Innovative and sustainable agriculture

At the end of February, Dak Lak Import-Export Company Limited (Simexco DakLak) successfully exported a shipment of 500 kg of specialty coffee husks (cascara tea) to the Republic of Korea market, with a value of nearly one million VND/kg.
Simexco DakLak workers pack a shipment of specialty coffee husks before exporting them to the Republic of Korea.
Simexco DakLak workers pack a shipment of specialty coffee husks before exporting them to the Republic of Korea.

This is the company’s first shipment and the largest shipment of coffee husks exported in the country to date. Previously, coffee husks were often discarded after the coffee bean harvesting process, but are now used to create cascara tea - a drink suitable for people sensitive to caffeine who want to find an alternative energy source.

Along with coffee, in recent years, the rice industry has also paid special attention to using by-products. Specifically, with the project to sustainably develop one million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice cultivation associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta by 2030 being implemented, many cooperatives and farming households have processed straw by removing it from the fields to sell rolled straw or use it to grow mushrooms and make organic fertiliser. Previously, straw was mainly burned in the fields, which was wasteful and increased greenhouse gas emissions.

In the seafood sector, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), many businesses are generating large revenues thanks to innovation in deep processing of by-products from aquaculture. At Vinh Hoan Joint Stock Company, revenue from the collagen and gelatin (C&G) segment recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of up to 21% from 2018-2023. Vinh Hoan is the first enterprise to successfully extract collagen from pangasius skin and is also the first collagen producer in the world to achieve ASC international sustainability certification.

In the context that all economic sectors are promoting the implementation of solutions to promote circular economy, sustainable production and consumption, and sustainable trade to meet the green policies of many markets around the world, in the agricultural sector, promoting deep processing of by-products is considered one of the effective solutions.

On March 1, the Prime Minister signed Directive No.05/CT-TTg on key tasks and solutions to promote economic growth and accelerate disbursement of public investment capital, ensuring the national growth target of 8% or more in 2025; emphasising the task of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is to create conditions for enterprises operating in the agricultural sector to apply high technology to the production and processing of agricultural products to improve productivity, enhance product quality and value, expand markets, and promote exports.

Therefore, it is soon expected that there will be more innovative agricultural enterprises in production and processing activities to promote industry growth, contributing to the overall growth of the national economy.