1. 1 Member Economy Report Current status and strategies on Food Losses in Viet Nam APEC Seminar on Strengthening Public-Private Partnership to Reduce Food Losses in the Supply Chain 05 - 08 August 2013, Chinese Taipei

2. 2 Current Status of Post-harvest Losses in Viet Nam  Agriculture-based economy: rice is staple food with the total rice growing area of 7.7 million ha and total food production of c.a. 48.5 million tons (2012); Population: 87 million, 70% of which living in rural areas.  Agriculture sector also key to sustain growth and reduce poverty: 21,65% of GDP in 2012, contributing around 24% of export revenue.  Post-harvest losses are reported to be 1-2% of GDP varying between commodities and seasons: post-harvest losses of rice (13.7%), other food grains (10%), tubers and roots (10-20%), fruit and vegetables (20-30%);  Factors contributing to post-harvest losses: cutting, threshing, drying, storage, pests and diseases, transport and milling Stage of productionRice (%)Maize (%) Harvest/cutting1.3 - 2.9- Threshing1.4 - 2.33 - 4 Drying1.6 - 1.95 Storage2.6 - 2.910 Milling, processing2.2 - 3.3

3. 3 Current Status of Post-harvest Losses in Viet Nam  Average post-harvest losses of rice in Viet Nam: Stage of productionLosses (%) Harvest/cutting1.3 - 1.7 Threshing1.4 - 1.8 Drying, cleaning1.9 - 2.1 Transport1.2 - 1.5 Storage3.2 - 3.9 Milling4.5 - 5.0 Total13 - 16

4. 4 Challenges to Food Loss Reduction Policy constraints:  Lack of attractive policy and incentives to promote investment and research in addressing post- harvest losses. Resource constraints:  Financial gap serves as a critical barrier  Human resources: limited staff with qualification and experiences.  Technology: lack of appropriate technology to address research and development of post-harvest losses reduction. Limited capabilities and involvement of farmers:  Production dominated by small farmers with limited access to resources and technology.  Farmers role limited to field operation with little value addition  Lack of farmer incentives to adopt new technologies

5. 5 Policy and strategy recommendations for Reducing Food Losses  Conducting comprehensive research and studies for food losses in food system: variety improvement, post-harvest technology, utilization and marketing  Support to institutional and policy development: strengthening institutional and policy framework to enhance agricultural production, agribusiness sector, infrastructure and small scale enterprises  Providing a favourable conditions for the delivery of local agricultural services: pesticide fertilizer use, storage (cold and warehouse), transport, marketing…  Establishing goals or targets for food loss reduction for a range of target audience (education campaigns for producers, growers, processors, consumers).  Developing markets for different grades and types of agricultural products Strategies:  Focus on strengthening Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SME).  Private and Public partnership: maximum leverage of private investments with diverse range of revenues and profitability  Integrated approach: Production under quality control and management for domestic market and export.  Focus on boosting processed goods rather than export of raw materials.  Objective to engage and enable smallholder producers and thus allowing the whole sector to advance.