Tien Giang (VNA) – The Mekong Delta province ofTien Giang is taking measures to ensure the quality of star apples for exportto the US, said Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Nguyen Van Man.

Local authorities have detailed farmingtechniques and instructed farmers to manage agricultural product quality, henoted, elaborating that farmers have received training in disease preventionand the use of plant protection substances. They were warned not to usesubstances that the US bans and replace those chemicals with biologicalproducts.

Tien Giang has provided codes for new farmingareas while expanding the areas which already had codes. It has also requestedstar apple exporters to coordinate with specialised agencies to receive timelytechnical support.

Man said the province is pushing star applecultivation towards VietGAP (Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practice) standardsto ensure food safety and origin traceability.

The agriculture department also asked the PlantProtection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developmentto continue reviewing the granting codes for star apple exporters and strictlyexamine the origin, package and quality of export batches so as not to affectthe prestige of Vietnamese star apples.

[Video: A decade for star apples to enter US pays off]

The Plant Protection Department has also beenasked to update localities with plant quarantine information to deal withviolations in a timely manner, the official said.

He added his province is making efforts to formlong-term cultivation areas to ensure stable production and supply of quality starapples. Notably, it is implementing a pilot project on recovering Lo Ren starapple trees, a Tien Giang variety.

It is also re-organising the production andconsumption chain, improving star apple cooperatives, and stepping up tradepromotion to boost exports to the US and other markets, Man noted.

In the Mekong Delta, Tien Giang is one of theprovinces with the biggest star apple farming areas. In late December 2017, theagriculture ministry and the provincial People’s Committee announced that thefirst batch of Vietnamese star apples had been shipped to the US after 10 yearsof negotiations.

Since the announcement, Tien Giang has exported73 tonnes of star apples to the US, according to Vo Van Men, deputy head of theplant protection division of the provincial agriculture department.-VNA