The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang will implement solutions to be able to export star-apples to the United States in December, the People’s Committee of Tien Giang said.

At a meeting on Tuesday at the Tien Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Department, the People’s Committee, the department and enterprises discussed solutions on producing star-apples for export to the US.

After the US Department of Agriculture officially licensed Vietnamese star-apples to be imported into the country in September 2017, Tien Giang has started to complete procedures on exporting Lo Ren star-apples to the US, according to the department.

In addition, Tien Giang has also implemented technical solutions to improve output and quality of star-apple gardens.

The province has some 460ha of star-apples, declining by six times compared with the previous five years. Therefore, to be able to export the first batch of star-apples to the US market in mid-December 2017, Pham Anh Tuan, deputy chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, asked the department to call on farmers to cooperate with enterprises in pilot production of star-apples on a total area of 43ha in the communes of Huu Dao, My Long, Long Hung and Ban Long in Chau Thanh District.

At present, farmers have applied strictly advanced cultivation techniques and an improved irrigation system, used reasonably good fertilisers and pesticides, and obtained the production registration certificate according to Global GAP or Viet GAP.

Trading enterprises must have packing and pre-processing houses and the post-harvest preservation process which are necessary to meet the requirements of food hygiene and safety.

In particular, businesses need to cooperate with farmers to meet US standards to protect the reputation of Vietnamese fruits.

Tuan also asked the department and local authorities to actively support enterprises in terms of legal and administrative procedures and techniques as a requirement for having the first batches of provincial star-apples exported to the US. — VNS