Saigon Co.op signs deal to spur farm produce quality

The country’s leading retailer Saigon Co.op signed an agreement with the Food and Agricultural Products Quality Development and Control Project on Monday to control the quality of agricultural products supplied to consumers.

Under the deal, Saigon Co.op will apply Good Production Practices to improve the quality of agricultural products based on the overall approach throughout the whole value chain ‘from farm to table’.

With 50 Co.opMart, 17 Co.op Food and 90 Co.op stores, Saigon Co.op is the first retailer in Vietnam selected to join the project’s activities.

Under the deal, the Project, which is supported by the Canadian International Development Agency, will help Saigon Co.op improve its current fruit and vegetable handling and packaging process from buying to distributing.

Particularly, the Project will provide Saigon Co.op with technical advice for fruit and vegetable handling and packing and equipment/storage facilities and packaging materials.

It will provide the training of stakeholders on preliminary handling and packaging for the retailer using the training tools developed in the Project and adapt it if necessary. The Project will also offer opportunities for selected key employees of Saigon Co.op to participate in exchange programmes on technical topics and marketability.

Meanwhile, Saigon Co.op will support the Project to sell and promote their products at the retailer’s stores including Co.opMart and Co.op Food.

The Project has implemented 13 pilot projects in many cities and provinces for four commodities: vegetables, fruits, pork and poultry. Some of the pilot projects of safe vegetables such as Phuoc An Cooperative and Joint Group Tan Trung in HCM City, Phong Thuy Farm and Anh Dao Cooperative in Lam Dong Province, and Hoa Loc Mango Cooperative in Tien Giang Province are having their products sold at the retailer’s stores.

Under this agreement, which will come into force until March next year, more opportunities will be created for safe produces of those pilot projects to reach the consumers, according to the two partners.

CEO of the retailer Nguyen Thi Hanh said the demand for safe vegetables at Co.opMart and Co.op Food stores was 300-400 tonnes per day.

“The cooperation agreement between the two partners will help improve the preliminary handling, packaging and storage for our current fresh fruits and vegetables based on Good Production Practices, which will result in high and safe quality products to our consumers,” Hanh said.

Nguyen Nhu Tiep, general director of National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department cum director of the Project, said the Project decided to choose Saigon Co.op as the first distributor in the country to join the project because of its nation-wide retail outlets and its strong commitments in controlling and distributing safe quality products to consumers.

The ultimate goal of the Project is to improve the quality, safety and marketability of agricultural food products in Vietnam. The overall approach to that end is to support the application of Good Production Practices throughout the whole value chain “from farm to table” and innovative marketability measures. – Saigon times

Tags: Saigon Co.op