Đề tài Developing GAP systems for dragon fruit producers and exporters in Binh Thuan and Tien Giang provinces - MS5

Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development CARD Project Progress Report 037/04VIE Developing GAP systems for dragon fruit producers and exporters in Binh Thuan and Tien Giang provinces MS5: Third Six Monthly Progress Report 1. Institute Information Project Name Developing GAP systems for dragon fruit producers and exporters in Binh Thuan and Tien Giang provinces Vietnamese Institution Southern Fruit Research Institute Vietnamese Project Team Leader Nguyen Van Hoa Australian Organisation The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Australian Personnel John Campbell, Jim Walker, Leonie Osborne Date commenced 30 June 2005 Completion date (original) March 2007 Completion date (revised) Reporting period Third six monthly progress report Contact Officer(s) In Australia: Team Leader Name: John Campbell Telephone: +64 3 528 9106 Position: Project Leader Fax: +64 3 528 7813 Organisation HortResearch Email: jcampbell@hortresearch.co.nz In Australia: Administrative contact Name: Mrs Leonie Osborne Telephone: +64 9 815 8819 Position: PA, Bioprotection Group Leader Fax: +64 9 815 4202 Organisation HortResearch Email: losborne@hortresearch.co.nz In Vietnam Name: Dr Nguyen Minh Chau Telephone: +84 73 893 129 Position: Project Champion Fax: +84 73 893 122 Organisation SOFRI Email: mch@hcm.vnn/vn 1 2. Project Abstract Producers of dragon fruit in Vietnam have seen prices for their fruit decline by about 60% since 2000, which can be attributed, in part, to their dependence on local and nearby export markets. There are about ten major dragon fruit exporters in Vietnam but a significant proportion of the total production is sourced from many small farmers. Returns from dragon fruit could be significantly improved if small growers and exporters can gain access to new high value markets in Europe and North America. Unfortunately, regulatory requirements and recent consumer concerns over food safety and security mean that Vietnamese growers can now only export to these high value markets if they have Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) programmes in place. EUREPGAP Standards for farmers and British Retail Consortium Global Standard – Food for packers are comprehensive and auditable GAP Standards which are now the minimum fruit safety, legal, quality and sustainable standards required by most supermarket chains in Europe. This project will develop the basis for EUREPGAP and BRC implementation amongst groups of dragon fruit farmers and packers in the Binh Thuan and Tien Giang provinces, to enable Vietnamese growers to export dragon fruit to high value European markets. If successful it will also provide a model GAP system for potential adoption by other Vietnamese fruit sectors. 3. Executive Summary This report is the third progress report for the Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) project 037/04VIE and covers the period 1 March 2006 to 31 August 2006. The HortResearch project leader has made two visits to Vietnam during this reporting period as scheduled: 19 March to 8 April and 23 July to 11 August 2006. There have been no changes to project personnel during the reporting period. Mentoring of the Vietnam project team has been ongoing. Southern Fruit Research Institute (SOFRI), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) and commercial personnel are included in the training which covers all facets of Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) at the various levels. Enhancement of the national capability of people and infrastructure continues to be given high priority by the project for ultimate sustainability obligations. A study tour to New Zealand, which included an Internal Auditor training course, was completed by Mr Nguyen Huu Hoang. Field observations for the farmers’ benchmarking survey were completed in the first reporting period. The data were subsequently translated into English, entered into a web based database and analysed. The benchmarking survey report was prepared by HortResearch personnel and delivered as a PowerPoint presentation by the project leader to SOFRI personnel as well as packers, farmers, MARD and DARD personnel of Binh Thuan during March/April. 2 Selection of a packer/exporter and farmer group for the Project Pilot to receive project input, confirmed during the September visit, was formalised. Training of the Pilot members for improvement towards British Retailers Consortium: Global Standard – Food (BRC) for the packer and EUREPGAP for the farmers continues. The training involves quality systems, health and safety, technical, product traceability and environmental issues that will, when adopted, enable the participants to meet compliance with the required standards. A component of the field visits by the project leader has been to observe the current practices of the dragon fruit farmers and packers. These findings have formed the basis for the quality manual preparation. The dragon fruit quality manuals for the farmer and packer have been developed in a way that closely relates to the current practices, includes appropriate improvements to enable the farmer and packer to meet compliance with the EUREPGAP and BRC standards, and will be user friendly. The manual is being translated into Vietnamese prior to distribution to the pilot packer and farmers. The standards being implemented incorporate all issues identified in the project objectives. High value markets are being identified and evaluated for dragon fruit to be exported from Vietnam, both for fruit when certified and for the project-improved fruit exported during the transition period towards certification. A financial incentive is to be paid by the packer for qualifying fruit during the transition period. Inputs identified in the project document for Year 1 have been purchased. The CARD dragon fruit project has been well publicised in the local and national newspapers and television during this reporting period. 