HCM City (VNS/VNA) - More than 840 billion VND (36.5 million USD) is neededto ensure food safety in Ho Chi Minh City’s agricultural sector inthe 2021-2026 period.

Themunicipal People’s Committee has proposed the food safety plan to the Ministryof Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance.

Under theplan, the food safety management system and infrastructure would be improved,helping to reduce food poisoning cases,disease and pollution. It would also help increase qualityand yield in sustainable food value chains to reach exporttargets.

The planwill be conducted in urban and suburban districts such as CuChi, Binh Chanh, Hoc Mon, Nha Be and Can Gio districts.

Of the totalinvestment, nearly 30 million USD is sourced from ODA loans, while theremainder comes from the city budget.

The plancomprises three major components. The first is improvinginfrastructure for the development of safe agri-food value chains. Thesecond is building capacity and institutional improvement of agri-foodsafety management. Plan management is the third component.

The city’sfood safety management is undertaken by its Food Safety Management Board andDepartment of Agriculture and Rural Development.

TheInterdisciplinary Steering Committee on Food Hygiene and Safetyoperates at all levels from communesand wards to districts and the city.

Over theyears, the city has promoted effective management of production andconsumption chains of agricultural products, with traceability and geographicalindications to ensure food hygiene and safety for consumers.

However, theproduction scale remains small, and products, mostly raw ones, areonly preliminary processed.

The numberof enterprises investing in agricultural production still accounts for alow rate. In addition, wholesale markets associated with concentratedproduction areas have not developed in a coordinated way./.