The Netherlands, Vietnam enhance agricultural cooperation

(VEN) – Dutch Deputy Minister for Agriculture Hans Hoogeveen together with representatives of prestigious corporations and companies in the high-tech agricultural sector, such as Greenport Holland, Incotec and Fresh Studio on the occasion of the visit to Vietnam said, “The Netherlands will actively support Vietnam in selecting and growing fruit and vegetables in greenhouse, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, lettuce, eggplant and kohlrabi. In addition, the Netherlands will also help Vietnam apply advanced techniques in agricultural production in order to improve Vietnam’s fruit and vegetables.”

Dutch Deputy Minister for Agriculture Hans Hoogeveen also said that Vietnam had a diverse climate. Therefore, the cultivation of many different varieties of fruit and vegetables, especially high quality fruit-trees, such as oranges, tangerines, durians, pineapples, bananas, mango and dragon fruit would meet the demands of both domestic and foreign consumers. He also highly appreciated the efforts of Vietnam in the development of VietGAP-certified products and fruit-vegetable exports to the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

“Vietnam has implemented a number of cooperation projects with developed countries and international organizations, such as the US, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to research and develop new varieties of fruit and vegetables. However, cooperation between the Netherlands and Vietnam in the near future will help Vietnam access advanced agricultural production techniques in order to improve added value chain for Vietnamese fruit and vegetables,” Hans Hoogeveen said.

Exchanging genetic resources for use in the breeding process; supporting preservation and processing technologies; sharing regional and international market information and experiences in researching and developing fruit-trees will be major objectives of the Dutch-Vietnamese cooperation in the near future.

Southern Fruit Research Institute (SOFRI) Deputy Director Nguyen Van Hoa said that horticultural cooperation between the Netherlands and Vietnam promised bright prospects, contributing to increasing the value of Vietnamese fruit and vegetables.

“Vietnamese fruit and vegetable prices are still high, which makes them less competitive. Therefore, in the near future, Vietnam is looking forward to have specific cooperation projects in order to identify production areas in Tien Giang, Long An and Binh Thuan provinces to create high quality products in large quantity, contributing to ensuring competitive prices,” Nguyen Van Hoa said.

The Netherlands should firstly focus on cooperation projects to develop and grow dragon fruit and citrus varieties, contributing to creating a major premise for the development of different kinds of fruit trees.

Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD) Deputy Director Duong Ngoc Thi said that the Netherlands had major advantages in terms of science and technology, mechanisms and policies in agricultural development. Therefore, the Netherlands could help Vietnam reform institutions, contributing to stimulating private sector investment in the fruit and vegetable sector.

“Vietnam currently has many problems in terms of cultivated techniques and institutions. However, Vietnam has built links between smallholders, applied scientific and technological advances in production and strictly controlled food hygiene and safety. Therefore, the Netherlands can help Vietnam resolve technical problems and improve institution as well as create a new distribution system,” Duong Ngoc Thi said.

Cooperation in agricultural production between the Netherlands and Vietnam is to put scientific and technological achievements into production in order to increase productivity, quality and added value chain.

Together with advantages in terms of high-tech agriculture and business experiences in the international market (Spain and the Netherlands provide almost all the fruit and vegetables to the European market), cooperation between the Netherlands and Vietnam is expected to help Vietnam gain more experience in fruit and vegetable production and export, effectively contributing to restructuring the agricultural sector and diversifying Vietnamese agricultural products./.

By Tien Dung

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