Farmers fail to fill ‘GAP’

Farmers in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta who took to GAP (good agricultural practices) with great enthusiasm about three years ago are now disillusioned with it.

While GAP produce was aimed at expanding export markets for Vietnamese fruit, any decline in exports badly affects farmers who have to sell their output in the domestic market.

Farmers growing the Nam Roi pomelo in Vinh Long Province’s My Hoa Commune have no cause for cheer after achieving a bumper crop through application of GAP because they are unable to get prices higher than for normal fruit.

Tran Van Sang, head of the Nam Roi My Hoa Pomelo Cooperative, said: “We assume full responsibility for consuming all GAP Nam Roi pomelos from members at VND1,000 per kilo higher than normal fruits.”

But Ba Nhi, a farmer in My Hoa complained: “When authorities campaigned for farmers to apply GAP in their production, they promised profits much higher than planting using the traditional method.”

“Now the price difference is only VND1,000. That is not enough to pay for the strict production process of GAP,” he said.

Huynh Hong Ung, head of the Cho Gao Dragon Fruit Cooperative in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Tien Giang, said they grow white-flesh dragon fruit on 2,000ha with an annual output of 800,000-100,000 tonnes.

The target was for 80 per cent of the output to be exported, and the rest to be sold in the domestic market, Ung said, adding this had not been achieved so far.

During the last season, the price of white-flesh dragon fruit dropped from VND10,000 to VND6,000, and even to VND4,000. There were times the price was as low as VND700-800 per kilo, he told the Nguoi Lao Dong (The Labourer) newspaper.

“Farmers are suffering losses even after applying GAP,” Ung stressed.

Many farmers at the Lo Ren Star Apple Co-operative in Tien Giang Province’s Vinh Kim District have said that if the cooperative does not assume full responsibility for selling all the GAP Lo Ren star apples, no farmer will dare apply the standards again.

Three years after they began applying GAP, they are still struggling to find outlets for their produce.

“The co-operative promised to buy Lo Ren star apples at prices 10-20 per cent higher (than normally grown fruit). But they only buy it in small quantities now and then,” one farmer said.

The head of the Lo Ren Star Apple Co-operative, Nguyen Van Ngan, said the fruit was grown on 3,000ha with an annual output of 300,000 tonnes.

Of this GAP fruit were grown on 55ha with an average annual output of 500 tonnes, he added.

However, prices for the Lo Ren star apple fluctuated strongly over time, Ngan conceded.

The early star apple could be sold at VND105,000 per kilo, but the price will drop to around VND20,000 during the crop’s peak season. At times, traders even buy the fruit for VND17,000.

Ngan said the price of GAP Lo Ren star apple was higher than normally grown fruit by VND13,000 per kilo last year. But the cooperative exported only five tonnes of the total output of 500 tonnes because they had not been granted the GAP certificate.

“So far this year, we have exported 10 tonnes of Lo Ren star apple. We have orders from England and Canada. I believe this year we will sell all star apples produced by farmers,” Ngan said.

Consumption channels

Ung said that when GAP was first introduced, farmers responded with orders, interest and enthusiasm.

The first benefit of applying GAP was making the farmer more aware of environmental and health protection concerns, Ung said.

“GAP is useful in the long-term for preventing soil exhaustion as well as air and soil pollution. But it is unfair for the farmer at this time.”

He also pointed out that there were no mechanisms in place to prevent non-GAP fruit being sold as GAP fruit.

“The state should ensure specific consumption channels for GAP agricultural products to help farmers surmount immediate difficulties and prevent them from rejecting GAP,” Ung said. – Vietnam News

Tags: good agricultural practices, Vietnam agriculture