Agriculture minister wants 'national product' status for durian to grow exports

"We need a concentrated growing area for each key agriculture produce to ensure consistent quality," Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan told lawmakers at a meeting Wednesday.

"We also need to protect the images of those produce on international markets."

To qualify as a national product, an item must meet several criteria like production size, export competitiveness, adoption of technology, and potential for acquiring intellectual property rights.

Hoan said designating durian as a national product requires comprehensive farm policies and educating farmers and businesses.

This has become a vital need since Vietnam now lags behind Thailand and Malaysia in exporting the fruit to China and its production is fragmented and on a small scale, he added.

Farmers need to be part of a larger network that also includes businesses and business associations to safeguard the Vietnamese durian brand, he said.

Lawmaker Pham Hung Thang of the northern province of Ha Nam exhorted the agriculture ministry to draft policies that would expand Vietnam’s export markets and protect the brands of key fruits.

Vietnam recently got the green light to export frozen durian to China under an official quota. It has been shipping fresh durian to that country for the last two years.

Last year it exported 500,000 tons of durian worth $2.3 billion, 90% of it to China.

It has 154,000 hectares under durian and produces 1.2 million tons of the fruit annually. The output in increasing by around 15% a year.

Frozen durian exports are expected to be worth $400-500 million this year.