From field to market: Building the green agricultural value chain

On the sidelines of ILDEX Viet Nam 2026, the Viet Nam Farm and Agricultural Enterprise Association (VFAEA) convened a seminar on May 21 titled "Clean Food, Green Agriculture -  Developing a Sustainable Value Chain," drawing experts, businesses, scientists, and agricultural students.

VFAEA Vice President Dr. Ha Thuy Hanh framed the event as a platform for advancing green and sustainable agriculture solutions, and for connecting scientists, enterprises, training institutions, and producers to accelerate the transfer of technical advances into practice.

Logistics emerged as one of the session's central concerns. Logistics costs currently account for an estimated 16.5 to 20 percent of Viet Nam's GDP, Dr. Ha said. Within agricultural commodity prices specifically, that share climbs to around 30 percent for rice, 29 percent for fruit and vegetables, and 12 percent for seafood. Compounding the problem, 77 percent of goods still move by road, and cold storage infrastructure remains concentrated in major urban centers, driving up distribution costs and keeping post-harvest loss rates unacceptably high.

Developing green logistics, expanding multimodal transport, and deploying digital technologies such as AI, blockchain, and warehouse and transport management systems could reduce freight costs by 15 to 20 percent while cutting carbon emissions, she said.

"Logistics is the foundation for raising the value and competitiveness of Vietnamese agricultural products," Dr. Ha told the seminar. "With the right infrastructure and technology investment, logistics can become a key driver in positioning Viet Nam as a leading regional and global hub for high-quality agricultural exports."

Nguyen Hoang Minh Tam, Deputy Director of the Cooperative Economics Center at the School of Public Policy and Rural Development under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, presented on the rice sector. He highlighted the government's project to develop one million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice cultivation in the Mekong Delta as opening a new direction for the industry.

By 2030, the initiative targets a dedicated cultivation zone producing around 13 million tonnes of rice annually, while cutting chemical fertilizer use by 30 percent, chemical pesticide use by 30 percent, irrigation water consumption by 20 percent, and seeding rates to below 70 kilograms per hectare.

The program, he said, is a critical tool for raising the value of Vietnamese rice and meeting increasingly stringent export market requirements on sustainability and carbon reduction.

Dr. Nguyen Van Diep, Director General of AVAC Viet Nam, addressed disease risk management in livestock production. Vaccines are an important tool for reducing disease risk, he said, but cannot substitute for biosecurity measures. Farms must tightly control the movement of breeding stock, people, and vehicles; conduct regular disinfection; and minimize pathogen entry into herds.

When used correctly within a biosecurity-compliant environment, vaccines become an effective shield, enabling producers to take a more proactive stance against African swine fever and limit economic losses. Field evaluation results for the AVAC ASF LIVE vaccine showed strong protection, with 95 percent of vaccinated pigs protected upon challenge with a virulent strain. No vaccine virus shedding was detected in blood or oral fluid samples at 14 or 28 days post-vaccination.

Nguyen Doan Giang, Deputy General Director of San Ha Co. Ltd., stressed that producing clean food is only the starting point, maintaining product quality throughout storage, transport, and distribution to consumers is equally critical. San Ha currently operates a fleet of more than 150 specialized vehicles alongside a cold chain system for fresh food preservation. Despite this, the company continues to face headwinds from limited cold chain infrastructure, fragmented smallholder production, disjointed supply chains, and high logistics costs.

Participants across the seminar converged on a common conclusion: building a green agricultural sector and a sustainable food chain requires synchronized action from government, business, scientists, and farmers. Value chain integration, green technology adoption, and modern logistics development were identified as the primary drivers for elevating Vietnamese agricultural products in the period ahead.

On the margins of the event, VFAEA signed cooperation agreements with Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry, the university's Startup and Innovation Center, and Hai Thinh Company, with the aim of leveraging each party's strengths in training, scientific research, technology transfer, and the application of technical advances in production.

Dr. Ha Thuy Hanh said VFAEA will continue to expand partnerships with universities, enterprises, and local agricultural centers to accelerate technology transfer and advance green, clean, and sustainable agriculture.