Loc Ninh district is a well-known pepper cultivation area with 825 farming households registering for members of Nedspice Club, in which, foreign partners closely oversee seedling, growing and harvest up to VietGAP standards.
In collaboration with the provincial Agriculture and Fishery Encouragement Centre, Nedspice instructed farmers how to adapt their farming practices to 10 Rainforest Alliance certification requirements so that the produce could be qualified for export.
Harvesting pepper in Bu Gia Map district, Binh Phuoc province. Photo: NDO
Recently, the provincial authorities gave the nod to a project on developing a sustainable pepper supply chain by the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Agriculture and Fishery Encouragement Centre and Nedspice.
Accordingly, more farming households are expected to join the supply chain during the 2017-2018 crop. The province will provide drip irrigation systems for farmers who join new-style cooperatives or sustainable clean pepper clubs.
Clean pepper growers’ clubs will be expanded to the districts of Bu Dop, Hon Quan, Binh Long, Bu Gia Map, Phu Rieng and Chon Thanh, towards ensuring that each district has a club in the near future.
Nedspice Vietnam General Director Willem Scato Valt Meijer pledged to ensure consumption of more than 10,000 tons of peppercorn in Vietnam.
During the 2017-2018 crop, Nedspice targets linking with 2,000 farming households in Binh Phuoc with contracts to buy more than 3,000 tons of peppercorn, or nearly 30 percent of its total purchase each year.
Binh Phuoc is home to more than 400,000 ha of pepper with an average output of 25,000 tons.
Source: VNA