The Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will continue to support the implementation of technical training courses and the quality management of vegetable areas to raise producers' and traders’ awareness about compliance with food safety regulations.

One of the VietGAP vegetable areas in Dong Anh District. Photo: Lam Nguyen/ The Hanoi Times

This department activity has significantly contributed to the fact that in recent years no safe vegetable certificates of local growers have been revoked for breaching Good Agricultural Practices (VietGAP) at farms.

According to the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, people participating in the VietGAP model have partaken in training courses on production processes from fertilizer application and irrigation, pesticide spraying, harvesting agricultural products, and keeping a log of the daily production process.

From 2022 until now, the Hanoi Agricultural Products Quality Analysis and Certification Center has organized 55 training classes related to food safety in production, preliminary processing, and processing and another 25 on VietGAP cultivation.

In addition to a rigorous assessment before issuing the VietGAP certificate, the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has regularly performed inspection work.

According to Director of the Hanoi Agricultural Products Quality Analysis and Certification Center Bui Thanh Huong, the VietGAP certificate is valid for three years. Still, her center annually sends professional staff to localities to help farmers enforce VietGAP requirements and revoke VietGAP certification in case of non-compliance.

This shows the strict level of VietGAP certification, according to local insiders.

In Van Duc Commune, Gia Lam District, the second largest vegetable area in Hanoi, Director of Van Duc Agricultural Cooperative Nguyen Van Minh said to receive a VietGAP certificate, local farmers must ensure stringent production regulations according to TCVN 11892-1:2017: VietGAP standards for cultivation.

The Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s officials have also checked the compliance of vegetable growers annually and issued warnings if a wrong step is made, Minh underlined.

The Van Duc cooperative is managing an area of ​​​​nearly 240ha. However, the site certified by the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is only about 37ha, accounting for almost 15.5% of the total farming area of ​​the cooperative.

Tien Le Agricultural Cooperative in Hoai Duc District has more than 200ha of vegetables, 30ha of which are grown under the VietGAP standards. Some 500 households in the vegetable area supply nearly 3,000 tons of products, mainly vegetables, amaranth, water spinach, and spinach, to the local market.

Statistics from the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development showed that the city has more than 13,000ha of vegetables, tubers, and fruits. However, only nearly 200ha, accounting for more than 1.5% of the total area, have been granted VietGAP certificates, concentrated in the rural districts of Gia Lam, Dong Anh, Me Linh, and Hoai Duc.

Deputy Director of the Hanoi Sub-Departments of Crop Production and Plant Protection,
Le Xuan Truong said that many farmers had applied technical advances such as plastic mulching, greenhouses - net houses, especially organic fertilizers and pesticides.

In the coming time, the department will promote production-consumption linkage activities, foster product consumption, and call for the businesses' participation in the management and development of the safe vegetable value chain and VietGAP certification associated with food safety assurance.