OVERVIEW OF FRUIT PRODUCTION, MARKETING,

AND RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM IN VIETNAM

Nguyen Quoc Hung

Fruit and Vegetable Research Institute (FAVRI)
Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VAAS)
Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)
TrauQuy – Gia Lam – Hanoi – Vietnam

Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a general overview of the fruit industry of Vietnam, focusing on its production, marketing
and research and development system. It also addresses the policies related to the fruit industry and discusses
the roles of various government institutes that are involved in the country's fruit research and development.
Of the 27 identified tropical fruit in the country, this paper focuses on the top eight fruit namely: banana,
pineapple, citrus, mango, rambutan, dragon fruit, longan and lychee. Lastly, the paper also discusses the
challenges and prospects of the fruit industry in Vietnam.

Keywords: Tropical fruit, Vietnam, fruit trade, national fruit policy

INTRODUCTION

Agriculture's development in general, and horticulture in particular must target sustainable development in
which the yield stays relatively high, household income increases, and the environment and health of farmers
and consumers remain unharmed.
Fruit production is a sector with great potential for further development. It brings economic benefits
which is many times higher compared to the production of staple crops. Taking full advantages of the sector
to enhance household incomes and promote the sustainable development is the direction that has been set by
the government. In the decision number 899/QD-TTg, the Prime Minister specified that fruit crops are one of
the main targets for the restructuring of agriculture in Vietnam.
Thanks to the diversified ecology, there are more than 30 different kinds of fruit crops in Vietnam, of
which 27 kinds are of commercial value. They include subtropical and temperate fruit (mostly produced in
the North) and tropical fruit (along the country and mostly in the South). Many of those are of high demand
in the domestic market; many have high potentials in the export market.

OBJECTIVES

The general objective of the study is to present an overview of the fruit production and R&D system in
Vietnam: The specific objectives of this study include: 1) Present an overview of the fruit sector in Vietnam;
2) Discuss the fruit R&D system in Vietnam; and 3) Address the policies on and institution of fruit research
and development in Vietnam.

METHODOLOGY

Data sources

The primary source of data were collected from the state’s agencies and organizations which are responsible
for collecting statistical data and implementing R&D activities.

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 Beside what have been listed in the REFERENCES section as the data source, the other information
come from Southern Horticultural Research Institute (SOFRI) and Agro-forestry Processing and Salt Industry
Department.

Data collection

This report covers together the general fruit situation and production of the top eight fruit in Vietnam. The top
eight fruit are selected based on the direction of the government and their prevalence in practice.
In its decision number 1648/QĐ-BNN-TT dated July 17th, 2013, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development identified 11 major fruit crops for agricultural development and restructuring. Among those,
the top eight fruit that are popularly widely produced in large areas, and bring about high profit and/or high
export potential include1) banana; 2) pineapple; 3) citrus; 4) mango; 5) dragon fruit; 6) longan; 7) lychee; and
8) rambutan.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Overview of fruit production in Vietnam

Fruit production

From 2008 to 2013 there were slight changes in the production area of fruit crops. Table 1 shows the fruit
production from 2008-2013, varing between 765 and 780 thousand hectares. The variation in cultivation area
was mostly because of the restructuring.

Table 1. Fruit production in Vietnam (2008-2013)

Value of fruit production, in contrast, has remarkably changed, with the gradual increase from 2008
to 2013. The fruit production value rose from 24.1 thousand billion VND in 2008 to 28.1 thousand billion
VND in 2013 (Fig. 1), increasing by 11.5% during the period. Despite the slight change in cultivation area,
production value of fruit crop made significant movement, suggesting a raise in the fruit yield and price.

Fig. 1. Production value

of fruit crops (2008-
2013)
Source: General Statistics
Office

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 Fruit production is an important sector in Vietnam in both the domestic and export markets. However,
its contribution to domestic agriculture is relatively small, at approximately 6.3-6.5% of the total agricultural
production value.

