France helps Vietnam in export-oriented agricultural production HANOI, - For years France and Viet Nam have cooperated in improving the quality of Viet Nam's farm produce, especially for export purposes, Christian Sailard, economic and commercial counsellor at the French Embassy, said at a seminar on farm produce in Ha Noi on April 7. He said that France will continue to cooperate with Viet Nam in fruit and vegetable cultivation, animal husbandry and food processing. France is Viet Nam's second largest foreign investor in agricultural production and food processing, with 18 projects involving a combined investment capital of more than USD 315 million. In seafood processing, France has successfully helped Viet Nam's An Giang province produce the Basa fish variety, transferred to the latter advanced technology for food processing and joined in monitoring the quality of seafoods for export. In addition, France plans to invest FRF 27 million (USD 4 million) in upgrading the Phan Thiec fish port in the southern part of the country, thus fully modernizing its seafood exportation system from raw material collection to product processing. Viet Nam can exploit 1.2-1.4 million tonnes of seafoods and hundreds of thousands of tonnes of molluscs without affecting natural resources. It has 1.4 million ha of water surface and over 800,000 ha of natural lagoons and bays suitable for aquaculture. Regarding vegetables and fruit, Viet Nam now has 377,000 ha of vegetables which yield an output of 5.6 million tonnes per year and 425 ha of fruit trees with an output of 3.8 million tonnes per year. The country has 70 major kinds of vegetables and various kinds of fruits such as banana, mango, litchi, longan, rambutan and dragon fruit. Viet Nam's livestock breeding sector has recorded encouraging achievements over the past 10 years with meat output increasing by about 70,000 tonnes per year. The number of pigs has annually risen by 5 percent, buffaloes by 0.6 percent, cows by 3 percent, chickens by 6.5 percent, ducks by 7 percent, milch cows by 11.5 percent and goats by 4.2 percent. Although Viet Nam has great potential in agriculture, fisheries and livestock breeding, the country is facing difficulties developing these sectors because of poor infrastructure facilities and out-of-date processing and storage equipment and technology. Slow transport, poor packaging designs and high prices are other reasons. Vietnam News Agency - April 7, 2000.