Fruits and Vegetables in Vietnam - International Food Policy ...

7.3 Grading and quality standards
Over 91 percent of producers claimed to be aware of quality and grading standards for fruit and
vegetable production, and 95 percent of those based their growing and post-harvest decisions on those
standards. Producers of mandarin were the least aware of grading standards (77 percent of mandarin
producers), but, of those that were aware of grading standards, all incorporated those grading standards into
their growing and processing of mandarin. Banana producers were least likely to incorporate grading and
quality standards into their production process, with only 62.4 percent of producers who were aware of
standards actually modifying their production process (84 percent of them were aware of grading standards).
The survey asked growers their views on the most important qualities emphasized in the quality
standards 8 . Overall, size, shape and color (41 percent, 62 percent, and 37 percent of producers) were the first,
second and third most important characteristics emphasized in the quality standards. This was consistent for
all fruits and vegetables, except for litchi where shape was not considered to be as an important characteristic
as size and color. The smell, texture and flavor of fruits and vegetables were considered less important
characteristics, though 27 percent of orange producers cited flavor as the most important characteristic.
These results should be treated with caution, however, since they are based on the farmers’
responses, not by testing their knowledge. Vietnamese researchers believe that farmers may be referring to
commonly accepted quality standards rather than the officially adopted standards.
7.4 Post-harvest problems
As mentioned above, Table 3-33 indicates that losses from post-harvesting are generally quite small,
averaging 1.4 percent of total processed product. Table 3-32 shows that the percentage of the crop that was
affected by post harvest problems (as distinct from processing) was generally small as well, averaging 4
percent of the total crop. This varies between 32 percent of the Carrot harvest and 2 percent of the longan
harvest. The percentage of the crop that was destroyed by post-harvest problems was approximately half that
actually affected by problems (1.6 percent) while the overall value lost was quite small, at 2 percent of total
crop value.
While the total proportion of the crop that was affected by post-harvest problems was quite small,
the effect of those problems on the sales of that proportion was quite major. Table 3-34 shows that over 57
percent of producers reported post-harvest problems (even though the actual proportion of the crop affected
was quite small). The percentage of producers reporting post-harvest problems ranged from just 3 percent of
the carrot producers to 100 percent of the dragon fruit producers. In nearly 76 percent of the problem cases,
the buyer rejected the produce due to post-harvest problems and in 66 percent of the cases the price
subsequently offered producers was lower than the market price due to the problems.
As Table 3-34 shows, the major post-harvest problems included transportation problems (26.7
percent of producers with a problem reporting this problem), handling problems (16.9 percent of producers),
Simply being unable to sell their produce after harvest (16.8 percent of producers), harvesting technique (11
percent of producers) and insect damage (10 percent of producers).
8 This is not necessarily what the quality standards actually emphasized.
Chapter 3. Commercial growers of fruits and vegetables Page 3-16