Organic production requires a large capital investment and a conversion time of 3 to 5 years to achieve certification, but the policy to support producers, especially smallholder farmers, is very low, so it is not attractive to farmers.

Organic agricultural production needs to be developed in a chain and monitored more closely to ensure that products that meet organic standards are marketed, thereby building consumer confidence. This is the common opinion of experts at the Online Forum to connect and promote the consumption of organic agricultural products, organized by the Executive Group to connect the consumption of agricultural products 970 on December 22.

*Organic production the movement
According to data from the International Federation of Organic Movements (IFOAM), in 2020 Vietnam has 46/63 provinces and cities that are implementing and having an organic production movement with the participation of more than 17,000 farmers.

Vietnam also has 97 organic production enterprises, 60 enterprises exporting to 180 different markets, including the US, EU, Japan, China with a total turnover of 335 million USD/year.

Associate Professor Tu Tuyet Nhung, Head of the Coordination Committee of the Voluntary System to help bring farmers into one organization, guide, support and connect them together to organize organic production (PGS) in Vietnam for As you know, data on organic agricultural production in Vietnam has increased rapidly recently. However, the reliability has not been confirmed because there is no official agency to survey and synthesize.

There are many products on the market that are labeled as organic, produced in the organic direction…but there is no certification, so they are only sold as normal products and do not create trust with consumers.

Organic production must ensure organic certification from varieties, materials, processes to harvesting, processing and preservation, but many farmers still think that simply not using fertilizers and pesticides is produce organic and label the product as organic.

The difficulty of many organic production facilities today is that production costs are too high, including operating consulting costs, analysis costs, certification costs and maintenance costs. Most of the farmers and production facilities today are small and odd, so the cost per product unit is higher.

On the other hand, the supply of certified organic seeds and inputs is still very limited, so many people are not fully aware of how to start organic production from substandard and uncertified inputs. products that are “half” organic, do not qualify for organic certification.

*Build supply chain links

Experts say that organic agriculture is not only an organic product but also building an ecosystem from production - consumption to how to behave with the living environment, therefore, to develop organic agriculture, it is necessary to develop organic farming. build chain links, plan to invest in production and consumption to bring efficiency.

Mr. Nguyen Hoang Cung, Director of Dai Thuan Thien Clean Agricultural Products Co., Ltd (Can Tho) said that the difficulty of organic agricultural production today is the balancing problem between product quality and selling price. There is a phase difference when the producer of good products always wants to sell at a high price, must make a profit to reinvest in production, but consumers want to use good products at cheap prices and do not really understand the right price. value of organic agricultural products.

According to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Cung, organic agricultural products currently have a high price because the production scale is still fragmented and small while the production investment costs are large. To create large output, reduce product costs and export enough goods, it is necessary to organize large-scale production.

However, it is not easy to gather farmers to develop organic production areas without support from the local side. In addition, the problem of linking and consuming organic agricultural products in distribution systems and supermarkets has not been tight and effective.

Meanwhile, Mr. Le Quoc Viet, Farmers' Association of Chau Thanh district, Kien Giang said that the policy of organic agriculture development at the macro level is very good but has not been put into practice. The proof is from the organic agriculture development strategy of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, production support policies are issued a lot, but when it comes to the grassroots level, especially at the district and commune level, there are almost no production support policies. What can be implemented?

Organic production requires a large capital investment and a conversion time of 3 to 5 years to achieve certification, but the policy to support producers, especially farmers, is very low and fragmented, so it is not attractive to farmers. people.

According to Mr. Viet, there should be a specific and practical support regime for farmers to convert from customary production to organic production. At the same time, promote communication to raise consumers' awareness and confidence in organic products.