At the forum “Connecting production and trade of Northwest agro-forestry products,” the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment noted that the region holds significant potential for robust development in commercial agriculture.

Currently, the Northwest has over 120,000 hectares of fruit trees and long-term industrial crops such as mango, longan, plum, coffee, and tea, with a total output exceeding 600,000 tons annually, significantly contributing to the overall export value.

According to Le Quoc Doanh, Chair of the Vietnam Horticultural Association, the Northwest’s agricultural export value in 2024 reached approximately $245 million. This is a promising figure but falls short of the region’s potential.

Numerous “bottlenecks” are hindering this “gold mine” from securing a place on the global map.

One key reason is the small-scale production that lacks a synchronized value chain. The rate of deep processing is low, product packaging is not standardized, and the linkage between businesses and farmers remains weak.

Nguyen Thanh Cong, Vice Chair of Son La Province’s People’s Committee, highlighted that preservation and logistics capabilities are the biggest bottlenecks. 

He cited an example of longan exports to the Netherlands: “The shipment took 24 days, resulting in a 32 percent quality decline, while longans from Thailand retained near-original quality after 40 days due to advanced cold storage technology.”

Similar issues affect strawberries, plums, and other crops. In many harvests, thousands of tons of fruit face price drops or spoilage due to a lack of timely pre-processing and cooling within eight hours post-harvest. This is a primary reason why Northwest agricultural products struggle to compete despite their comparable quality.

Nguyen Lan Hung, General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Biological Sciences, said that every hectare of mountainous land must generate a minimum income of VND100 million/year. 

“This is not a far-fetched expectation if we re-plan production, and increase investment in processing, preservation, logistics infrastructure and innovate farming thinking,” he said.

Besides fruit crops, the Northwest has a “heaven-sent” resource in medicinal herbs that has yet to be fully tapped.

He compared Vietnam to Singapore, a country without native medicinal resources yet a global leader in pharmaceutical processing and export. Vietnam has abundant resources but has not fully converted them into tangible value.

The global medicinal herb market is projected to reach $430 billion by 2028, while Vietnam currently meets only about 25 percent of domestic demand and primarily exports raw materials.

To enhance value, systematic investments in cultivation technology, processing, and building a national brand for indigenous ginseng, such as Lai Chau ginseng, are essential.

Lai Chau is actively collaborating with international partners, including Japan and South Korea, to develop processing technology and boost exports. 

However, Vietnamese ginseng is not yet recognized in Japan’s official list, so the province is initially focusing on processing it into functional foods to penetrate this market, with the long-term goal of including LaiChau ginseng in Japan’s official raw material list.

Controlling raw materials

Nguyen Quoc Manh, Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment), stressed the need for enhanced regional cooperation among Northwest provinces to establish large-scale raw material zones, identify key crops, and protect forests while avoiding industrial crop expansion that leads to deforestation.

He also urged localities to promote VietGAP standards, water-saving irrigation technologies, area coding, and deep-processing procedure standardization.

The state should lead in policy and planning, while scientists provide technical solutions, businesses facilitate market connections, and farmers remain at the core of modern agricultural production.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Thanh Nam said building standardized raw material zones is the core factor determining Vietnam’s participation in global supply chains. 

For example, Son La has successfully developed 50,000 hectares of pineapple and passion fruit raw material zones that meet standards in seeds, infrastructure, and cultivation processes. Whoever controls raw material zones will master the agricultural value chain.

Additionally, Northwestern provinces need to focus on building value chains and strengthening production linkages. Leveraging each province’s strengths, local leaders should encourage businesses and farmers to collaborate in closed production chains, ensuring standards from input to output, rather than relying solely on simple purchase contracts.

Alongside reorganizing production and applying science and technology, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment’s leadership also proposed enhancing deep processing and post-harvest preservation capabilities. 

Regulatory agencies and cooperatives must continue partnering with large enterprises to establish pre-processing, packaging, and cold storage systems at cooperatives, production groups, and collection agents to ensure product quality meets market demands.

Vu Diep