Area of fruit farms and number of fruit growers

With regards to land area, agricultural land in Vietnam is generally small and scattered. According to the
General Statistics Office, more than half of perennial crop farms, including those of fruit crops in Vietnam
are smaller than 0.2 hectares, occuping 62.9% and 59.5% of farm households in 2006 and 2011, respectively
(Table 2), and farm size from 0.2 to 0.5 hectares accounted for 17.1% in 2011; from 0.5-2.0 hectares for
18.4%; and the remainders of 2.0 hectares for 5.0%. Primarily, the land area as well as the size of farms
for perennial crops in general and for fruit crops in particular slightly changed during the period from 2006
to 2011. Total number of perennial crop production in 2011 was 5,100 households, decreasing by 4.2% in
comparison with 5,122 households in 2006.

Table 2. Land use for cultivation of perennial crops* (2006-2011)

Fruit export

According to the General Statistics Office, Vietnam‘s fruit and vegetable commodities have been exported
to more than 50 nations and territories. Among those, China is the largest import country of Vietnam’s fruit
and vegetables, accounting for approximately 30% of the national export value; followed by Japan, the USA,
Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, and other Asian countries.
Fig. 2 shows an increase in the value of international trading, especially to the export value which reveals
a threefold increase from 406.5 in 2008 to US$1,403,700 in 2014. The advance in vegetable export value
has been gradually increasing since 2011 and the following years thereafter reaching over US$1 billion in
2014 with the growth of over US$300 million USD in comparison to 2013. China is the major destination of
exported fruit and vegtetables (Table 3). The movement in export value is not pure chance. It resulted from
the great efforts of various stakeholders in the public and private sectors to improve the quality and safety of
agricultural commodities, to increase production effectiveness, and to enhance international market linkages.

Fruit imports

According to Fig. 2, import value of fruit and vegetables has also shown a twofold increase from 2008 to
2014.
China is not only the top import country of fruit and vegetables in Vietnam its agricultural commodities
generally and fruit commodities particularly also dominate the market in Vietnam that accounts for more than
30% of annual import value of fruit and vegetables in the country (Table 4). Fruit and vegetables from China
may enter Vietnam through direct import and mostly border trade. There are various reasons that make this
neighbor country the leading fruit and vegetables exporter to Vietnam. These include sharing of borders, low
prices and simple terms of payment, among others.

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 Fig. 2. Export and import value of fruit and vegetables (2008-2014)
Source: General Statistics Office, 2014

Table 3. Export destinations of fruit and vegetables (2014)

Table 4. Import value of fruit and vegetables in Vietnam (2009-2014)

Nonetheless, a large part of Vietnamese consumers have recently tended to favor commodities from
Thailand, Malaysia, and Myanmar since requirements for quality and safety become one of the most crucial
concerns besides prices. In the first seven months of 2014, the import value of fruit and vegetables from
Thailand to Vietnam was higher than that of China, taking the first position at the time. However, amount of
fruit and vegetables imported from China was actually greater than that from Thailand because the price of
the Chinese commodities were much less expensive.

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 Vegetables and fruit, especially, from EU countries, Australia, and the USA are also favorite imported
commodities to consumers in Vietnam. In general, the price of fruit from those countries is more expensive
than the domestic and fruit from Asian nations, but their quantity has recently shown an increasing trend.
Major imported fruit include tropical fruit, sub-tropical and temperate fruit, such as jackfruit, mangosteen,
mango, orange, mandarin, longan from Thailand and other Asian countries; apple, plum, peach, grapes,
cherries and olive from Australia, EU and the USA.

Fruit processing

Due to access difficulties and limited application of advanced technologies, proportion of preserved and
processing fruit products is small in terms of both domestic consumption and exports. As estimated by the
Agro-forestry Processing and Salt Industry Department, 90% of fruit and vegetables in Vietnam is for fresh
use; only 10% is used for processing and exports, half of which are canned products. For instance, it is
claimed that loss of lychee during processing – which is only 10% of total production - is 25-30% due to lack
of appropriate technologies and necessary infrastructure. A small amount of banana, longan and lychee is
dried for longer preservation, but their taste and flavor are usually reduced or lost.
Until now, there are about 100 establishments of fruit and vegetable processing that are at industrial
scales with a total capacity of 300,000 tons per year. Number of small-scale processing establishments can
reach to thousands, including drying longan, lychee, banana, etc. Nonetheless, supply of raw materials for
processing is usually lower than demand, which only meets 30% of needs. The main processing products are
canned fruit, frozen fruit, concentrated puree, salted or dried or fried products.
A large part of processing fruit is for export. Nonetheless, the average export value of preserved and
processed fruit in the recent years varied around US$80,000-US$100,000 (Table 5), which was relatively
small to the value of fruit export. This is an understandable result since the application of postharvest
technologies in Vietnam is limited in terms of both quality and scale.

