Despite continual food safety scandals, those farmers producing good quality produce are finding it difficult to find distributors and retailers for their output.
Farmers of high-quality food fail to reach mass consumers
Statistics from the Vietnam Business Forum showed that in 2014, Vietnam has 5,000 food poisoning cases. In the first nine months this year, 129 food poisoning cases were reported leaving 3,436 people needing medical treatment and a gigantic 20 fatalities. The Vietnam Food Administration reported that they fined 40 companies over VND675m (USD30,700) and withdrawn 11 food hygiene certificates as of October this year. Unofficial research has pointed out that 50 percent of fertilizer in Vietnam does not meet required standards or are fake.
David Whitehead from Vietnam Business Forum said food hygiene could hinder the development of export industry and badly affect Vietnam's reputation. Due to lack of regulations, some banned substances in other countries are still used in Vietnam, he said.
Meanwhile, farmers that apply Vietnam Good Agriculture Practices are struggling to find outlets. Seed To Table, a non-government Japanese organisation that supports farmers in Tan Lac District, Hoa Binh Province, with hygienic farming practices, said they couldn't find any regular buyers.
Farmers in Lang Chau Bac Village, Quang Nam Province, also suffered since they had to spend more than usual to follow good farming practices while prices from wholesale buyers were too low. Many farmers chose to grow something else to offset the loss.
An anonymous expert from the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development, said, "This remains a long-standing problem in Vietnam. We lack a cohesive link between the government to the scientists, farmers and companies. The farmers keep producing food while there's no good distribution system to reach consumers. Consumer trust has also fallen as unscrupulous distributors mix good quality produce in with below-standard goods."
He went on to say that in order to reach consumers, farmers need to co-operate with each other to increase their quantity and improve their farming practices to reduce prices.