Promoting the consumption of Vietnamese agricultural products: A great opportunity for sustainable agricultural development

DNHN - Vietnam has a potential domestic market, and many enterprises are promoting agricultural products globally, opening up significant opportunities for sustainable agricultural development.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam's annual agricultural output is substantial, including over 42 million tons of rice, nearly 19 million tons of vegetables, over 12 million tons of key fruits, over 7 million tons of meat, and over 9 million tons of seafood. This creates considerable pressure during peak harvest times. Therefore, connecting production and consumption of agricultural products, especially high-quality food products, is necessary to solve the output for agricultural products.

Connecting the market is not only necessary for export goods but also truly essential for the domestic market. According to a representative from the Department of Quality, Processing, and Market Development, current retail channels at home and abroad are effective bridges between producers and consumers.

In the Mekong Delta - the largest agricultural region in the country, some enterprises have actively tapped into the domestic market, exemplified by bringing OCOP products into modern distribution channels. A survey at some border trade supermarkets in An Giang shows that goods range up to 20,000 - 30,000 products of various types, 90% of which are Vietnamese products. To stimulate consumption, An Giang province also organizes many meaningful promotional and trade connection activities.

For gardeners in Lam Dong province, strict quality control of products enhances the strength of producers, helping agricultural products to be better consumed in the domestic market. Currently, Lam Dong's agricultural region has formed 243 linked chains corresponding to thousands of hectares of cultivated land. Consistent quality - something that farmers paid little attention to in the past, is now seen by many as a criterion for easy consumption of produced agricultural products.

The program "Accompanying OCOP - Honoring Vietnamese Agricultural Products," an event in a series of activities celebrating International Cooperative Day, took place across the entire 800-point sales system of Saigon Co.op from July 4 to 17. Accordingly, the Co.opmart, Co.opXtra, and Co.op Food supermarket chains have been selling more than 500 OCOP products from cooperatives across the country. This is an opportunity for people to access products from all over the country at affordable prices.

Besides the domestic market, many modern retail systems in Ho Chi Minh City are also actively organizing events to connect and support bringing goods, especially agricultural products, to consumption in neighboring markets. Nguyen Nguyen Phuong, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City, recognizes that modern retailers have been taking positive steps in building cooperative programs to control product quality, contributing to spreading the Vietnamese brand to the international market.

For example, a representative of MM Mega Market Vietnam shared that since 2019, the unit has been exporting Vietnamese agricultural and seafood products, including sweet potatoes, dragon fruit, pomelo, coconut, tra fish, and shrimp, to markets such as Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Turkey. Currently, the supermarket still regularly exports 2 - 4 containers per month of dragon fruit to the Thai and Chinese markets. In 2024, MM Mega Market aims to double the export volume of agricultural products, conquering demanding markets such as Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands.

From efforts to connect the domestic market to spreading the Vietnamese agricultural brand to the world, it is evident that agricultural and food producers need to seriously change their mindset, focusing on developing products that meet consumer needs and tastes. Additionally, adapting to new trends in multi-channel shopping and online business is also an important factor in helping businesses reduce intermediary costs and increase efficiency in product consumption.

Tran Tung