The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment held a meeting on March 10 to present a plan for implementing traceability systems for agricultural, forestry and fishery products for 2026–2030, with a vision to 2035. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Nguyen Van Long, Director of the Department of Science and Technology.
Chain-based traceability system takes shape
Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology Nguyen Quang Tin under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment said developing traceability systems for agricultural, forestry and fishery products is an urgent requirement to meet modern supply chain governance trends and rising transparency demands in international markets.
In recent years, the ministry has gradually improved the legal framework and piloted traceability for the durian sector, while building a data management system to support chain-based traceability.
Deputy Director Nguyen Quang Tin said the system is designed to ensure end-to-end management from growing areas, procurement, packaging, quarantine to export. Each consignment will be assigned a unified identification code, with data centrally recorded, ensuring both forward traceability and backward traceability for each consignment. The system will also enable real-time monitoring for regulators.
However, implementation faces challenges. Agricultural production and procurement remain fragmented and small-scale, while export consignments are often aggregated from multiple growing areas. In addition, data across stages—including growing areas, packing facilities, quarantine, commercial in voices, taxation and customs—are not yet fully integrated, requiring businesses to submit repeated declarations and reducing the efficiency of supply chain management.
Under the ministry’s roadmap, from July 1, 2026, traceability mechanisms will be gradually applied to key export products, initially including durian, dragon fruit, bananas and mangoes. The system is expected to enhance transparency, quality control and origin traceability, thereby protecting the reputation and improving the global standing of Vietnamese agricultural products.
Ministry accelerates rollout of traceability framework
At the meeting, Dr. Nguyen Van Long emphasized that the development and operation of traceability systems have received significant attention from the Party and the State, particularly amid growing concerns over food safety and consumer health.
The ministry has taken initial steps, including developing and piloting a traceability system for durian. Since October 2025, relevant units have coordinated closely, including during public holidays, to complete the system and assess its practical applicability.
To ensure effective and sustainable implementation, the ministry is developing a comprehensive project on agricultural product traceability systems from 2026 onward. The process will involve consultations with specialized departments, scientists, technology experts and businesses directly implementing traceability solutions. Broad consultation is intended to ensure technical solutions are feasible, aligned with production and business realities, and avoid policies that are difficult to implement.
Dr. Nguyen Van Long stressed that a robust traceability system requires clear legal foundations and operational procedures. The ministry is drafting a circular to guide implementation while monitoring the development of a decree on traceability led by the Ministry of Public Security, expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year.
The ministry will also issue a list of high-risk commodities subject to mandatory traceability and develop an appropriate implementation roadmap. Technical regulations, standards and national technical regulations will continue to be refined.
It has also requested coordination from local authorities, noting that effective traceability requires synchronized participation from ministries, sectors, localities and the business community.
The ministry is encouraging leading enterprises in sectors such as crop production, export, coffee, fisheries and livestock to participate in pilot models. Selecting representative products and large enterprises with established management systems is expected to facilitate system development and operation, and provide a basis for broader rollout across the sector.
Legal and technical frameworks to be further strengthened
Deputy Director of the Plant Production and Protection Department Nguyen Quang Hieu said expanding the number ogrowing areas granted planting area codes is essential to improve the effectiveness of the durian traceability system. This would facilitate data linkage between traceability systems and actual procurement volumes of enterprises.
As more growing areas are granted codes, a synchronized traceability chain can be established from production and harvesting to packaging and export. He also called for optimizing data entry processes by simplifying information fields, reducing duplication and increasing automation to support businesses and stakeholders.
In the coming period, technical solutions such as mobile applications for data entry at growing areas, data integration mechanisms between the ministry’s system and enterprise systems, and online registration functions should be developed to facilitate participation.
At the same time, communication and training at the local level should be strengthened to raise awareness among farmers and cooperatives about the role of traceability. Production linkages along value chains should be encouraged to facilitate data recording and management. Traceability labels should be applied flexibly in line with production realities, while mechanisms should be developed to capture information from intermediaries in procurement chains to ensure the system accurately reflects product flows from growing areas to enterprises.
Deputy Director of the Department of Animal Health and Production Pham Kim Dang proposed reviewing and improving the legal framework on traceability, including detailed regulations for specific groups of agricultural and fishery products and clarifying the responsibilities of stakeholders in the supply chain.
He also highlighted the need to promote digital technologies such as QR codes, blockchain and electronic databases to manage and enhance the transparency of product information.
In addition to policy improvements and technology adoption, Pham Kim Dang stressed the importance of reorganizing production along value chains from production to consumption, leveraging the role of cooperatives and enterprises in managing traceability. Strengthening inspection and supervision, ensuring accurate production records, and strictly handling origin fraud are also necessary.
Raising awareness among producers and consumers remains a key factor, including training farmers to maintain production logs and encouraging consumers to choose products with clear origin information.
The meeting concluded that traceability is not only a technical requirement of the market but also a critical tool for managing agricultural value chains. Completing chain-based traceability systems and connecting data from production areas to export stages will enhance governance capacity in the agricultural sector and help Vietnamese products meet increasingly stringent international standards.
The technical discussion session held on the morning of January 9, as part of the ISG 2025 Conference themed “Advancing a green, low-emission and sustainable food systems transition: Cooperation and innovation,” focused on reviewing implementation progress and clarifying key pillars of Viet Nam’s National Action Plan for a transparent, responsible and sustainable food systems transformation (FST-NAP) through 2030. Through policy updates, FAO’s technical support orientations and in-depth group discussions, the session identified critical bottlenecks and priority actions aimed at translating strategic commitments into tangible outcomes on the ground.
Viet Nam and Canada have agreed to strengthen practical cooperation in environment, clean energy, natural resource management, trade and investment, aiming toward green, low-emissions growth and sustainable development. The two sides described this cooperation as a long-term foundation for deepening bilateral relations amid global climate change and economic transformation.
Viet Nam and the United States have agreed to strengthen cooperation in developing and implementing the “Trade in Agriculture and Food Safety Expanded” (TAFSE) project under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food for Progress Program.
Reviewing the performance of the agriculture and environment sector in 2025 and the 2021–2025 period, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized the Ministry’s growing role in integrating agricultural development with natural resource governance and environmental protection, contributing to Viet Nam’s socio-economic growth and international commitments.
Amid mounting environmental challenges across the region, Viet Nam continues to uphold its role as the national focal point and coordinator in ASEAN environmental cooperation, participating fully and responsibly in regional mechanisms and cooperation programs. At the same time, practical implementation has underscored the need to renew participation approaches, moving toward greater proactiveness and closer alignment with national policy priorities.
