Delegates press the button to inaugurate Doveco Gia Lai vegetable and fruit processing centre. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoai Nam

The largest fruit and vegetable processing centre of the Central Highlands was inaugurated in Gia Lai Province on Monday.

The factory complex of the Dong Giao Foodstuff Export JSC covers 6ha and is designed to manufacture 52,000 tonnes of products annually.

It comprises of three modern automated production lines, including one for manufacturing fruit juice with a capacity of 20,000 tonnes per year, another for freezing vegetable and fruit with an annual capacity of 22,000 tonnes, and the rest for canning vegetable and fruit with a capacity of 10,000 tonnes per year.

Dinh Cao Khue, Chairman of the firm’s board of directors, said the processing centre will help ensure stable consumption of agricultural products of Gia Lai and the whole Central Highlands region.

It is set to generate an export turnover of about US$100 million and revenue of VND2 trillion ($86.3 million) each year while providing jobs for tens of thousands of labourers in agriculture, industry, service, sale and transportation.

As the complex will process 500 tonnes of raw materials each day, it will form 10,000ha – 15,000ha of large-scale concentrated farming areas applying high technology under value chains in the region. It will help local fruit specialties like passion fruit, avocado, banana and durian gain a firm foothold in the global market, Khue stressed.

At the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh said with the inauguration of this processing centre, Gia Lai Province will have a favourable condition to keep the 10,000ha of its fruit farming area stable and connect farmers with businesses, thus helping promote the stature of the Central Highlands’ agricultural products. — VNS