Table 5. Export value of fruit preserved and preparations*(2008-2012)

Domestic fruit consumption

In general, consumption of fruit per capita in Vietnam is 0.9 kg (Table 6) in a month which translates to
about 10.8 kg/person/year. The value has slightly changed during the last 10 years, from 0.8 to 1.0 kg/person/
month. In addition, there is a gap in fruit consumption per capita between the urban and rural areas. Plainly,
the fruit consumption in urban areas - in which annual income is basically higher - is greater than in rural
areas. According to the data of the General Statistics Office, the population in urban areas consume 1.5 times
as much fruit as those in rural areas.
Fruit consumption also varies among different geographical regions where levels of economic
development and living habits, including dietary patterns, are different. Fig. 3 suggests that the Southeast and
Mekong River Delta are the regions that have the highest consumption of fresh fruit, followed by the Red
River Delta and Northeast.
The result can be clearly explained since those regions are the main fruit production areas and their
populations earn higher income than the others. In 2012, fruit consumption in the five regions of Red River
Delta, Northeast, South Central Coast, Southeast and Mekong River Delta reached the same value of 1.0 kg/

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 Table 6. Fruit consumption per capita (2002-2012)
kg/person/month

Fig. 3. Fruit consumption by geographical regions

Source: General Statistics Office

person/month, which translates to 12 kg/person/year. Among the regions, people in the North Central Coast
consumed the smallest fruit amount with the most recent data available was 0.7 kg/person/month, which
results in 8.4 kg/person/year (2012).

TOP EIGHT FRUIT

The following provides a brief introduction about the recent top eight fruit in Vietnam.

Banana (Musa sp.) can be found everywhere in Vietnam, from the North to the South. Each concentrated
production area has typical banana varieties that are specific to that locality. The most popular cultivars in
Vietnam are Chuoi Tieu, ChuoiTay, ChuoiNgu, ChuoiCau.

Pineapple (Ananas comosus) can also be grown along the country, but 90% of the production concentrate in
the South. "Queen" and "Cayen" are the major groups in Vietnam. Pineapple is one of the main export fruit
of Vietnam.

Citrus including mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) and orange (Citrus sinensis), grow well both in the
North and the South. Concentrated production is mainly found in highland areas. The most popular cultivars

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are Cam XaDoai, Cam Van Du, Cam Mat, Cam Xoan, Cam sanh, Quyt hong, Quyt duong, Quyt Lang Son.

Pomelo (Citrus maxima) with many varieties well-known to consumers, are Nam Roi, Da Xanh, Phuc Trach,
Thanh Tra, Dien, Doan Hung, etc. Among those, Nam Roi and Da Xanh contribute to the largest production
area.

Mango (Mangifera indica) is a tropical fruit that is primarily cultivated in the South of Vietnam, accounting
for 90% of the domestic production. Recently, several cultivars have been selected for cultivation in the sub-
tropical condition of the North. However, the most favorite mango varieties are Xoai cat Hoa Loc, Xoai cat
Chu, Xoai Tuong in the South.

Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum) is a common fruit tree in the Mekong Delta where the climate is hot and
humid. There are two distinct types of rambutan that have been observed including Java and Nhan.

Dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus) has the highest export value, recently contributing to 50% of fruit
exports. The main varieties are white-fleshed, red-fleshed dragon fruit.

Longan (Dimocarpus longan) being a subtropical plant, can grow well in tropical climate of the South
where there is a prominent change of seasons necessary for satisfactory flowering. The North is well-known
for cultivars of Nhan Huong Chi, Nhan PHM 99.1.1, Nhan HTM1; the South is famous for Nhan Xuong com
vang, Nhan Long and Tieu Da bo.

