Collaboration for Agriculture and Rur
al Development
(CARD)
Program
44
IMPROVEMENT OF EXPORT AND DOMESTIC MARKETS FOR
VIETNAMESE FRUIT THROUGH IMPROVED POST
-
HARVEST AND
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Pr
oject title:
Improvement of export and domestic markets for Vietnamese fruit through improved
post
-
harvest and supply chain management
Project code
: CARD 050/04 VIE
Authors:
Nguyen Duy Duc
1
,
R. J. Nissen
3
, Nguyen Minh Chau
2
, Nguyen Ngu
1
, Vu Cong
Khanh
1

other Asian nations in export markets and its
own domestic market, especially with China
and Thailand. Ford et al., (2003), suggested the
competitiveness of Vietnamese
fruit industries
were failing due to poor, unstable product
quality, no quality standards, poor post harvest
technologies and pre
-
harvest practices, lack of
group co
-
operative marketing structures and
little information about supply chains, prices
and cus
tomers needs. This suggests that
Vietnam’s horticultural industries require
substantial development to be globally
competitive.
This project will address constraints by
engaging with key Vietnamese stakeholders
from research institutes (SIAEP and SOFRI)
a
nd local farmers in the mango and pomelo
industries in Southern Vietnam. This project
will take total supply chain network into
account. This project focused on where
significant benefits are to be gained in the pre
-
harvest, post

w
ere selected to conduct research.

A strategic analysis of the mango and
pomelo horticultural industries supply
chains in Vietnam

Mapping and identifying strengths and
weaknesses in existing domestic and
export chains for mango and pomelo,
with particular e
mphasis on determining
consumer preferences and needs, and
feeding results back to farmers

Selection of the key stakeholders and
identification of key pre
-
and post
-
harvest
and cultural constraints

Developing improved export and
domestic supply chains for m
ango and
pomelo
CARD 050/04 VIE
–
Market improvement for Vietnamese fruits

Traditional supply chain (no change in
technology or supply chain practices)
•
New supply chain (new improved pre
-
and post
-
harvest technologies and hot
water treatment
)
•
Metro Cash and Carry cool supply chain
(New improved pre
-
and post harvest
technologies, hot water treatment and
cool supply chain): For the Metro Cool
Supply Chain fruit were transported from
the pack house in Cai Be, Tien Giang
Province by air conditi
oned van (20
-
25
o
C) to Metro warehouse where the fruit
were temporary placed in the Metro
warehouse cool room at 5
-
10
o

covered by pallet
•
Operation principle of ripening
chamber;
-
Washing: mango after h
arvest were
transported direct to the laboratory in
the same day. Use clean water 0,2%
hypochlorite sodium to wash mango
before treatment.
-
Mango then was put into plastic tray
in the order and kept a clearance
enough to allow a fan blow ethylene
air
contact equally with the mango
fruit surface.
-
During treatment, the repining door
must be tightly closed to avoid the air
leakage
-
Repining treatment is about 24 hours
and temperature should be maintained
about 28
0
C.
-
Check the content of CO

non
-
bagging methods
N
.D
Du
c
,
R. J. Nissen,
N.M
Chau, Nguyen Ngu,
V.C
Khanh,
S.T
Anh
,
N.V
Binh
&
T.T
Kim Oanh
46
2.2.4
Pre
-
and post
-
harvest capacity building
of mango and pomelo farmers


covered were:

Mango Cultivation Handbook

Mango Pest Control Handbook

Mango Disease Control Handbook

Pomelo Cultivation Pest and
Disease Control Handbook.
Manuals covering pre
-
harvest training and
were provided:

Best practice manual for mango
(Mango Information Kit)

Mango and citrus orchard design

Citrus training and pruning manual

Farmer citrus training and pruning
manual

Using che
micals (A chemical
handling and safety manual)

Citrus pest and disease manual


Developing food value supply
chains

Understanding and monitoring
quality flows

Principles of supply/value chains

Supply/value chian analysis

Developing supply/value chains

Developing strategic plans

Developing action plans

Developing new improved
horticultural supply/value chains

Supply/value chain management of
fresh product quality and food
safety

Understand supply/value chain and
product quality

Processes used to manage fresh
product quality and fo
od safety

lity of this project. These
manuals are a way of ensuring long
-
term
project impacts. Manuals are of then used a
source of reference material for SOFRI and
SIAEP staff as well as the local mango and
pomelo farmers. On several of the farm
visits in the Me
kong Delta, farmers would
bring out their manuals, proudly displaying
them and discuss various aspects they have
read or need help with in trying to
implement on their farms.
3.2
Pomelo outcomes
Results from experiments indicated that fruit
treated with C
itra Shine Special Wax had an
increased the shelf life. The increase was about
2 weeks compared to the control and Vacuum
Wrapping treated fruit. The change from green
to yellow was about one week later for the Citra
Shine Special Wax and Vacuum Wrapped
treated fruit compared to the Control treated
fruit. This delay in colour change may have
some effect on the supply chains operating in
the Mekong River Delta in southern Vietnam
by allowing traders, collectors, packing agents
and wholesalers to hold frui

