The information was highlighted at a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung at the Government headquarters in Hanoi on May 15. Leaders from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, together with relevant ministries, agencies and representatives from 34 provinces and cities, discussed measures to improve the management system for farming area codes, packing facility codes and agricultural export testing procedures.

It’s reported that Vietnam has already issued more than 9,500 farming area codes and over 1,500 packing facility codes supporting exports of key fruits such as dragon fruit, mango, banana, lychee, longan and passion fruit to markets including China, the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

However, the current system continues to face multiple challenges, particularly violations involving the misuse of farming area codes and repeated non-compliance warnings from importing markets.

Since the beginning of 2025 alone, Chinese authorities have issued warnings related to 403 Vietnamese farming area codes and 240 packing facilities, with some export rights temporarily suspended or revoked.

Common violations include the leasing, borrowing or fraudulent use of farming area codes, while supervision capacity and enforcement at several localities remain limited. Agricultural testing activities are also facing overload pressure and uneven laboratory capacity across different regions.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Hoang Trung said technical requirements from importing markets are becoming increasingly strict, while domestic agricultural production remains fragmented, supply chain linkages are still weak and product consistency remains limited, creating difficulties for quality control and traceability management.

Facing these challenges, the Ministry of Science and Technology highlighted digital transformation as a foundational solution. Deputy Minister Le Xuan Dinh said Vietnam needs to accelerate digital identification systems for farming areas and agricultural products, moving toward a unified national database capable of improving transparency and real-time monitoring.

According to him, applying digital data systems would not only improve processing speed and oversight efficiency, but also help regulators address risks at the source through stronger post-inspection mechanisms at local and production levels.

Concluding the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung stressed the need to strengthen both accountability and enforcement capacity among ministries, agencies and localities in managing farming area codes, packing facilities and agricultural testing systems.

He noted that as global trade competition becomes increasingly intense, technical barriers from international markets are expected to continue rising, requiring Vietnam to fundamentally modernise its management approach.

The Deputy Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to continue reviewing all procedures related to code issuance while expanding training and guidance for local authorities and businesses.

The key priority in the coming period, he said, will be accelerating digital transformation efforts and building a comprehensive database covering agricultural production and export activities, with the long-term goal of establishing a unified nationwide management system.

Under this direction, Vietnam’s agricultural export management system is expected to gradually shift from a fragmented paper-based model toward a centralised digital platform where all information related to farming areas, packing facilities and testing activities can be traced and monitored in real time.

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