Longform | Northwest united, local agricultural products rise up

Linking, reorganizing production, deep processing, tracing origin and promoting trade scientifically and strategically... These are solutions for Northwestern agricultural products to reach far.

The Northwest is home to many ethnic areas and is also home to many unique specialties. From the sweet Muong La mangoes, the purple Moc Chau plums, to the charming Arabica coffee of Son La, the famous Lai Chau ginseng with its special medicinal value… Many products have appeared on international dining tables.

For example, in Son La, Ms. Cam Thi Phong - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Son La said that the total area of ​​fruit trees and perennial industrial trees in the province is estimated at nearly 119,898 hectares.

The total fruit output produced in Son La is consumed through 3 channels (in the province, domestically and exported). Some fresh fruit products such as mango and longan are available in large distribution systems such as Winmart, Big C, Lotte, Hapro... and are strongly consumed in many provinces and cities such as Hanoi , Quang Ninh, Lang Son, Hai Phong, Hung Yen, Thanh Hoa...

In Dien Bien, the total area of ​​fruit trees is currently estimated at 4,045 hectares. The fruit industry has gradually shifted from small-scale, fragmented production to concentrated production, creating raw material areas for linking and processing products.

Mr. Lo Hong Phong - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Dien Bien said that the whole province has formed 5 concentrated fruit tree production areas in the following places: Tuan Giao, Muong Ang, Dien Bien, Muong Cha and Dien Bien Phu City, with a total fruit tree area estimated at 3,000 hectares.

According to the assessment of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the Northwest is a region with great potential and advantages in developing agricultural and forestry products. In recent years, thanks to the attention and investment of the Party, the State and the efforts of localities, agriculture in the Northwest has developed quite comprehensively.

The value of Northwestern agricultural products exported in 2024 will reach about 245 million USD. Some typical export items include: coffee over 90 million USD; tea 22 million USD; Cassava starch over 36 million USD; longan and mango about 30 million USD; cinnamon essential oil about 22 million USD...

Despite such great potential, the biggest bottleneck of this region is that the products do not have international standard raw material areas, are not electronically traceable, lack professional packaging, and very few have certifications such as GlobalGAP, Rainforest, UTZ Certified. Weak logistics infrastructure, lack of cold storage, processing is mainly on a household scale or simple preliminary processing.

At the Forum “Connecting production and trade of agricultural and forestry products in the Northwestern provinces” held in early July 2025 in Son La, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Thanh Nam pointed out: “Whoever controls the raw material area controls the value chain. The Northwestern region needs to reorganize production in the direction of standardization from seeds, cultivation, harvesting, to processing and marketing, and cannot rely on natural advantages forever.”

Mr. Le Quoc Doanh - Chairman of the Vietnam Gardening Association warned that the area of ​​coffee in the Northwest has increased by more than 50%, the output has increased by more than 260% in 10 years, but the rate of achieving international quality certification is still very low. Lack of technology, lack of chain organization, lack of systematic investment means that we still only export raw products. That is a huge waste of resources.

At the forum, representatives of the Department of Agriculture of Son La, Dien Bien, and Lai Chau provinces made a series of recommendations: it is necessary to plan suitable raw material areas for each key crop; issue growing area codes and electronic traceability; invest in local processing industrial clusters; develop cold storage, logistics, and strong digital transformation.

One of the important recommendations is to change the production organization mindset from "everyone does it themselves" to a closed chain model of "Enterprise - Cooperative - Farmer".

Mr. Dinh Cao Khue - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dong Giao Company (Doveco) shared: "We cannot purchase agricultural products if we cannot control the quality of the input. Enterprises must participate from the beginning of the season, from seeds, cultivation processes, to consumption. But to do that, farmers and cooperatives must also professionalize. Therefore, Doveco has built factories located in raw material areas, including Son La, to promote production and product processing, increasing the value of local agricultural products".

Son La currently has 216 growing area codes, 201 safe product supply chains, more than 5,500 hectares of VietGAP production, and nearly 30,000 tons of sustainably certified coffee. But this is still not enough without a stable consumption link and contract mechanism between farmers and businesses.

Another hot spot was the counterfeiting of the origin of precious specialties such as Lai Chau ginseng. Mr. Bui Huy Phuong - Director of Lai Chau Department of Agriculture and Environment frankly said: "We have discovered more than 40 cases of fake ginseng trading. That not only affects the local brand but also threatens the entire national medicinal industry."