Lychee (Litchi chinenis) can be grown only in the North where exists sub-tropical climatic condition
with warm, humid summer for flowering and fruit setting, and a period of winter chilling for flower bud
development. The most common cultivar is Vai Thieu, a native cultivar grown exclusively in Northern
Vietnam.

Production of top eight fruit

The Fig. 4 shows an increase in the production area of fruit for exports, including banana, pomelo, pineapple
and especially dragon fruit. Among those, banana is the fruit with the largest land area. In 2013, the production
area of banana reached 126,100 hectares increasing 14,400 hectares in comparison with 2008, the rate of
which is equivalent to 1.13%. Although its production area was much smaller than other fruit crops, the
increase rate of dragon fruit from 2008 to 2013 was remarkable and was highest in the period, doubling the

Fig. 4. Production area of top eight fruit

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cultivation area from 12,000 hectares in 2008 to 25,200 hectares in 2013. Area of pineapple and pomelo
slightly increased by 600 hectares (in 2012) and 1,400 (in 2013) hectares, respectively. (Appendix 1)
Production area of longan, lychee and rambutan took the second place after banana, but gradually
decreased from 95,600 and 108,600 hectares in 2008 to 83,500 and 97,100 hectares in 2012, respectively.
Particularly, area of lychee and rambutan cultivation continued to decline to 94,600 hectares in 2013. This
was followed by longan, lychee and rambutan. Mango is also one of the fruit that is produced in large area
which was 85,200 hectares in 2013. Production of mango showed slight change from 2008 to 2013, varying
between 85,200 and 87,600 hectares.
It is noted that production of banana stood out from other crops since its production reached more than
a million tons (Fig. 5). Additionally, the amount of banana fruit harvested each year gradually increased in
the period 2009 - 2013, from 1.52 million tons to 1.89 million tons. Dragon fruit also suggested a continuous
increase by which the production in 2013 was twice as much in 2008. Pomelo and mango also released
positive movement in the period 2008-2013 at a rate of 1.3 times. Meanwhile, production of pineapple
increased 1.2 times from 2008 to 2012, to 571,500 tons. In contrast, fruit of longan, lychee and rambutan saw
little reduction in the period. (Appendix 2)
Although its production area was smallest among the top eight fruit, dragon fruit was the crop that
produced the highest unit land yield (Fig. 6). With the gradually increasing yield, dragon fruit reached the
highest point at 24.4t/ha in 2011. The most recent yield in 2013 was 23.0t/ha. Lychee and rambutan were the
crops that saw increase in yield in the period of 2008-2013. With the help of advanced cultural techniques,

Fig. 5. Production of top eight fruit (2008-2013)

Fig. 6. Unit land yield of top eight fruit (2008-2013)

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the yield of lychee and rambutan increased 1.11%, from 65.6% in 2008 to 7.3t/ha in 2013. (Appendix 3)

Major forms and sources of planting materials of top eight fruit

The major forms and sources of planting materials of the top eight fruit in Vietnam are presented in Table
7. Most of the woody fruit crops have been propagated with the help of grafting techniques. Through the
combination of strong rootstocks and scions with desired traits, grafting enables vigorous vegetative growth
and development, producing high yield and high economic-value commodities.

Table 7. Planting materials of top eight fruit

In addition to grafting, propagation of fruit crops has employed the tissue culture technique to produce
healthy, disease-free seedlings yielding fruit with high uniformity of quality and appearance. The technique
has been applied to produce high quality seedlings of banana and pineapple.
However, due to the higher price and advanced techniques, most farmers cannot produce tissue-cultured
seedling themselves, vegetative propagation----mostly from suckers (banana and pineapple), crowns
(pineapple), and cuttings - is still employed. Seedlings obtained from vegetative propagation are more prone
to diseases that are specific to the species, which are gradually less vigorous.

Major growing areas of top eight fruit

It is easy to notice from the map in Fig. 7 that the main fruit production areas include Mekong River Delta,
North West and Red River Delta. However, Mekong River Delta is the area that provides most of the important
fruit in Vietnam. Interestingly, all of the main fruit, except for lychee, can be cultivated in the Mekong River
Delta (Table 8). Production of the main fruit crops can be found in some other regions, for instance, dragon
fruit in Hanoi and Son La, but the production is still small-scale and scattered.

