End of the crop season, shortcomings in managing durian growing area codes revealed

There are no specific regulations on the use of growing area codes.

Statistics from the Department of Agriculture of Dak Lak province - the locality with the largest durian growing area in the country with an area of over 22,500 hectares, of which the harvested area is about 11,000 hectares. Up to now, only 49 durian growing areas of the province have been granted codes by the General Administration of Customs of China, with a total area of nearly 2,200 hectares and an output of about 45,200 tons.

In the 2023 harvest, the use of codes will be carried out in the form of the growing area representative directly using the code to export the product. Or the growing area representative authorizes another enterprise to use the growing area code if selling durian products from the growing area to another enterprise.

Recently, there have been cases of fraud and impersonation in the use of growing area codes in the province, which have been promptly detected and prevented by competent authorities.

Durian is still providing farmers with a stable source of profit. Photo: Bao Trung — Durian is providing farmers with a stable source of profit. Photo: Bao Trung

A representative of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Lak province commented: The local durian production area is still small and does not have a large raw material area. Farmers' technical level is still lacking and weak in terms of professional commodity production thinking according to the regulations of the importing country.

The connection between representatives of growing areas or exporting units with people is not really public, transparent, clear, and sustainable. Some households in growing areas do not have a high consensus throughout the entire process of issuing codes, from the stage of establishing records to when the growing area is approved for a code, and finally, maintaining the code after approval. This is one of the most difficult things in establishing and managing growing area codes.

In addition, the system of documents is incomplete, there are no specific regulations on the use of growing area codes or sanctions for violations... making management even more difficult.

There needs to be an appropriate management mechanism soon.

According to the leader of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Lak province: What needs to be done now is to reorganize production in the direction of focusing on specialized cultivation to meet the requirements of import customers and the raw material needs of processing factories.

Localities have increased inspection and supervision of businesses purchasing and consuming exported fruits and production households in growing areas that have been granted codes regarding compliance with measures such as pest management, fertilizer and pesticide use.

The province must organize well the actual production chain from growing areas to packaging facilities to processing facilities to export enterprises to create products that meet standards, comply with the regulations of importing countries and ensure the rights of participating parties.

The leader of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Lak province added: "At the end of the 2023 crop season, the locality needs to promptly implement the maintenance of growing areas that have been assigned codes according to the requirements of the importing country. Synchronously apply information technology and digital transformation to manage growing areas and packaging facilities to increase transparency, responsibility and efficiency.

Review previously granted growing areas, resolutely handle violations of the law in commercial fraud and misuse of growing areas.

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