Dak Nong avocado gets New Zealand support for exports

Dak Nong’s avocado industry is getting the support it needs through a three-year technical assistance project between these parties, which has been signed on July 20, 2018. This comes as part of the co-investment funding model that aims to create a solid foundation for and improving the productivity and quality of Dak Nong’s fresh and processed high-value avocados, including Hass avocado.

The new model is being delivered as part of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between New Zealand G2G Partnerships Office, Plant and Food Research, SAM Agritech, and the Dak Nong People’s Committee during Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to New Zealand in March 2018.

Vietnam has a diversity of avocado varieties flowing through the market from different sources, but most of them are non-standard and mainly West Indian “green-skin” types.

Such local varieties are great for domestic and regional exports, but the potential for local varieties for high-value international markets is low, given the fact that Hass avocado is the most popular and accounts for 80 per cent of the global avocado consumption.

Dak Nong's avocado exports will be boosted through this three-year technical assistance project

New Zealand consul general to Vietnam Karlene Davis shared: “Similar to Vietnam, the agriculture and food sectors are crucial to New Zealand’s economy. More than 80 per cent of New Zealand’s total agricultural production is now exported.”

“In 2017, New Zealand exported $155.5 million of avocados into international markets, such as Australia, Japan, Singapore, Korea, and Thailand—with the previous highest export value being $103 million in 2014, according to 2017 data from the Ministry for Primary Industries.”

To get to this point, New Zealand invested heavily in food safety and quality control, productivity, and distribution. As a result, we have developed world-leading expertise, which we believe will be relevant as Dak Nong grows its own avocado value chain.”

Plant and Food Research, a New Zealand-based science company that provide research and development services, meanwhile, has deep expertise and offers innovative solutions in high-tech agriculture, which, combined with SAM Agritech’s knowledge of the local market, will increase demand from the domestic and export markets for quality avocado, fresh fruit, and avocado added-value products, such as avocado oil.

Dak Nong Hass avocados are in high demand

“There will be huge opportunities for Dak Nong’s avocado sector as a result of this innovative partnership. This is the first time New Zealand and Vietnam have signed such a co-investment funding model,” said Dr Emmet McElhatton, commercial manager of New Zealand G2G Partnerships Office.

“As a Dak Nong-based company specialised in sustainable agricultural projects, SAM Agritech has made considerable investments in the local avocado value chain. This partnership is an important milestone, enabling SAM Agritech to scale up our investment and to earmark our resources for long-term investment in developing the avocado industry of Dak Nong,” noted Nguyen Thu Hoai, chairwoman of Sam Agritech.

Dak Nong is one of the largest avocado producers in the country, with an area of around 2,600ha, or one-fifth of its total fruit growing area. The average annual yield of avocado in the province is 10-15 tonnes per hectare.

Given its health benefits and popularity, avocados have been fetching a relatively high price in the local market in recent years. A hectare of avocado plantation can yield around VND300-500 million ($13,333-22,222) a year.