Harvesting months of top eight fruit

Time of harvest may vary between different areas and different climatic conditions, depending on varieties
(Fig. 8). With the help of flowering treatments by chemicals, and additional lights, nowadays prolonging
harvesting period and forcing flower/fruit setting is in the hands of scientists and producers. Moreover,
utilization of different cultivars avoids concentrated harvest at the same time, preventing price reduction due
to excess supply of fruit.

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 Fig. 7. Map of growing areas of top eight fruit in Vietnam

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 Table 8. Main production areas of top eight fruit

Fig. 8. Harvesting season of top eight fruit

The harvest season of the top eight fruit is described below.

Pineapple: Fruit can be harvested all-year round with the help of chemicals (ethylene and other inductants).
Production of different varieties prolongs harvesting period.

Rambutan: Harvest season is mainly from June to August, prolonging harvest is from November to April.

Longan: The main harvest season of longan is July-August. In the South, the harvest can be prolonged to
more than seven months, from October to April. In the North, utilization of late longan varieties allows
prolonging harvest to early September.

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Lychee: Main season falls in late May and June. However, early varieties of lychee produce early fruit
harvest in May. Some early cultivars (i.e. Vai Chua) can be harvested as early as late April.

Mandarin: In the South, the harvest falls in August-February with peak period from December to February.
In the North, fruit harvest is from October to April, with peak period from January to March.

Orange: It produces all-year round, with peak season during August to January in the South, and February
to March in the North.

Mango: In the South, the fruit is harvested during February to May, with peak period in March-April.
Meanwhile, fruiting season can last from May to September in the North.

Pomelo: In the South, the harvest is from September to February with peak season November to January, in
the North, August to November with peak season in October.

Dragon fruit: The plants produce fruit almost all-year round, if proper irrigation and fertilization are provided.
Timing of fruit ripening to satisfy the market demand at a particular period can be done by providing
additional light during the short-day period to induce flowering at the required period. In the South, main
harvest season of dragon fruit is from May to September, but often prolonging to March. Meanwhile, the
main harvest season in the North falls from June to November.

Farmgate price of top eight fruit

In general, price of fruit commodities varies in a great range (Table 9). Time of harvest and quality of the
commodities are the factors that influence fruit price the most.
Table 9. Farmgate values of top eight fruit

As a matter of fact, the farmers in Vietnam are often pushed into accepting low price when there is excess
supply of fruit, mostly during the main harvest season. In serious situations, the farmers rather leave their
product unharvested than sell them at unacceptable price to collectors and traders. In contrast, off-season
production likely brings high profit to the farmers that are double or three times higher than in the main
season. In addition, fruit price is also influenced by the time of the year they are consumed. For example,
fruit price is normally 1.5-2.0 times higher in the Lunar New Year. In Tet holiday, a kilogram of "Cam Canh"
orange – which is normally only 40-50 thousand VND/kg - can cost 80-90 thousand VND.
Besides, quality also has great influence on the price of fruit. Fruit quality is made up by the fruit cultivar
itself - which defines the fruit characters, such as taste, flavor, color and shape - and its appearance –referring
to fruit size, level of physical damage (bruises) and uniformity. For instance, "Da Xanh" pomelo – which
is green-peeled and tastes sweet and gently sour - is usually 2-3 times more expensive than other pomelo

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cultivars. A bunch of "Chuoi Tay" banana of big-size fruit, with high uniformity and nice appearance (without
bruises and spots) can cost 1.5 times as much as the smaller one.

Export of top eight fruit

Dragon fruit has recently become the most important fruit for export reading US$203 million in 2013, occuping
44% of total export vlaue of top eight bruit (Fig. 9). About 80% of its production goes to international trading.
Dragon fruit of Vietnam is exported to more than 30 nations and territories all over the world. And China is
the main export destination of dragon fruit. Most of the flow of fruit export to China is through border trade.
In addition, Vietnam’s dragon fruit has reached markets in ASEAN, EU, US, Japan, Korea and Hong Kong.
According to the data of SOFRI, export value of dragon fruit in 2013 was over eight times as much as that
in 2008. Moreover, export value of dragon fruit has contributed to more than 40% of total fruit export in
Vietnam since 2011. About 80% of dragon fruit is exported to China (Table 10).

