Crops & Agricultural Products

In the Dong Dat hamlet of Phu Luong district, Thai Nguyen province, the party-branch secretary Duong planted 3 hectares of green bamboo first, and his family now earns 450 million dong a year from bamboo shoots. We interpret the village-wide move to organized production and the order of its spread from a Japanese sourcing perspective.

A former pig farmer in Lao Cai province grows 3 hectares of everbearing lime year-round, harvesting 20 tonnes and just under about 200 million dong a year. We read what a year-round-fruiting acidic citrus shows for Japanese beverage and food sourcing in the seasons when domestic sudachi and kabosu rest.

On 2 ha of poor land in Pa Long, Lao Cai province in northern Vietnam, sweet corn grown for a company by eight ethnic-minority households yielded 15 tonnes/ha in 90 days. Contract production, in which seed, fertilizer, and technology are handed over up front and the entire crop is bought at 6,000 dong per kilogram, levels out cash income in the mountains. We read whether it could become a third candidate growing area for Japan's frozen-corn sourcing.

At a meeting on July 30, the Vietnam shrimp association made the domestic production of seed stock its top priority. We read the four measures to end dependence on imported broodstock, and what the supply stability behind US$2.3 billion in first-half exports means for Japanese sourcing.

The fisheries center in Tuyen Quang province has produced more than 50,000 artificially bred fry of the premium river fish ca chien since the start of the year. By producing in-house, within the growing area, the juveniles that once depended on wild catch, the raw material for cage farming is moving toward stability. We explain the yardstick by which Japanese sourcing assesses a growing area.

A farmer in Quang Ninh province has converted unprofitable shrimp ponds into land-based farming of saltwater grouper. We read this trial, which aims for 3 to 4 kg over two years from 5,000 fish on 5,000 square meters, from the perspective of typhoon risk and sourcing for Japan.

Brazil's prohibition bill 6.331 exposed Vietnamese tilapia's 54% dependence on Brazil. We lay out its quality-focused market diversification into the United States, Europe, Japan, and the Middle East, and the supply and prices that Japanese buyers should watch.

Black pepper for the EU faces a wall of 565 pesticide-residue items. The Hoang Nguyen cooperative in Lam Dong has obtained organic (USDA, EU, JAS) certification on 195.6 of its 986 hectares and exports from them. A JAS-compliant growing region becomes, for Japanese sourcing, a raw material that does not get stopped at inspection.

The major feed company BioMar has obtained its first ASC feed certification among its Asia bases, at a joint-venture plant in Vinh Long province, Vietnam. We read how an international certification at the upstream of feed works as proof of traceability in sourcing shrimp and fish to Japan.

A Vietnamese bioengineer who quit a technical job in the south grows oyster mushrooms in Hue using acacia sawdust as the substrate. 5,000 bags per cycle, with monthly sales of 30 to 40 million dong. We read it from a sourcing perspective, as dried and powdered forms could become OEM ingredients for Japanese food makers.