Prepared by Vietnamese participants Vietnam Report Prepared by Vietnamese participants

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Value Chain of Pomelo Production in Vinh Long Province

Introduction of VINH LONG Province Vinh Long Province, which locates in the Mekong River Delta, is 135km far away from Ho Chi Minh City For the long time, pomelo in Vinh Long, such as Nam Roi and Da Xanh, has been known as special product in Mekong River Delta as well as in whole Vietnam.

The diagram of value chain of pomelo in Vinh Long Province 10% Retailers 85-90 % Domestic consumption 32-33% Small collectors Small collectors 10% 5% Farmers/ Cooperatives Wholesalers Retailers/ Super market Consumers Big collectors Big collectors 90 % 50% 43% 5-10% export 7% Private companies/ Processing companies Export (EU, HongKong, China, US) 57%

International Organizations State agencies - Farmers Cooperatives Wholesalers Retailers Exporters Consumers International Organizations

Interventions Vinh Long’s People’s Committee has many supporting policies for pomelo production such as taxes reduction, investment in irrigation, seed supplying, technologies, etc. The People’s Committee also has plan to protect the trademark of pomelo of Vinh Long The DARD of Vinh Long provide good seed and techniques of pomelo production to farmers through training courses. The DPI funded for participating in domestic and international fruit fairs.

Problems Most the impacts of local government focused mainly on farmers (producers). There is a lack of effects of local government on collectors, and especially on consumers. The high cost price in pomelo production leads to high price of Vinh Long’s pomelo compared to other regions. A lack of completed system that provides market information, especially exporting market to the the other actors in the value chain. The difficulties in pomelo production in Vinh Long such as production technology, pomelo-growing area project, etc.

Opportunities: Pomelo production is paid attention by local authorities and other institutions. The linkage between pomelo producers (planters) and processors in Mekong River Delta is in good condition to develop pomelo production in Vinh Long as well as in whole region.

Opportunities: The MPI established the fruits and vegetables’ value chain program in order to improve the linkage between producers and other actors (wholesalers, collectors, etc.).

Opportunities: The demand of fresh pomelo and processed products (pomelo juice) has increased in recent years. The DARD and The Commerce Department has issued policies which protect the trademark of Vinh Long pomelo.

Challenges: Pomelo production is still scattered. Therefore, the local government and institutions have great difficulties planning of pomelo-growing area and managing of pomelo quality. The expansion of industrial parks in rural areas is a cause of reducing pomelo-growing area in the region. The scattered growing area in pomelo production causes high price of pomelo in market.

Challenges: In domestic market, the pomelo of Vinh Long has to compete with others such as Doan Hung, Phuc Trach … In international market, it competes with pomelo’s from other countries, especially from Thailand and China.

References: GTZ and SME Development and MPI, http://sme-gtz.org.vn, viewed 12 Sept. 2010 MARD, 2009, Synthesized data from DARD of provinces