70
77
Percentage moisture loss (%)
0
10
20
30
40
Control
Citra Shine Special
Vacuum Wrapping
Days
0
7
14
21
28
35
42
49
56
63
70
77
Taste evaluation (hedonic scale 1-9)
0
1
2
3
4

&
T.T
Kim Oanh
48
3.3
Mango outcomes
3.3.1
Hot dip treatment and low
temperature control
Keeping mango fruit cool along the supply
chain in the high humidity and high temperature
conditions in Southern Vietnam significantly
reduces fruit weight loss by 35% to 61% and
extended shelf life by a minimu
m of 4 days.
Combinations of new fibreboard packaging,
hot water dip treatment, plastic crate
packaging and cooling the fruit along the
supply chain significantly reduced disease
infestation by 55% to 93% respectively.
As with most fruit, mangoes are best
ripened at
the wholesale market end of the chain. This
will allow the fruit to travel along the chain in a
hard green state reducing handling damage and
disease development. Mangoes should be
ripened at 18
o
C to 22
o

0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Percentage (%) of fruit sample affected by disease
0
20
40
60
80
100
Traditional supply chain
New supply chain
Metro cool supply chain
Figure 3. Comparison of the percentage of fruit
weigh loss rate in for the Traditional, New and
Metro Cool Supply Chains
Figure 4. Comparison of the percentage of the fruit
affected b
y disease for the Traditional Supply Chain,
New Supply Chain and the Metro Cool Supply Chain
Development of new cool supply chain
systems, packaging and disease control
methods to extend shelf life of Cat Hoa Loc
mango in Southern Vietnam must be a key
initiative of Government and Institutes to
ensure farmers in the Mekong Delta remain

–
Market improvement for Vietnamese fruits
49
3.3.3
Compare the effective of bagging
and non
-
bagging methods
Bagged fruit were only sprayed once with
pesticides (before bagging), while non
-
bagg
ed
fruit were sprayed a further seven times. This
bagging method provides to consumers a
chemical free, safe product. An 87% reduction
pesticides costs was achieved using fruit
bagging. Table 1 below show 10% to 20%
increase in fruit quality achieved us
ing fruit
bags across all fruit grades. Table 2 below,
show the price received in VND/kg for each
fruit grade
for bagged and non
-
bagged fruit.
Table 1. Comparison of fruit grades, bagged fruit versus non
-
bagged fruit.
Grade

30 000
17
Class 2
25 000
20 000
25
Class 3
10 000
7 000
43
Comparing production costs of fruit bagging on
one Cat Hoa Loc mango tree to one tree that
was not bagged was 231 200 VND vs. 128 000
VND. Comparison of income from one Cat
Hoa Loc mango tree with bag
ged fruit versus
one tree where the fruit were not bagged was
2 573 000 VND vs. 1 824 800 VND. Profit
earned from one Cat Hoa Loc mango tree that
was bagged was 2 341 800 VND compared to a
non
-
bagged tree of Cat Hoa Loc 1 696 800
VND. These studies foun
d that fruit bagging
during the May to August period could
significantly increase incomes by 27%, lifting
socio
-
economic standings.

practices to increase fruit quality by
allowing:
o
greater light penetration into the
canopy
o
b
etter spray penetration (This will
give greater control of pests and
N
.D
Du
c
,
R. J. Nissen,
N.M
Chau, Nguyen Ngu,
V.C
Khanh,
S.T
Anh
,
N.V
Binh
&
T.T
Kim Oanh
50
diseases thereby reducing effects on
fruit quality and help reduce chemical

and training, tree lopping and top
-
working trees
to new varieties.
3.3.2
Canopy management for pomelo and
mango
Correct canopy management procedures for
pomelo is difficult to achieve in Vietnam due to
farmers having to constantly remove branches
and
limbs due to infestation of Huanglongbing
(greening disease). It is hoped that newly
established orchards trees will be pruned to the
desired tree shape to facilitate the effectiveness
of sprays for pests and diseases and improve
light interception and u
ltimately fruit quality
following GAP for Vietnam.
For mango, the very large, old trees with a
single stem would also prove difficult to prune,
but discussions held at SOFRI with staff and
farmers devised a system for gradual pruning
and training of trees.
Many growers are still
very hesitant or uncertain about the effects of
pruning very old and large mango trees. This is
a cultural factor that has to be addressed in
Vietnam. Other projects conducted by the
Australian team in northern Vietnam have

finally the consumers.
For
example: The main diseases affecting
mangoes during the postharvest phase, develop
from infections that occur in the field and then
remain latent until the fruit ripen. Disease may
also develop as a result of wound infections that
occur during the harvest
ing and postharvest
handling of the fruit. Applying chemicals at
late fruit development stages in field or during
the postharvest phase increase the risks of
chemical contamination and may void quality
assurance standards. Therefore, correctly
identifyin
g the disease and the chemical that
will control the disease and correct application
(rate and timing) early in the field is the safest,
avoiding contamination, health and safety
issues and voiding quality assurance standards.
Anthracnose is a fungus that
affects most parts
of the mango tree. It grows on leaves, young
shoots, flowers and fruit. The fungus spreads
CARD 050/04 VIE
–
Market improvement for Vietnamese fruits
51
from spores that are produced on dead twigs,
branches and leaves. These spores are spread

