Nguyen Quy Duong, Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment - MAE), said food safety management is currently assigned to three ministries: Health, Industry and Trade, and MAE.

In the crop production sector, the production stage is the most critical in ensuring food safety. Vietnam has about 10 million farming households, with 1.15 million hectares of vegetables and 1.3 million hectares of fruit trees. This supply serves not only domestic consumption but also exports, making product quality a key concern for both local consumers and international markets.

At the seminar “Addressing the Issue of ‘Unsafe Vegetables’ in Schools and Supermarkets” held on September 24, Ta Van Tuong, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Environment, noted that demand for vegetables in Hanoi has reached 1.3 million tons annually. 

However, the city’s vegetable cultivation area spans only 33,000 hectares, producing about 735,000 tons per year, meeting 60 percent of consumer demand.

Hanoi prioritized the development of safe vegetable production areas early on, but the VietGAP-certified vegetable area currently stands at just 400 hectares.

Regarding VietGAP vegetable production, Nguyen Tuan Hong from the Bac Hong Safe Vegetable Production and Consumption Cooperative (Hanoi) said the cooperative, established in 2002 with 60 members, currently has only 5 hectares of VietGAP-certified vegetables.

According to Hong, the cost of VietGAP vegetable production is high due to expenses for land leasing and labor. Investments in greenhouse systems can reach billions of VND, yet production yields little profit. With 30 hectares of safe vegetables, challenges remain significant. Farmers are reluctant to keep production logs, so the cooperative has formed groups of 10 households to cross-monitor compliance.

Market access is even more challenging, as products must go through intermediaries, resulting in low profits for the cooperative.

In 2008, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, now MAE, issued regulations and encouraged production under VietGAP standards.

However, according to a five-year survey published in 2024, the total VietGAP-certified growing area is only 150,000 hectares for six crop groups. Of this, vegetables account for over 8,000 hectares out of 1.15 million hectares, meaning less than 1 percent are VietGAP-certified.

Even when including other certificates like GlobalGAP, the certified vegetable area is 8,400 hectares only. Duong acknowledged that this is a modest figure compared to the scale of production and current consumption demand. Notably, vegetables, a daily staple for consumers, have an extremely low rate of production in accordance with standards.

Beyond VietGAP, there is also a safety commitment signed directly by farmers, but it remains small-scale and fragmented, failing to bring fundamental changes to safe vegetable and fruit production.

Given this situation, Nguyen Van Muoi, deputy general secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, warned that stronger measures are needed to control goods circulating in the market, especially vegetables.

Consumers are most concerned about chemical residues, so plant protection agencies need to take greater responsibility. Plant protection products must be managed by prescription, not sold freely. Depending on the type of chemical, the isolation period can range from weeks to months. If producers lack awareness, consumers will suffer.

Regarding the market, Muoi noted that traditional markets and supermarket systems can be managed, while small retail shops are difficult to control. Therefore, centralized sales points should be developed to facilitate management and reduce risks for consumers. Unregulated sales on sidewalks and streets must be limited. Retail activities need stricter regulations and greater attention.

Production facilities must also meet standards before their products reach the market. A single farmer can supply tens or even hundreds of tons of vegetables annually, yet there are still no adequate safety management measures. This is a critical loophole that needs to be addressed, Muoi emphasized.

Nguyen Quy Duong noted that small-scale production is a reality in Vietnam that is difficult to change in the short term. Therefore, a key solution is to encourage farmers to join groups or cooperatives to build shared brands, linked to planting area codes, packaging, and traceability. Products can be sold in traditional markets, supermarkets, or modern retail channels, but quality and producer responsibility must be ensured.

To achieve this, a combination of synchronized measures is needed, including robust monitoring mechanisms, strong sanctions, production-consumption linkages, and enhanced communication to change the awareness of both producers and consumers.

Tam An