The first batch of 84 tonnes of sweet potatoes from Vinh Long bound for China was announced at a ceremony held in the Mekong Delta province on Wednesday.

Speaking at the event, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Liet said the export of the first shipment of sweet potatoes showed that the quality of the province's potato products has improved, meeting the requirements of the General Administration of Customs China (GACC).

Vinh Long’s agriculture sector has co-ordinated with departments and localities to guide farmers to improve the cultivation and harvesting processes as well as apply scientific advances to enhance productivity, creating products that satisfy strict demand on quality, food safety and consumer health in line with international standards.

According to Le Van Thiet, Vice Director of the Plant Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the MARD and GACC signed a protocol on quarantine requirements for sweet potato exports to China in November 2022.

The GACC recently sent a diplomatic note to the department to inform the results of the inspection on Vietnamese enterprises that export sweet potatoes to China. Accordingly, Viet Nam’s 70 sweet potato cultivation areas and 13 packaging facilities have been licenced to export to China. Of these, Vinh Long has 27 planting areas and three packing facilities that have been granted codes for exporting to the Chinese market.

Vinh Long Province’s Binh Tan District has more than 10,000 ha under the crop with an average output of 300 tonnes a year.

Viet Nam is home to about 100,000ha of sweet potato cultivation areas with a total output of 1.2-1.3 million tonnes, which are abundant for export. — VNS