Agricultural fairs display safe attitude

The fairs are a way for companies to eventually access new markets, photo Le Toan

The Hanoi Promotion Agency (HPA) along with Japan’s AEON Group and Safe Crop Project are working to develop solutions that can support businesses to produce and bring safe agricultural products to approach AEON’s distribution system in Vietnam, while expanding the potential for export to Japan and other markets.

On November 5-9, nearly 100 booths representing various provinces and cities introduced thousands of agricultural products at the Hanoi Agriculture Fair 2020 at AEON Mall Long Bien. The HPA’s agriculture manager Nguyen Ba Bang said that all items on display at the fair were organic, high-tech, and safe agricultural products, and included regional specialties of Hanoi and other regions with quality and origin assurance.

Not only do they want to promote their products to consumers in Hanoi, businesses and production facilities also want to get deeper access to the modern distribution system of AEON Group Vietnam.

This is the second Hanoi Agriculture Fair after the success of its first programme, reaching revenues of more than VND6 billion ($260,000). Many businesses said that they found distribution agents directly at the fair. Nguyen Van Chu, director of Organic Green Clean Food Co., Ltd. in Hanoi’s Thuong Tin district, said that through trade promotional fairs, exhibitions, and other events to connect trade, the amount of goods consumed by the company has increased significantly, especially on the e-commerce channel.

To contribute to promoting and enhancing connection, as well as consuming safe agricultural products, the HPA website has become an online hub to introduce production, processing, and trading of agricultural products with food safety eligibility. Thanks to the modern features of e-commerce, the website has attracted around 1,000 businesses and cooperatives in 18 provinces and cities in the north of Vietnam to provide information and connect enterprises.

HPA deputy director Nguyen Thi Mai Anh said, “With synchronous solutions from production to consumption, we want to support businesses and agricultural production establishments to gradually change production methods and grow cultivation towards better safety, quality, scale, and methods. At the same time, we would like to create opportunities to access and improve skills in the promotion and connection of product consumption through a modern retail system.”

According to Mai Anh, the fair has been organised to implement a cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Hanoi People’s Committee, and AEON Group Japan. The parties agreed to aim for Vietnam’s export turnover through AEON’s system to reach $1 billion by 2025.

After the success of the AEON Mall Long Bien fair, next on the list for the Hanoi Agriculture Fair is an event at AEON Mall Hadong on November 19-23.

Along with the fair programme, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the HPA has cooperated with the Japan International Cooperation Agency to implement the Safe Crop Project to enhance reliability in the field of safe crop production in the north. Farmers participating in the project not only receive support in terms of technology but are also consulted to change their farming mindset. After three years of implementation, about 800 farming households have participated in learning how to make safe agricultural products, control pesticide residues and new farming methods, reduce the adverse effects of weather, and improve soil through selecting new varieties with higher yields.

A representative of the MARD’s Department of Crop Production said that since its implementation in mid-2016, the safe production area supported by the project has increased from around 50 hectares in the winter of 2017-2018 to more than 180ha for the winter crop of 2020-2021.

According to Japanese experts, the application of advanced farming techniques and new tech, as well as long-term plans in production, are the solutions for sustainable and eco-friendly agricultural development. In addition, the supportive policies for agricultural growers will help them promote their strengths and feel secure in production, which leads them to produce safe agricultural products of a higher quality to place into the large distribution system.