The country’s vegetables and fruits are now available in 50 countries and territories with China, its largest market, accounting for 42 percent of total export turnover, followed by Singapore and Taiwan.

Exports to France, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Japan and the Netherlands have also seen high growth rates, posting increases of between 40-57 percent.

Vietnam currently has around 755,000 ha of orchard, which produce an estimated 6.5 million tonnes of fruit a year, including 1.4 million tonnes of bananas, 800,000 tonnes of citrus fruits and 590,000 tonnes of longan.

The Mekong delta region provides the largest area of 231,000 ha. The region is expected to increase its orchard area to 300,000 ha in 2006 and 420,000 ha in 2010, harvesting outputs of 3.3 million tonnes and 4.6 million tonnes of fruits, respectively.

The MARD said that the growing of vegetables, fruit trees, flowers and ornamental plants is one of the agricultural sector’s main development directions between now and 2010.

Accordingly, the sector will raise the orchard acreage to 1.3 million ha by 2010, with the aim of yielding 20 million tonnes of fruits and grossing an export turnover of US$1 billion. In 2006 alone, it plans to expand the orchard area to 760,000 ha, 5,000 ha higher than this year, and to earn US$330 million from fruit exports.

To reach the target, the ministry has encouraged localities to focus on developing much-sought-after fruits such as citrus, pineapple, mango, longan, litchi, durian, mangosteen and star apple.

The MARD will carry out programmes to build trademarks, expand markets and boost vegetable-fruit processing. It will also develop nursery gardens in order to ensure a sufficient supply of orchard saplings for farmers, as well as promoting the application of advanced technology in processing and preserving fruits.

VNA