Less than 1% of vegetables meet VietGAP standards: What standard of vegetables are Vietnamese eating?

(Dan Tri) - Of the 1.15 million hectares of vegetable cultivation, only 8,000 hectares have achieved VietGAP certification. This reality raises big questions about the quality of vegetables that Vietnamese people consume every day.

Recently, the Director of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection - Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MARD) announced that the total area of ​​VietGAP-certified vegetables in Vietnam has only reached more than 8,000 hectares out of a total of 1.15 million hectares, or less than 1%.

This information immediately attracted public attention, and many people were even confused because if the area of ​​VietGAP vegetables is so low, what standard of vegetables are Vietnamese people eating, and are they safe?

Too few VietGAP vegetables, risky for users

At the recently held seminar "Improving the quality and safety of domestic agricultural products", Mr. Nguyen Quy Duong, Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, said that VietGAP is a standard for good agricultural production practices in Vietnam issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (now the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) since 2008.

This standard aims to ensure safety, improve product quality, protect the health of producers and consumers, the environment, and at the same time have the ability to trace the origin of products.

VietGAP vegetable area is less than 1% of the total vegetable growing area in Vietnam, causing confusion among many consumers (Photo: HUAN TRAN)

However, for a long time, the production area according to VietGAP standards has remained very small. Specifically, the total area certified by VietGAP has only reached about 150,000 hectares for 6 groups of crops. Of which, the vegetable area is only over 8,000 hectares. If other certifications, including GlobalGAP, are included, the total vegetable growing area is only over 8,400 hectares. "This is a very modest number compared to the current production scale and consumption demand," said Mr. Duong.

Mr. Nguyen Quy Duong explained that the main reason for low production of vegetables and other crops according to VietGAP standards is that the production costs according to these standards are high, and farmers are reluctant to participate.

Mr. Tran Van Thich - Director of Phuoc An Agricultural , Production - Trade - Service Cooperative (HCMC), with 62 members and over 30 hectares of safe vegetables according to VietGAP standards, said that producing VietGAP vegetables is not difficult but quite strict, requiring farmers to strictly follow the process and techniques.

Therefore, in the HCMC area, only a small amount of vegetables are grown due to the support and consultation centers to control the quality. In the Western region, vegetables are grown en masse, so it is difficult to get support to evaluate according to VietGAP standards.

Need policies to support clean vegetable growers

The director of a food business in Ho Chi Minh City said that although the area of ​​VietGAP vegetables is less than 1% of the total vegetable area in general, it cannot be affirmed that the majority of Vietnamese people eat unsafe vegetables. Because in addition to VietGAP standards, there are also vegetable growing areas according to higher standards such as Global GAP, organic standards, or PGS standards for small producers.

"However, VietGAP can be considered the minimum standard for clean vegetables, and less than 1% of the area meets it, so higher standards are much less. Therefore, it cannot be confirmed that vegetables without standards are unsafe, but it can be said that the majority of vegetables sold on the market pose a risk to food safety due to the lack of control processes," he said.

Mr. Lam Ngoc Tuan (in blue shirt) - Director of Tuan Ngoc Agricultural Cooperative - leads visitors to visit the hydroponic vegetable farm (Photo: HUAN TRAN)

Mr. Lam Ngoc Tuan - Director of Tuan Ngoc Agricultural Cooperative, with 7 members growing large-scale automated hydroponic vegetables in Ho Chi Minh City, said that the current amount of vegetables supplied by the Cooperative to the market is about 500-600kg/day, because the scale of the Cooperative is shrinking.

According to Mr. Tuan, the reality is that many vegetable producers do not meet the requirements to obtain VietGAP certification, although obtaining this certification is not difficult. In fact, VietGAP quality is only the minimum standard.

However, to achieve VietGAP quality, farmers and cooperatives must strictly follow the cultivation process including periodic spraying, isolation, packaging and preservation to ensure that the product is not contaminated with microorganisms or heavy metals. Therefore, the cost of producing VietGAP vegetables is higher than that of regular vegetables.

“In reality, consumers choose to buy vegetables at low prices, so VietGAP vegetables have difficulty competing. We must step up propaganda, convince people to understand better and have a way to compare the quality of VietGAP with other vegetables,” Mr. Tuan suggested.

Proposal to establish Vietnam Food Safety Authority

According to Dr. Nguyen Thi Hong Minh, President of the AFT Association for Transparent Food, the low area of ​​VietGAP vegetables is mainly due to the high cost of production according to this standard, making farmers reluctant to participate; along with many other obstacles such as traditional farming practices that are difficult to change, the VietGAP process requires high techniques and management, while the economic efficiency for farmers is unclear, especially the output for standard products is not commensurate with the effort put in.

In addition, the domestic market is still confusing between clean vegetables and vegetables of unknown origin, reducing trust and motivation to expand VietGAP acreage. Despite incentive policies since 2008, the VietGAP production area is still very limited compared to consumption demand.

In addition, food safety management in Vietnam is divided among three ministries: Health, Agriculture and Environment, and Industry and Trade. Each ministry applies a different approach, lacking coordination, causing confusion for localities and inconvenience for businesses.

The three areas closely related to food safety, namely food, veterinary medicine, and plant protection, are under three different departments, leading to overlap and cumbersome procedures. In addition, the ministries also hold the functions of issuing policies, implementing them, and inspecting them, which is both ineffective and potentially corrupt.

Dr. Minh proposed establishing the Vietnam Food Safety Agency as a unified focal point, integrating food safety management, veterinary and plant protection. This agency operates from the central to provincial, commune and ward levels, ensuring supervision at the root level.

At the same time, she proposed separating the functions of policy making, enforcement and certification; promoting public-private partnership in certification and testing; applying digital technology and information transparency. In addition, developing the PGS model for small-scale farmers and encouraging industry associations to self-manage quality.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/chua-toi-1-rau-dat-vietgap-nguoi-viet-dang-an-rau-chuan-gi-20250929133428695.htm