Cooperatives - the "key" to unlock billion-dollar agricultural exports

A foundation against supply chain disruptions

At the Forum “Solutions to Increase Competitiveness, Promote Exports of Advantageous Fruits: Passion Fruit, Banana, Pineapple, Coconut” organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, Doctor Tran Minh Hai, Vice-Rector of the School of Public Policy and Rural Development, emphasised: To enhance export capacity and minimise contract-breaking risks, enterprises need to link up through cooperatives.

According to Hai, cooperatives are not just technical hubs but also strategic partners in logistics and product quality.

Cooperatives can establish and manage planting area codes, organise raw material zones, and control output – prerequisite conditions for Viet Nam’s agricultural products to enter premium markets.

A new trend is emerging where coconut water planting areas from Ben Tre and Tien Giang are shifting to Southeast and Central Highlands regions, with areas of 30–50 hectares already granted planting area codes and ready for export. However, Hai cautioned that there must be clear distinction between coconut varieties for water and for oil. If the wrong variety or harvest time is chosen, coconut water may spoil during long-distance transport.

Hai also shared the cooperative model of selling grade-2 fruits directly at apartment complexes in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang. Each 3-tonne truckload typically sells out within one to two hours, helping clear inventory and potentially opening an e-commerce channel if supported with packaging and design.

However, the supply chain can collapse without a control mechanism. Nguyen Manh Hung, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nafoods Joint Stock Company, cited a case where Nafoods invested 200 billion VND in a pineapple planting area but failed because farmers broke contracts, selling to traders offering higher prices.

Learning from this, the company has switched to digitising management of all 5,000 hectares of raw material areas, signing floor-price contracts, setting purchase limits per hectare, and being ready to cancel contracts with violating households to protect long-term credibility and mutual benefit.

Restructuring the sector to realise fruit export ambitions

Not only pineapples, many other key sectors like passion fruit, bananas, and coconuts are also aiming for billion-dollar export scales. This requires comprehensive sector restructuring: from raw material zoning, variety selection, quality control to deep processing investment.

The passion fruit sector, from zero only a decade ago, has reached 300 million USD in export turnover, expected to surpass 500 million USD this year. If the Chinese market officially opens, this figure could hit 1 billion USD. Viet Nam’s passion fruit yields currently reach 40–60 tonnes/hectare (double South America’s), with low production costs, while retail prices in supermarkets can reach 230,000 VND/kg. Nafoods’ sweet passion fruit variety alone has brought farmers’ incomes of up to 1 billion VND/hectare per crop.

However, for sustainable development, Hung believes it is necessary to: prevent counterfeit varieties, control pesticide residues, increase supervision of small facilities, and avoid mass planting that leads to oversupply.

As for bananas, expectations are even higher: up to 4 billion USD in exports. Pham Quoc Liem, Chairman of Unifarm, affirmed that only by applying “one standard–one process” from variety, technique to pre-processing can Viet Nam’s bananas compete internationally. Unifarm is applying high technology, selecting Panama wilt-resistant varieties, aiming for incomes of 20,000 USD/hectare, nearly 10 times the current level.

Entrepreneur Vo Quan Huy also called for developing the processed banana segment and by-products such as stems, leaves, flowers, banana bulbs for food, pharmaceuticals, biowaste fibres, organic fertilisers. However, systematic investment policies are still lacking and fresh bananas remain dependent on markets in China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea.

For coconuts, Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh, Chairwoman of the Viet Nam Coconut Association, said the Mekong Delta has more than 20 varieties, but cross-planting due to spontaneous farmer practices is still common. She proposed quickly building a digital planting area map, promoting intercropping towards ecology, leveraging carbon credits, and investing in mechanisation to reduce costs and enhance traceability.

According to To Viet Chau, Deputy Director of the Department of International Cooperation, the four product groups of passion fruit, bananas, pineapples, and coconuts are prioritised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment due to their large export potential. Among them, China is the key market, with 12 fruit types exported under official quotas and 6 types with signed protocols.

Ngo Xuan Nam (Viet Nam SPS Office) said that after Viet Nam implemented the two-tier local government model from July 1, 2025, no shipment has encountered problems due to administrative boundary changes, thanks to timely updates on China’s CIFER system.

From the perspective of seed policy, Nguyen Nhu Cuong (Department of Science and Technology) said the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is proposing to keep only rice and corn in the main crop list. Other crops like bananas, coffee, pomelo… will be self-declared by enterprises, meaning they bear responsibility for ensuring quality.

On the technology front, many businesses propose preferential policies for importing materials such as cutting knives, grafting tape, substrates for passion fruit variety production. Doctor Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, former Director of the Department of Science and Technology, said there will be guidance on establishing science-technology enterprises to invest in research-production applications using state capital.

The cooperative model is a vital “foundation” in shaping the linkage chain and enhancing the position of Viet Nam’s agricultural products. However, to maximise the effectiveness of this model, synchronised policies are urgently needed on varieties, technology, deep processing, and market management – the weak links that must be addressed for Viet Nam’s agriculture to confidently enter the global playing field.

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