(PLO)- Deep processing of agricultural products after harvest is a way to increase the output value of products.
According to estimates, the annual output of Vietnamese vegetables and fruits reaches 31 million tons, but the processing rate is only about 12%-17%. The fruit and vegetable processing industry only meets about 8%-10% of annual output. This on the one hand causes the value of agricultural products not to increase, on the other hand, the risk of economic loss due to the amount of damaged fruits and vegetables after harvest, when transported to the place of consumption is very large.
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Modern fruit drying system at an agricultural product processing enterprise. Photo: THU HA |
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| Processed fruits and vegetables will increase shelf life and product value. |
Dried agricultural products: Convenience, high value
Pursuing the agricultural product processing industry for more than six years, Mr. Nong Ngoc Trung, Chairman of the Golden Field Agriculture and Forestry Joint Stock Company, considers Vietnam to be a country with a large agricultural industry, if not applying technology in farming. cultivation, processing and consumption, the consumption of agricultural products will be difficult to succeed.
Accordingly, the application of deep post-harvest technology is the key to reducing logistics costs, opening and accessing many markets around the world, and increasing the value of products.
“For a long time, we often consume fruit products in fresh form. Meanwhile, to transport fresh fruit to the market faces many risks of loss, minimizing economic value. When importing Vietnamese fruits, other countries must also carry out the processing. If we process products right at the raw material area, the economic value will certainly increase much higher, “- Mr. Trung said.
The new drying technology is 10 times cheaper than conventional technology and the output product has outstanding quality in terms of color and taste.
For example, dragon fruit, 11 kg of fresh dragon fruit costs 7,000-10,000 VND/kg, if dried, it will give 1 kg of finished product. Dried dragon fruit is priced at 15 USD/kg, equivalent to 300,000 VND. It can be clearly seen that the added value is significant and the storage time is also extended. Each container from Binh Thuan to the border gate and paying taxes through China costs about 100 million VND. If optimizing the number of goods per container by drying, the cost will be reduced 11 times.
“Dried fruit can be preserved for 24-36 months compared to only 10 days of fresh fruit, giving businesses plenty of time to access the global supply chain” – Mr. Trung expanded the issue.
In order to solve the problem of consuming post-harvest products, meeting fastidious markets, Golden Field Agriculture and Forestry Joint Stock Company owns a versatile drying technology, helping to diversify products and increase consumption time. for many products from agriculture to fishery.
In particular, this drying system can be completely transported by container, easily transported across areas, even to remote and remote areas. Thanks to the advanced sterilization drying technology, fully controlled by 4.0 technology with a drying temperature range of 0-85 degrees Celsius, the company can dry 5-7 tons of agricultural products within 24 hours.
“Our technology is well received and appreciated by many customers in Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, the US, China, and Korea,” said Mr. Trung.
Previously, Phuc Ha Juice Company Limited also cooperated with Golden Field Agriculture and Forestry Joint Stock Company to form a storage and processing area for dried dragon fruit with a capacity of more than 600 tons of fresh fruit/month, creating stable jobs for local workers. With this technology, each batch of drying costs only about 2 million VND, the price is 10 times cheaper than conventional technology and the output product has outstanding quality in color and taste.
Ms. Le Thi Nguyen Ha, Director of Phuc Ha Juice Co., Ltd., recognized the importance of investing in processing technology for fruit. “If this product is put into processing, it will bring high economic value and increase income for farmers” – Ms. Ha affirmed.
Besides the mobile drying line, according to Mr. Dang Tran Viet, Sales Director of Sasaki Vietnam, refrigeration drying technologies are also a new trend to bring higher product quality with low production costs and high efficiency. Environmental friendliness. Thanks to this technology, post-harvest agricultural products can still retain their delicious taste, color, smell and taste.
Up to now, more than 76% of exported fruits and vegetables have not been processed, the consumption is still in the form of fresh or preliminarily processed and preserved. This leads to very high post-harvest losses, high rates of spoilage in transit and during consumption. The reason is due to poor post-harvest preservation process, lack of minimal equipment such as electricity, water, cold storage… leading to post-harvest losses of more than 20%.
Mr. NGO QUANG TU, representative of Department of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development (MARD)
Expanding products processed from agricultural products
Having five years of experience in the fruit processing industry in Vietnam, the representative of Andros Asia – Mr. Valentin Tran said that the business is trying to build a chain of production and consumption of fruit products in Tien Giang and safe material areas with Global GAP certification in provinces such as An Giang, Central Highlands…
Accordingly, fruits after being purchased from people will be processed into finished products such as jams, ingredients for making drinks, cakes, bottled water, fruit products for children, etc. export to the European market.
Mr. Valentin Tran said that each year this business preliminarily processes 20,000 tons of fresh fruit and exports more than 40,000 tons of processed fruit to foreign markets. In which, the Mekong Delta is the largest source of raw materials, accounting for 35%. Tien Giang is considered to be the fastest growing fruit area. It is estimated that by 2025, the enterprise will increase its purchasing capacity to 30,000 tons of local fruit per year.
Mr. Valentin Tran said that Vietnamese fruit has a lot of potential for development in foreign markets because it possesses many advantages in varieties, product quality and good price. The deep production of fresh fruit into other materials will increase the product’s value. At the same time, in order for domestic fruit to go further, to avoid the problem of good harvest and devaluation, it is necessary to improve product quality and change traditional farming habits to sustainable farming.
Unlike Andros Asia, Mr. Le Duy Toan, Director of Duy Anh Food Company Limited (HCMC), uses post-harvest agricultural products such as dragon fruit, watermelon, etc. to process them into various types of vermicelli. , rice paper, creating surprises and attraction for the Japanese and Korean markets… right from the moment of offering. In addition, the enterprise also has more products made from other agricultural products such as coffee vermicelli, sweet potato vermicelli, moringa vermicelli, spinach noodles, beetroot noodles, pumpkin noodles, black sesame noodles, carrot noodles …
Prof. Dr. Pham Anh Tuan, Director of the Institute of Agricultural Electromechanics and Post-Harvest Technology, commented: “We can completely improve the processing rate and can meet the demand for product diversification. processed fruit and vegetable products. In order to double the output of processed fruits and vegetables in the coming years, businesses need to invest in the right technology.”
However, in fact, the application of post-harvest technology to preserve and process products has been applied by many units but not much, so the situation of good harvests and devaluation still recurs.•
Processing enterprises need support
In fact, raw materials can only meet 50%-60% of the processing capacity due to the seasonal characteristics of the products along with the barriers of small, scattered, and heterogeneous cultivation areas. , technological capacity, labor level and production and storage infrastructure of enterprises, logistics costs are still limited…
Meanwhile, with the consumption market, the deeper the pre-processed products, the narrower the market, the internal processing enterprises lack capital quite a lot, the capital scale is very small.
Statistics show that more than 80% of establishments have capital of less than 2 billion VND. The loan mechanism and policy are not suitable for 80% of these small and medium enterprises, in fact only about 30% of them have the ability to access bank capital. Therefore, in order to increase the value of post-harvest agricultural products, it is necessary to reorganize production and material areas in the direction of promoting chain production to ensure raw materials for processing.
Relevant agencies should study and promulgate legal documents on chain link management, with regulations on coordination of linkage activities; improve the capacity for processing and preserving vegetables or fruits or perfecting institutions and policies; develop the market for processed products; continue to effectively implement the project on development of fruit and vegetable processing industry in the period of 2021-2030.
THU HA