Finding the “key” for agricultural enterprises to improve local agricultural products to go the long way in the domestic market and expand to export is still difficult. The important thing is that their thinking and awareness must change, closely following the needs of life (such as green consumption), building a sustainable value chain, being creative and increasingly commercializing products.

Cassava is a typical native agricultural product of Cu Chi district (HCMC). From this source of raw materials, a group of young farmers, Mr. Mai Tuan Anh, Director of Yam Kitchen Company Limited, has established a green startup project on nutritious cassava lines with the brand name “cusami”, meaning “cassava tubers”.

Stick to the needs of life

For example, two main product lines of cusami are processed from 100% fresh cassava ingredients, namely cassava rice cakes and baked cassava cakes, to serve consumers in controlling their weight and preventing some chronic diseases.

Talking about the reason for choosing to process diet products from local cassava specialty ingredients, Mr. Mai Tuan Anh said that because the diet market for obese people is very potential domestically and internationally (worth about 109 billion USD). Therefore, in the coming time, the company will cooperate with farmers in Cu Chi to develop cassava material areas according to VietGap, GlobalGap standards... to meet export standards.

Thanks to the unique processing ability, along with the market prospects, Mr. Mai Tuan Anh's team won first prize at the Final Round of the Green Startup Ideas/Project Competition - Sustainable Development (held on November 10 in Ho Chi Minh City) with the participation of 36 ideas/projects from 26 provinces and cities (including projects from indigenous resources of his hometown).

Sharing his further ambition, Mr. Mai Tuan Anh said: "Currently, we have very famous coffee, but we do not have any bakery products to eat with coffee. So our ambition is to make bakery products from cassava to eat with coffee."

It should also be mentioned that from the ideas and projects participating in this green startup competition (organized by the Association of High-Quality Vietnamese Goods Enterprises over the past 10 years), nearly 30% of the ideas have actually turned their ideas into reality, contributing to creating practical value for indigenous agricultural products in the localities.

Ms. Vu Kim Anh, Deputy Director of the Center for Business Research and Enterprise Support (BSA) under the Association of High-Quality Vietnamese Goods Enterprises, said that this is a premise for young agricultural enterprises to improve the quality of local agricultural products to stand firmer in the domestic market and export to many international markets, with high requirements on standards and quality of goods.

“They are truly on the path to becoming agricultural entrepreneurs, bringing deeply processed Vietnamese agricultural products to many places around the world,” said Ms. Vu Kim Anh.

According to economic expert Pham Chi Lan, the thinking and awareness of young agricultural entrepreneurs participating in green startups from local agricultural products are now different. It is these changes in awareness and thinking that have helped them stay closer to the needs of today’s life.

Ms. Lan said that young agricultural entrepreneurs are increasingly paying more attention to the green factor. Projects and ideas have delved into and emphasized these green factors. They take the green factor as a characteristic in the process of exploiting local agricultural products.

Building a sustainable value chain

In addition, as shared by Ms. Pham Chi Lan, agricultural businesses need to pay attention to creativity, applying new technology or new management, new ways of doing things... In addition, an important factor that is indispensable for them is the commercial and market factors.

"Because now in a fiercely competitive market, consumer habits change, if you do not understand, calculate and do the commercialization aspect of the product, then the ideas of exploiting local agricultural products, no matter how good or how good the product is, will hardly survive in the market", Ms. Lan confided.

From the perspective of an agricultural business, the business director of Da Giang ECO Cooperative (in Tien Phong commune, Da Bac district, Hoa Binh province) is developing clean foods from local agricultural products such as fish (black carp, catfish and catfish) raised along the Hoa Binh lake. Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hong emphasized that in order to meet the needs of supermarkets and restaurants across the country, the Cooperative has had a closed clean fish farming process that meets 3-star OCOP and VietGap standards.

Talking to VnBusiness, Ms. Hong said that in addition to the Cooperative's 45 cages, there are currently 75 cages of associated households, so raw materials are always available, meeting market demand. Currently, the Cooperative is producing and distributing about 10 tons of fish per month to the market thanks to the effective use of local resources.

“We have a team of engineers who closely follow and support ethnic minorities who are raising fish in Hoa Binh reservoir from the time they start to release the fish until harvest, to ensure the fish are clean according to the standards. The cooperative does not only provide clean food but also improves the lives of local people, especially ethnic minority communities, as well as builds a sustainable value chain in farming and processing,” said Ms. Hong.

Or as shared by a farmer who is dedicating his heart to processing beverage products from native cactus in Phu Yen province, Mr. Tran Bao Huy, Director of Vietnam Cactus Company Limited, that the company has been cooperating with farmers to grow and purchase Nopal cactus, helping them improve their income and exploit the land effectively. This not only helps the company create products that are good for consumers' health but also contributes to the development of the agricultural economy and environmental protection.

However, with the beverage product line such as cactus water and cactus tea of ​​Mr. Huy, some experts suggested that it is necessary to have a vision of the raw material area, as well as a marketing strategy. In addition, the company needs to pay more attention to the medicinal properties of the product, relying on scientific research to exploit the competitive advantages of the product.

It can be said that finding the "key" to elevate native agricultural products to go the long way requires farmers to do a lot of work. For example, when aiming for export, they need to build a sustainable value chain, outline a specific step-by-step plan, stabilize raw material areas, product quality, improve packaging, design, labeling, calculate preservation methods, improve more convenient products... At the same time, to enhance the brand of local agricultural products, agricultural businesses should focus on core values, based on added value, considering this a strategic approach.

Source: VnBusiness