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Vietnam fruit farmers unprepared for ASEAN

Thailand is now the largest exporter of vegetables and fruits to Vietnam after surpassing China early last year.

Official statistics show that Vietnam spent nearly US$135 million to import Thai vegetables and fruits in the first eight months of this year.

Economist Le Dang Doanh warned that Vietnamese farm produce would face fiercer competition from other countries in the region when the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is born at the end of this year.

“The pressure [on local produce] would be much higher when imports from other ASEAN countries to Vietnam become tax-free starting January 1, 2016 [thanks to the AEC],” Doanh said at a forum held in Can Tho city on October 1-2.

But local farmers seem unprepared for the regional integration.

Hoa of the Southern Horticultural Research Institute, said that the country needs to set up fruit cooperatives and areas by bringing together farmers and invest in processing and preservation technologies to improve quality and produce stable quantities of fruits.

Doanh said, “It’s urgent to restructure [the agricultural sector], switching to farming on large fields, turning farmers into trained and skilled agricultural workers.”

Source: thanhniennews.com
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