The entire chemical application process in export pomelo zones must be recorded in farming logs, establishing the foundation for residue monitoring and origin traceability.

Along with that, it is necessary to strengthen biological and cultural measures, use traps, bag fruit, and apply integrated pest management to reduce reliance on chemical agents. This is not only a requirement to satisfy the Chinese market, but also an orientation toward building safe, sustainable pomelo zones.

For packing facilities, pomelos must be sorted, cleaned, and culled of diseased, pest-infested, rotten, or deformed fruit. Branches, leaves, soil, and plant residues must also be eliminated. Packing facilities must establish quality control workflows from raw material intake to final shipment completion.

Each export pomelo shipment must be traceable back to its growing area and packing facility. Therefore, linkages among farmers, cooperatives, and enterprises must be formed right from the beginning of the season.

Enterprises must participate in organizing raw material zones, standardizing variety selections, cultivation practices, quality specifications, harvest timing, and packaging standards. Cooperatives serve the role of organizing production, guiding, and supervising member households to implement uniform protocols.

This approach helps curb sporadic, unorganized farming and avoids scrambling for off-take only when harvest arrives. With a stable raw material area, enterprises can proactively formulate procurement, primary processing, packaging, and export plans.

According to Mr. Vu Tri Dong, in the coming period, Bac Ninh Province plans to review potential pomelo areas and select eligible regions to establish export-focused production zones, concentrating in Luc Ngan commune, Phuong Son ward, and Chu ward. Concurrently, the locality will complete dossiers, manage growing area and packing facility codes, enhance pest monitoring, instruct farmers on fruit bagging and trap installation, and maintain detailed production records.

Inspection and supervision must be sustained continuously even after growing areas and packing facilities receive approval. There must be no recurrence of "achieving standards to gain a code, but failing to maintain standards during production." This serves as the decisive condition for Bac Ninh's pomelos to not only ship their initial export consignments, but also maintain a stable, long-term foothold in the Chinese market.

Source: Bao Nong nghiep va Moi truong