4. Introduction & Background Objective 1: To increase small holders’ competitiveness and capacity to supply dragon fruit to high-value international markets, introducing new concepts of food safety, environmental responsibility, sustainability and worker safety into their production practices. Objective 2: To provide technical support and training for Vietnamese extension/researchers to improve their capacity in group training procedures for GAP implementation in dragon fruit. The outputs expected include adoption of new practices that are required for entry into the European market, and empowerment of small farmers to negotiate improved supply arrangements. Vietnamese personnel from SOFRI, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) and the private sector will be trained in the field in Vietnam and two SOFRI members will undertake a study tour to observe GAP systems in the fruit industry in New Zealand. It is intended that the development of the Vietnamese personnel, both in the public and private sectors, will be through the practical application of: ¾ Establishing the current status of the dragon fruit industry against EUREPGAP standards through a benchmarking survey ¾ Improving the current understanding of dragon fruit agronomy within SOFRI and establishment of systems for constant improvement and problem solving 3 ¾ The development of pilot models of EUREPGAP-compliant Exporter/Packer/Farmer group in the field ¾ Establishing manuals, Codes of Practice and the development of training material that is appropriate, user friendly, developed by the Vietnamese extensionists, and appropriate to the dragon fruit industry for transfer to subsequent “models” and ultimately other crops ¾ Establishing the required quality systems for the dragon fruit industry to adopt and obtain proof of the system robustness, by obtaining EUREPGAP certification for the pilot model ¾ Maximising the impact of current initiatives to develop GAP in the dragon fruit industry through full participation in the Dragon fruit GAP Project. 5. Progress to Date 5.1 Implementation Highlights 5.1.1 Benchmarking The field portion of the benchmarking survey was completed by the SOFRI team in late July 2005. Some 124 farmers from Binh Thuan and 30 farmers from the Tieng Giang Province were questioned. The SOFRI team recorded farmer information for the formal EUREPGAP oriented questionnaire (Inception Report: August 2005 Appendix 2) and also recorded additional current agronomic and technical information relating to the surveyed farmers dragon fruit production practices. The benchmarking survey data were analysed at HortResearch by Dr Jim Walker and Patrick Connolly who also prepared a PowerPoint presentation (Appendices 1 and 2) for delivery during the scheduled March 2006 visit. It was originally planned for Dr Walker to travel to Vietnam to make the PowerPoint presentations, but this was not possible because of his other work commitments. As a consequence, the benchmarking PowerPoint presentations were delivered by the project leader during his March/April visit, initially to the staff of SOFRI then to DARD and some industry personnel in Binh Thuan. The presentation has subsequently been used as a training tool for the farmers and packers of the area. During the PowerPoint presentations, care was taken to emphasise the standards observed in the survey and to relate those conditions to the standards required to meet the high value customer-driven demands. The PowerPoint presentation and other information contained in the benchmarking survey database are being used by the SOFRI scientists during their research work. 5.1.2 GAP Manual Development The Dragon fruit Quality Manual has been completed in English and is currently being translated into Vietnamese. This manual was to be completed by the end of March (milestone #4) in the generic form but had been delayed because of time constraints and the clarification of copyright issues. The manual has been developed specifically to meet the needs of the quality systems of the project pilot. The manual has been developed at the farmer level to the EUREPGAP Standard and in the packhouse to the BRC Standard. Future use of the manual to other packhouses will have the advantage of a manual that is an actual working document while being adapted to their particular packhouse/farm application. 4 Full verification of the appropriateness of the Dragon fruit Quality Manual to address the specific standards of BRC and EUREPGAP and the requirements of the customer, the pilot packer and farmers will be confirmed by the Independent Certifying Body. Compliance assessment by the Certifying Body is planned take place during December providing earlier Internal Audits demonstrate the pilot is ready. A copy of the BRC Standard - Food has been purchased for the pilot packhouse quality system and the project has developed the manual to document the quality systems of Mr Heip’s packhouse. As this project is also about the development of people’s skills to operate the packhouse in accordance with the BRC Standard's requirements, considerable effort has been made to ensure that the packhouse manual, the quality systems and physical operations of the packhouse and packhouse documentation processes developed, closely mirror the Standards format. Setting up the manual and packhouse systems in this way ensures the quality systems developed are customer driven, user friendly, and provide an excellent and understandable tool for training of people while being a convenient and accurate process for the Internal Auditor and the Certifying Body to follow. BRC have provided copyright approval for the project to use the BRC Global Standard – Food in this way for the dragon fruit quality manual for the pilot. 5.1.3 Develop Implementation Plan – Completed: First Progress Report 5.1.4 Establish pilot GAP programme for year one As documented in the previous report, Mr Hiep’s packhouse was identified to be the project’s pilot for packing dragon fruit. Subsequently project personnel negotiated with Mr Hiep to define the level of commitment to and cooperation with the project for the development of his packhouse to meet the BRC Standards and project expectations. During the July visit by the project leader, a contract between Mr Hiep and Dr Chau as Project Champion was generated and signed. Agreement to work together with the pilot is based on the memorandum of understanding that was under discussion as described in the previous report. Indeed many of the issues for improvement highlighted by the project during the previous visits were being or had been addressed by Mr Hiep. Mr Hiep of Queen Farm, Hoang Hau Dragon Fruit Farm Co Ltd has committed his resources and staff to the project pilot development. As well as committing the packhouse to the project, Mr Hiep also committed his 70 hectare dragon fruit producing farm to the pilot to be developed