The agricultural sector, companies, and researchers should do moreresearch into the cocoa market, and utilise the by-products of the cropto develop the sector, a seminar heard in Ho Chi Minh City on November19.
Le Duc Thinh, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development's Department of Cooperative Economy and RuralDevelopment, said not much research is done into cocoa and the industrylacks professional researchers.
Most researchers in the field arefrom other sectors, he said, and much of their studies isimpracticable, he told the seminar organised by the Cao Nguyen XanhJoint Stock Company.
They focus on particular problems to copewith short-term challenges related to production, improving quality,expanding cultivation area, and diseases, while basic research toachieve greater understanding of the fundamental aspects of the sectoris lacking, he said.
The Government has invested in research butthat mainly focuses on seedling and farming techniques, and few studiesare done on developing the domestic cocoa market, marketing strategies,or developing the value chain, he said.
This should be changed,and the Government should collaborate with the private sector for suchresearch and strengthen co-operation with international cocoa researchorganisations, he said.
Nguyen Van Hoa, Deputy Director of theDepartment of Crop Production, said though cocoa trees were introducedto Vietnam in the 1950s, cocoa plantations did not prosper until 10years ago.
Since cocoa is still a relatively new crop in Vietnam,more research is needed to come up with better cultivation techniquesto improve efficiency, he said.
The area under the crop has increased from 2,000-3,000ha in 2003-04 to nearly 20,000ha now.
Those areas applying proper farming techniques achieve very high yields, he said.
Expertssaid the industry has new opportunities thanks to the growing globaldemand, which is expected to cause a shortage of one million tonnes by2020.
The seminar was held as part of the "Cooperation forenhancing sustainable cocoa development," a Vietnam-Netherlands publicprivate partnership project for sustainable cocoa development, whichaligns the public efforts with those by Rabobank Foundation, MarsIncorporated, Cargill and others.-VNA
Le Duc Thinh, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development's Department of Cooperative Economy and RuralDevelopment, said not much research is done into cocoa and the industrylacks professional researchers.
Most researchers in the field arefrom other sectors, he said, and much of their studies isimpracticable, he told the seminar organised by the Cao Nguyen XanhJoint Stock Company.
They focus on particular problems to copewith short-term challenges related to production, improving quality,expanding cultivation area, and diseases, while basic research toachieve greater understanding of the fundamental aspects of the sectoris lacking, he said.
The Government has invested in research butthat mainly focuses on seedling and farming techniques, and few studiesare done on developing the domestic cocoa market, marketing strategies,or developing the value chain, he said.
This should be changed,and the Government should collaborate with the private sector for suchresearch and strengthen co-operation with international cocoa researchorganisations, he said.
Nguyen Van Hoa, Deputy Director of theDepartment of Crop Production, said though cocoa trees were introducedto Vietnam in the 1950s, cocoa plantations did not prosper until 10years ago.
Since cocoa is still a relatively new crop in Vietnam,more research is needed to come up with better cultivation techniquesto improve efficiency, he said.
The area under the crop has increased from 2,000-3,000ha in 2003-04 to nearly 20,000ha now.
Those areas applying proper farming techniques achieve very high yields, he said.
Expertssaid the industry has new opportunities thanks to the growing globaldemand, which is expected to cause a shortage of one million tonnes by2020.
The seminar was held as part of the "Cooperation forenhancing sustainable cocoa development," a Vietnam-Netherlands publicprivate partnership project for sustainable cocoa development, whichaligns the public efforts with those by Rabobank Foundation, MarsIncorporated, Cargill and others.-VNA