Recommended solutions: building original seed gardens, ginseng cultivation technology in strict natural conditions, electronic traceability control and registration of collective trademarks and geographical indications. At the same time, a separate incentive mechanism is needed for this special medicinal herb - from taxes, credits, to variety protection policies.

Lessons from localities that have succeeded in solving the problem of product output are the linkage chain. Son La - the "agricultural capital of the Northwest" is the clearest proof. The province aims to maintain 90,000 hectares of fruit trees and 25,000 hectares of coffee by 2030. Along with 560 processing facilities, 320 packaging facilities, a cold storage system is being formed and connected to logistics centers in Hanoi, Lao Cai, and Hai Phong.

The total output of fruit trees produced in Son La is consumed through 3 channels (in the province, domestically and for export). Some fresh fruit products such as mango and longan have been distributed and consumed in large supermarket chains such as Winmart, Big C, Lotte, Hapro... in the provinces and cities: Hanoi, Quang Ninh, Lang Son, Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa...

In 2024, Son La will export about 8,900 tons of tea (worth 21.9 million USD), 31,700 tons of coffee (worth 88.77 million USD), 7,600 tons of fresh mango (worth 1,876 million USD) and 7,200 tons of fresh bananas (worth 2.1 million USD).

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Cong, Vice Chairman of Son La Provincial People's Committee, said: "Agricultural production according to the chain is an inevitable requirement to promote the advantages and economic efficiency of fruit trees and industrial trees of Son La as well as of the provinces in the Northwest region".

In the upcoming orientation, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Cong said that Son La province clearly identified that if agriculture wants to develop sustainably, it must go into depth, increase post-harvest processing content, promote specialty products, and have strengths associated with the market. evolving, Son La is gradually perfecting a modern and sustainable agricultural ecosystem, where crops are not only a livelihood, but also a high-quality commodity product with a place in the market.

Dien Bien and Lai Chau are also planning specialized areas for growing tea, macadamia, ginseng, rubber and fruit trees, along with the desire to attract investment in processing clusters and agricultural product trading floors.

In conclusion at the forum, experts said that to find sustainable output for local agricultural products, the key solution is to restructure production associated with developing raw material areas. Urgently complete the identification of key fruit tree production areas down to the commune level, in a concentrated, contiguous, contiguous direction, convenient for mechanization, infrastructure investment and production linkage.

In addition, focus on developing agricultural processing industrial clusters associated with raw material areas, taking Son La as the core connecting with the midland and mountainous provinces in the North. Increase investment support for building preliminary processing, packaging, and cold storage systems at cooperatives, cooperative groups, and collection agents.

Expanding consumption markets and diversifying outputs. In particular, it is necessary to promote the campaign "Vietnamese people prioritize using Vietnamese goods". Connecting Northwest agricultural products to supermarket chains, wholesale markets, industrial kitchens, and tourist areas; bringing agricultural products to supermarket chains, wholesale markets, collective kitchens, and tourist areas.

No one understands Northwestern agricultural products better than the people here. But for local products to firmly enter demanding markets, they need a bridge: from policy-making management agencies, enterprises as the core chain link, cooperatives as intermediary organizations and professional communication and promotion.

Smart connections, concrete actions and long-term commitments are the way to ensure that the products of the highland people are no longer dependent on seasons, unstable prices or temporary output. When organized properly, these “gifts from the great forest” will become national brands, contributing to sustainable poverty reduction and raising Vietnam's position on the global agricultural map.

The Northwest is currently the country's largest fruit growing region, and it also has about 40,000 tons of Arabica coffee. In the past, agricultural production was mainly self-produced and self-consumed, but in the past decade, the Northwest has gradually become a large-scale agricultural and forestry production area. In addition, this region also has great potential for developing medicinal plants under the forest canopy. Therefore, organizing the connection from production to consumption of agricultural and forestry products in the Northwest is an urgent requirement, of great significance in order to promote the economic efficiency of these agricultural and forestry products, improving the lives of ethnic minorities.

Article: Bao Ngoc; Graphics: Ngoc Lan

Source: https://congthuong.vn/longform-tay-bac-dong-long-nong-san-ban-dia-vuon-minh-lon-day-409361.html