prolong the tree life by disrupting the
psyllids
movements due to volatiles released from the
guava trees.
Where pomelo fruit hang together on the tree
and mature, they usually develop disease where
they touch each other. It was proposed to
farmers, where fruit hang in doubles that one
fruit be
removed early to avoid diseases
building up on the fruit. This process will
increase the number of marketable fruit per tree
thereby increasing yield and farm gate returns.
3.4
Postharvest capacity building for
mango and pomelo farmers
After training, Ma
ngo groups have initiated
new harvesting procedures and process to
ensure quality standards and GAP are adhered
to. For example:
o
Mango fruit are harvested in the morning,
but on occasions when rain or other crop
management factors intervene, fruit may
be
harvested at any time of day.
o
Harvesting poles are used to harvest the
fruit from the ground and from high up in

attached to catch the fruit (Figure 5). All fruit
are now harvested with long stem 15 to 20 cm
in length if possible. This system replaces the
old harvesting pole with cutter blade (Figure 6)
with a net to catch
fruit. Another earlier
method used was a picking pole with a looped
wire to pull or snap the fruit from tree branches
(Figure 7). Fruit were caught in a cloth bag
suspended underneath the picking pole. The
last two systems were reported to increase the
incidence of sap burn, downgrading fruit from
class 1 to class 3. Growers reported that net
bags are too rough and damage the skin of the
fruit. Soft bags also have problems, sap
adheres to the material, builds up, and causes
sap burn and abrasion damage
on the skin of the
fruit.
Collaboration for Agriculture and Rur
al Development
(CARD)
Program
52
Figure 5. New mango harvesting system using
scissors to cut the fruit from the tree.
Figure 6. Old system that uses blades to cut mango fruit
from trees whilst catching fruit in a net.
Figure 7. Old system where fr
uit is pulled from tree

field,
participatory action learning workshops
provided a better under
standing of how
improvements to the mango and pomelo
supply/value chains operating in Southern
Vietnam. Forty four manuals and workbooks
were developed and used in the CARD Project
and 24 reports which10 papers published in
international journals and wor
kshops were
produced covering.
4.
Conclusions
A strategic analysis of the mango and pomelo
supply/value chains operating in southern
Vietnam was completed by SIAEP and SOFRI
staff, farmers, collectors, traders, wholesalers,
exporters and retailers.
This
strategic analysis process, in manual form
was provided to both SIAEP and SOFRI staff to
use for development of future fruit and
vegetable supply/value chains. Strategic plans
workshops were also held in villages with
CARD 050/04 VIE
–
Market improvement for Vietnamese fruits
53
mango and pomelo growers and with co

processor in Ho Chi Minh city to Japan market.
They use the ripening procedure developed by
this project and their main products is frozen
fresh
-
cut to supply Japa
nese company.
References
1.
Nguy
ễ
n Duy Đ
ứ
c, R. J. Nissen , Nguy
ễ
n
Minh Châu and et. Final report of 050/04
VIE Project, period from 2006
-
2009.
2.
Nguyen Huu Hinh. 2007. Flooding in
Mekong River Delta, Viet Nam. Human
Development Report 2007/2008, Fight
ing
climate change: Human solidarity in a
divided world. Human Development Report
Office, Occasional Paper. Available:
-
/>07

Robert L. S; Bernhard B. 2000. Fruit and
Vegetable Quality. CRC Press.
7.
Ross C. B; Suresh D. P; Timothy D. P,
2004. Preharvest and Postharvest Food
Safety: Contemporary Issues and Fut
ure
Direction. Blackwell Publishing.
8.
Thompson, A.K; Fruit and Vegetables:
Harvesting, Handling and Storage, 2003.
Blackwell Publishing.
9.
Van Mele, P, Nguyen Thi Thu Cuc, and
Van Huis, A. 2001. Farmers’ knowledge,
perceptions and practices in mango pest
m
anagement in the Mekong Delta,
Vietnam. International Journal of Pest
Management, 2001, 47(1) 7± 16.
10.
United Nations Family planning
Association (UNFPA). 2009. Vietnam
Population 2007. Available:
-
/>ien%20dong%20dan
%20so_UNFPA_eng.p
df. Date:
-
12/03/2009.

Kim Oanh
54
12.
U.S. Department of State. 2009.
Background Note: Vietnam. US Bureau of
East Asian and Pacific Affairs. March
2009. Under Secretary for Public
Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Bureau of
Public Affairs. Electron
ic Publication
Office. Available:
-
/>Date:
-
16/03/2009.
13.
Van Mele, P, Nguyen Thi Thu Cuc, and
Van Huis, A. 2001. Farmers’ knowledge,
perceptions and practices in mango pest
management in the Mekong Delta,
Vietnam
. International Journal of Pest
Management, 2001, 47(1) 7± 16.