Fig. 9. Export value of top fruit crops

Table 10. Export value of major fruit and their destination (mil. USD)

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 Pineapple is the major processed export fruit product of Vietnam. A main part of exported pineapple
is canned products. Apart from traditional markets such as Russian Federation, Eastern Europe, pineapples
have recently been introduced to Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and America.
Currently, the quantity of exported mango and Thieu lychee has increased rapidly. Thieu lychee is
mainly exported in dried form via non-merchant way to China. Meanwhile, canned lychee is accepted in the
EU market. Mango is mainly distributed to Korea, which accounts for 50% of the total, Japan, China and
the US. Rambutan is exported to the US, China, Middle East nations, and EU. Export value of mango and
rambutan has recently doubled the value in 2010.
Citrus including oranges and mandarin have been exported to Asian countries, such as Cambodia and
China, pomelo has travelled far away to Singapore, the Netherlands, Russia and Canada.

NATIONAL FRUIT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM

Major government agencies responsible for the fruit sector development

There are three institutes specialized in research and development of fruit crops, namely the Fruit and Vegetable
Research Institute (FAVRI), the Southern Fruit Research Institute (SOFRI) and Northern Mountainous
Agriculture and Forestry Institute (NOMAFSI). These institutes all belong to the Vietnam Academy of
Agricultural Sciences (VAAS) which is under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
The said institutes are situated in two different regions of Vietnam, the North and the South, and primarily
focused on developing fruit crops in those areas. Specifically, FAVRI concentrates on sub-tropical, tropical,
including banana, citrus, pineapple, dragon fruit, mango, guava, longan, and lychee; NOMAFSI conducts
research and development activities mostly on temperate fruit, such as peach, plum, pear, persimmon, and
some other crops, i.e. orange, mandarin, and avocado; and SOFRI pays attention to most tropical fruit crops,
such as citrus, longan, pineapple, dragon fruit, jack fruit, mangosteen, starapple, mango, and avocado. The
institutes conduct research on new fruit varieties, advanced cultural techniques; establish demonstrations;
provide guide and training for farmers; and produce seeds/seedlings for production.
The fruit sector development is managed by the Department of Crop Production (DCP) of MARD.
The DCP is in charge of planning and conducting strategies as directed by MARD. It is also responsible for
cooperating with other institutions in developing the fruit sector in particular and crop production in general.

Policy direction or promotion programs on the fruit sector

Policies on agricultural land, restructuring agriculture, and agricultural extension

The government has promulgated various policies in providing direct support to farmers, i.e. policy on
owning agricultural land for farmers in the long-term to produce crops, fusing and exchanging farm lands,
aiming at enhancing effectiveness of land utilization and promoting mechanization of agriculture. With the
improvements in land policies, the farmers are now able to make their own decisions on what crop species
to grow and technologies to apply. Moreover, the right of owning agricultural land on a long-term basis, that
is up to 50 years, has encouraged farmers in investing and applying high technologies in their production.
Planning and policy on restructuring land utilization of the government has been implemented aiming
at establishing concentrated production areas to take full relative advantages of each geographical region,
following demand of domestic market and export, increasing economic and social benefits, as well as
protecting the environment. Specifically, ineffective rice land is encouraged to be replaced by other crops that
bring higher profit, such as fruit and vegetables, increasing benefit gained from a unit of land and enhancing
household income.
In addition, extension activities have been paid more attention, reaching the 100% targets of the districts
which have extension stations. Training and popularization of safe cultural techniques, Good Agricultural
Practices (GAPs) and advanced technologies have been focused and provided to a large part of farmers.

Support in production, postharvest handling and processing for export

The State provides support for certification of safe production (VietGAP, GlobalGAP, etc.); providing loans

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for farmers to apply high technologies in their production; encouraging the private sector to participate
in agricultural production through investments and tax incentives. For example, new households who are
engaged in fruit production are waived from taxation in the first three years of harvest; there are also tax
exemption for cooperatives and companies doing business on fruit; and there is 30-50 tax reduction for fruit
export enterprises.

