The Vietnamese pepper industry must improve its cultivation methods and processing technology to maintain its position as the world's top exporter, the Viet Nam Pepper Association has said.
Vietnam has earned more than US$100 million a year from pepper exports in recent years, exporting its products mainly to Europe, the US and the Middle East.
Several pepper processing plants in the Central Highlands have installed modern processing technology including dehydration and sterilisation systems to ensure food safety and sanitation standards.
According to the Southern Agricultural Scientific and Technical Institute, the country's pepper area has expanded from 3,900ha to 52,000ha in the last two decades. Major pepper growing areas are in Binh Phuoc, Dak Lak, Dong Nai and Phu Quoc.
Despite expansion, scientists said growers needed to gradually replace low-yielding hybrids with new, high-yield ones and apply advanced methods in hybridisation, planting, processing, and post-harvest preservation to improve crop productivity and quality.
The industry has set up crop specialisation areas including the 14,200ha area in Binh Phuoc Province, 8,400ha in Dak Lak Province and 8,100ha area in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.
The Viet Nam Pepper Association also urges local pepper farmers to maintain quality and comply with the cultivation planning by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The ministry plans to maintain the pepper area of 50,000ha with an output of 100,000 tonnes a year.
Over the past years, scientists have conducted several projects to improve farming methods, including watering, fertilising and spraying insecticides, to increase the quality of the crop to raise competitiveness on the global market.
Scientists said farmers needed to comply with the ministry's cultivation and processing standards to obtain an average output of 120,000 tonnes and average export revenue of $130 million by 2010 and $280 million in 2020.
Source: VietnamNet
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