As a region with great potential and advantages in agricultural production development, Gia Lai has been chosen by Nafoods Group Joint Stock Company (located at 47 Nguyen Canh Hoan, Quan Bau Ward, Vinh City, Nghe An) as a strategic area for the sustainable development of passion fruit and vegetable supply regions in the future.
Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung – CEO of the company, stated that over the past nearly 30 years, despite facing many challenges, Nafoods Group has still sought opportunities in difficulties and developed sustainably with many impressive achievements: The company has been honored with the Golden Brand in agriculture for many consecutive years, ranked in the top 3 Vietnamese fruit processing product exporters, top 3 most loved listed companies by investors; top 100 sustainable development companies, top profit-making companies in Vietnam, and many other prestigious awards. Currently, Nafoods Group is the leading enterprise in Vietnam to have built an agricultural value chain from seed selection, planting, processing, and exporting fruit juices, frozen vegetables, dried fruits, various seeds, and fresh fruits. The company has established 2 high-tech seed research and development institutes, 6 high-capacity factory chains meeting international certifications; expanded cultivation areas to nearly 9,000 hectares; and is also the largest exporter of passion fruit products in Asia, present in many demanding markets.
Particularly, in the company’s development plan, Nafoods Group continues to link and expand the scale of cultivation areas to create quality product sources for export. After research, it was found that the Central Highlands region, particularly Gia Lai, has great potential for the development of passion fruit. In 2015, Nafoods Group established Nafoods Central Highlands Joint Stock Company in village 5 (An Phu commune, Pleiku city). Based on that, Nafoods Group has invested in modern equipment to produce high-quality seeds suitable for the soil conditions here and continuously strengthened links to develop the raw material area.
The company’s CEO further mentioned that to produce high-quality seeds, Nafoods Group has invested in building the Passion Fruit Seed Production Institute located in An Phu commune with a total greenhouse area of 6 hectares, reaching a capacity of 6 – 7 million seedlings/year. Accordingly, the seedlings are nurtured with a modern, closed-loop production technology system, minimizing adverse factors affecting the plants, and are regularly tested in a modern molecular laboratory, screening for viruses and diseases on plants. “Currently, due to customer demand, we only produce 2 main passion fruit varieties which are Dai Nong 1 and Tai Non One. Both these varieties are strong in growth and development, have a short harvesting period, high resistance to pests and diseases. Especially, the plants yield high productivity, good quality, large fruit weight, high nutritional content, beautiful color, hard peel, and a distinctive, unique flavor,” Mr. Hung affirmed.
Notably, Nafoods Group also strengthens links with cooperatives to develop sustainable raw material areas in the Central Highlands region in general and Gia Lai province in particular. In 2023 alone, the company signed agreements with nearly 30 cooperatives in the Central Highlands provinces with almost 2,000 households, covering an area of more than 2,600 hectares, mainly concentrated in the districts of Gia Lai province. During the linkage process, the company regularly organizes training courses, sends experts directly to the fields to guide the process of planting and caring for passion fruit according to VietGap standards to produce quality products. In this, only organic fertilizers and biological plant protection products are used to ensure food safety, worker safety, and minimize environmental impact.
Regarding the direction for the future, the company’s CEO said: Gia Lai, with its mild climate and few natural disasters, has been chosen by Nafoods Group as a strategic area for the development of passion fruit and vegetable supply areas in the coming time. Accordingly, Nafoods Group plans to collaborate with Gia Lai province to plan and develop at least 25,000 hectares of passion fruit according to a digitized, green, and sustainable value chain linked with agricultural promotion and smart cooperatives. To effectively implement this strategy, the company has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Cooperative Alliance of Gia Lai province on the development of passion fruit and vegetables according to the project of developing vegetable, flower, and fruit production in the province until 2030, with orientation to 2040. In the coming time, in addition to the effort to provide high-quality seedlings, the company will also support training, technical consulting, conversion of crop cultivation models according to Vietgap standards, clean European standards; at the same time, contract farming for local households through linking with cooperatives, joint ventures to create stable outlets for people in the area. Nafoods will always maintain its vision and mission in business activities as well as social responsibility, fulfilling commitments to partners, customers, shareholders, employees, and especially farmers.