Major government agencies responsible for fruit export

The Agency of Foreign Trade (AFT) and Viet Trade Promotion Agency (VietTrade) under the Ministry of
Industry and Trade (MOIT) are the main agencies in charge for export of general products in Vietnam and
specifically agricultural commodities.
AFT is in charge of submitting regulations, plans and strategies to the MOIT to manage international
trade and promote export; counseling the government to manage and direct activities of export and import,
as well as cooperate with international partners in trading. It also provides information on market and export
support, and popularizes and promotes the products for export.
VietTrade is an agency established by the Prime Minister to support the MOIT in managing and orienting
commercial promotion. VietTrade is responsible for studying, forecasting and orienting domestic and
international markets to promote commerce. VietTrade directs and provides guidance to the Departments
of Industry and Trade at the provincial level to implement activities of commerce promotion as assigned by
MOIT.

Profile of fruit research and development institution

MARD is a governmental agency performing state management functions in the fields of agriculture,
forestry, salt production, fishery, irrigation/water services and rural development nationwide, including
state management functions with regard to delivery of public service in accordance with legal documents.
MARD is the agency that submits master plans, strategies, research and development projects/programs to
the government; organize and generally manage the implementation of such projects and programs once they
are approved. Regarding research and development of fruit crops, MARD directs its agencies, including the
DCP, VAAS (including FAVRI, NOMAFSI and SOFRI), to directly manage and perform the tasks. Activities
of registering and introducing new crop cultivars which are newly bred and/or selected are also of MARD’s
responsibilities and authorities. The aforesaid institutes currently have some international projects related to
trpical fruit.
In addition to agencies under MARD, there are institutions, mostly universities and their centers/
companies, conducting research and development of fruit crops. Those include well-known universities
in the field of agriculture, i.e. Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Can Tho University, and Thai
Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry. Specifically, there is the National Agricultural Extension
Center which is responsible for transferring and introducing new technologies and cultural techniques. Its
working regions are not restricted to any particular localities in Vietnam.

CONCLUSION

In general, fruit production in Vietnam has brought high profit for farmers and other stakeholders; however, its
contribution to the national economy is relatively small. Moreover, fruit farmers still face various challenges
and difficulties that need more attention from the government, including cultural techniques, commodity
quality and safety, postharvest technologies, market access and market linkages.
In order to promote fruit production in Vietnam, it is important to understand the sector, including its
potentials and the current situation in the country. The report, thus, attempts to exploit and analyze the
available official source of information, to provide a general overview of the fruit sector in Vietnam.

REFERENCES

Central Management of Rural, Agriculture and aquaculture Survey. 2011. Report on general survey of rural
area, agriculture and aquaculture. Vietnam.

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FAO. 2004. Fruit of Vietnam. Thailand.
General Statistics Office. 2010. Result of the Vietnam household living standard survey 2010. Vietnam.
General Statistics Office. 2011. Result of the Vietnam household living standard survey 2010. Vietnam.
General Department of Vietnam Customs. 2013. Custom International Yearbook.
General Department of Vietnam Customes. 2012. Custom Yearbook of International Merchandise Trade of
Vietnam.
General Department of Vietnam Customes. 2011. Custom Yearbook of International Merchandise Trade of
Vietnam.
General Department of Vietnam Customes. 2010. Custom Yearbook of International Merchandise Trade of
Vietnam.
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. 2014. Decision of approval of improving additional value of
agricultural, forestry and aquacultural commodities in processing and postharvest.
Merchandise trade of Vietnam.
Prime Minister. 2013. Decision on Approval of Agriculture Restructuring Planning towards improving value
and sustainable development. Vietnam.
Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency. 2008. Report on Vietnamese vegetable and fruit sector.

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 APPENDIX 1: Production area of top eight fruit (100 ha)

APPENDIX 2: Production of top eight fruit (1000 tonnes)

APPENDIX 3: Unit land yield of top eight fruit (t/ha)

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