Implementing support for traceability (labeling) for 72 businesses and cooperatives.

To enhance international integration and improve the effectiveness of state management, ensuring the quality and safety of products and goods, Son La Province has directed relevant sectors to strengthen efforts in communication, guidance, and consulting. This includes supporting organizations and businesses with the procedures for registering barcodes, codes, and implementing traceability systems.

On January 19, 2019, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 100/QĐ-TTg approving the "Project for the Implementation and Management of the Traceability System," aiming to define tasks for implementation, improve the effectiveness of state management, promote traceability activities to support international integration, and ensure the quality and safety of products and goods. Subsequently, on January 21, 2022, the government issued Decree No. 13/2022/NĐ-CP, which supplemented regulations on managing the traceability of products and goods. The Ministry of Science and Technology (S&T) was tasked with assisting the government in managing state activities related to product and goods traceability.

Recently, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has implemented support for traceability (labeling) for 72 businesses and cooperatives in the province. In collaboration with the Plant Protection Department, they have developed a database for planting area codes across the province, covering 205 planting area codes and 195 export planting area journal accounts on the farmdiary.online system. Additionally, 11 planting area journal accounts in the field of crop cultivation have been created on the planting database system (csdltrongtrot.mard.gov.vn). The department has also provided data management for 154 OCOP products from Son La Province on the software platform (https://sohoaocop.vn).

Up to now, 7 districts and cities have adopted two separate traceability software systems to track the origin of two groups of products: agricultural products (OMFARM) and processed, packaged food products (OMFOOD). Traceability labels have been designed and activated for 15 products from 15 facilities on the corresponding software systems. The traceability information has been built and designed according to ISO 22000, VietGap, TCVN 12850:2019 standards, and the global traceability standard GS1. The implementation of traceability support aims to ensure transparency and public access to production process information, thereby increasing the value and competitiveness of products in the market. It also enhances the effectiveness of state management, creates a safe supply chain, and boosts the consumption of agricultural products from local farmers on the current digital technology platform.

On July 5, 2024, the Son La Provincial People's Committee issued a plan for the implementation of the "Project for the deployment, application, and management of the traceability system" in Son La Province for the year 2024. The plan requires departments, sectors, units, and the People's Committees of districts and cities to focus on reviewing and preparing reports evaluating the current production and business conditions of enterprises, cooperatives, organizations, and individuals. They are to select suitable products and goods that can implement the traceability system for 30 to 40 products in 2024. Currently, the province maintains 214 planting area codes, including 205 codes for export with nearly 3,000 hectares and 9 codes for crop cultivation areas covering 124 hectares. Additionally, there are 11 codes for packaging export agricultural products. Moreover, the Agriculture sector regularly updates specialized databases, such as: the Monitoring and Evaluation Database for sector management (giamsatdanhgia.mard.gov.vn), the Statistical Data Management System (thongke.mard.gov.vn), the Database for specialized state management agencies (msvt-csdg.ppd.gov.vn), the Packaging Facility Management Software (cms.packinghouse.online), and the Export Planting Area Code Management Software (farmdiary.online).

In the near future, the Agriculture sector will continue to disseminate information and promote the use of traceability applications for agricultural products. It will encourage exemplary production facilities and reputable distribution systems to adopt digitalization in the production and consumption of products, ensuring support for the traceability of agricultural products. At the same time, efforts will be made to enhance the quality control of agricultural products through traceability activities, aiming to raise awareness of the importance of traceability in the production and consumption of agricultural products. This will ensure that products meet quality and food safety standards, protect the brand of established agricultural products, and support the development of information technology infrastructure. Policies will also be implemented to support the application of software and digitalization in the management of planting area codes and agricultural product traceability.

Nguyen Hanh

Translated by Huyen Vu