for compliance with the EUREPGAP Standard. Mr Hiep is demonstrating a strong commitment/desire to make the most of the opportunity the CARD project is offering. As a result it is the expectation of the project that all components of the Dragon fruit Quality Manual will be implemented, personnel will understand their individual responsibilities and the whole system will be operating in compliance prior to the next visit of the project leader which is scheduled for November. The SOFRI project team will complete the translation of the manual into Vietnamese by late September. The manual will be available to Mr Hiep, when translated, and the project team will also provide guidance and training to the various pilot parties and undertake Internal Auditing to confirm compliance and to initiate corrective action where required. The dragon fruit pilot now consists of: 5 ¾ Mr Hiep’s packhouse ¾ 70 hectares of producing dragon fruit from Mr Hiep’s farm ¾ About three of Mr Hiep’s supply contracted farms ¾ More than 10 small holder farms from the surrounding area that were identified during the benchmarking survey and later by DARD personnel ¾ Other farmers who subsequently wish to join the pilot and before the next stage of packhouse development is operational. The pilot as described will, when certified, provide the critical mass of compliant fruit to test high value markets in Europe and determine/demonstrate the viability of the quality systems installed. 5.1.5 Implementation of Quality Systems Previous to this reporting period the project had provided training in quality systems to any group which was identified that would benefit from adopting GAP. With the confirmation of the pilot participants and pilot scope, the training programme of the project has become more focused and addresses the specific needs of the farmers and packer of the pilot to enable them to meet compliance with the standards before the proposed assessment visit by the Certifying Body. Choice of quality system standards: The project chose the existing BRC and EUREPGAP quality standards as the most suitable to meet the demands of the target customer while protecting the interests of the Vietnamese stakeholders. At the farmer level the EUREPGAP Standards are being applied and at the packhouse the BRC Standards are implemented. Both standards complement each other to ensure the dragon fruit produced and packed is confirmed as safe, legal and of the quality expected by the high value market customer. The choice of the two standards has been determined by the access conditions to high value markets identified in the project document. The project is very “customer driven” and the quality system will meet all the customer’s requirements when fully implemented and will specifically provide documented proof of compliance for safe, legal quality control and traceability for the entire product during the production and packing processes. The quality checking and documentation systems being employed in the pilot can also protect the farmer and packer from claims for damage to product (non-compliance issues) subsequent to the product leaving the packhouse. The current process and status of the quality system of the pilot is: ¾ Pilot participants identified and their association with the project formalised ¾ The BRC Standard has been selected for the packhouse quality system ¾ The EUREPGAP Standard has been selected for the farmer quality system ¾ The Dragon fruit Quality Manual has been developed in English ¾ The Dragon fruit Quality Manual is being translated into Vietnamese ¾ The Vietnamese version of the manual will be distributed to the packer and farmers of the pilot by the end of September ¾ Physical changes, required by the quality system, in the packhouse and on the farm have been initiated and in some areas completed ¾ Vietnamese project personnel have the skills to train dragon fruit industry stakeholders in all areas of quality 6 ¾ Intensive and targeted training has been provided to packhouse staff and farmers ¾ Quality systems are being developed in the pilot as described in the manual, under the training and guidance of the SOFRI project team ¾ When appropriate, Internal Audits will commence to determine the quality status of the pilot ¾ It is proposed to call for an external audit by a Certifying Body during the November/December visit by the project leader. 5.1.6 Review Compliance The project leader has been corresponding with Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS), (in Vietnam, Regional Indonesia and New Zealand) an International Certifying agency, to provide an estimate for certification evaluation of the project initiatives. SGS are keen to be involved in the Vietnam horticulture industry quality initiatives and it is understood that project certification costs will be at a very competitive rate. Quotations for the certification of project farmers and the packer will be requested following compliance as demonstrated by internal audits. The review of the large and small farmers, packer and exporter pilot will be addressed following the Certifying Body assessment in December. The review will be undertaken in the form of a BRC/EUREPGAP Internal Audit Report with the data analysed and presented to the various groups as part of the project’s training programme. 5.1.7 Expanded Year 1 Programme and delivery to additional farmer groups – to be addressed in Year 2 Word of the CARD dragon fruit project and how it can assist packers and farmers access high value markets is spreading in Vietnam and the SOFRI project team are receiving serious approaches from interested parties for assistance. 5.1.8 Implement Year 2 training – to be addressed in Year 2 Farmers and packers showing an interest in the project are being included through invitation to training sessions being undertaken, or are mentored separately as time permits. Following success of the pilot it is expected that this training will become more formal and serious. At this stage it is also expected that the training will be done utilising the “increasing” capability of the Vietnamese personnel. 5.2 Smallholder Benefits During the project scoping and subsequent project implementation visits by SOFRI and HortResearch personnel considerable effort has, and will continue to be, made to identify individuals both in the public and the private sectors who have the capacity to be leaders of change, and quality systems development, improvement and maintenance. A high priority is