Story: Thanh Huong
Photos: Le Hoang Vu, Diem Cao
For Vietnam’s farmers and exporters, the future of agricultural trade increasingly depends on one small but powerful tool: the traceability label.
For agricultural products, traceability is no longer just a slogan or a macro-level policy. It has become part of farmers’ everyday practice, directly tied to their livelihoods.
March marks the most beautiful season of the year in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, when flowers across one of the country’s most fertile highland regions burst into bloom, promising abundant harvests ahead. Standing in a durian orchard with over 3,000 trees covered in pale white blossoms, Mr. Bui Van Quyen of Ya Ly Commune, Quang Ngai Province, said: “Apart from harvest time, this is the busiest period for durian growers. Every kilogram of fertilizer applied to the soil and every pesticide used during the fruit-setting stage must be carefully recorded in farm logs. Farmers like us can no longer afford to overlook this step.”
In every step of the fruit-growing process, farmers are much more careful, since they must prepare for traceability inspections by regulatory authorities. Many real-world lessons have already demonstrated the importance of this work.
In 2025, many durian shipments to China were forced to turn back after cadmium residues exceeded permitted levels, Auramine O was detected, or discrepancies were found in planting area codes and packing facility information. “Auramine O” quickly became a haunting phrase for durian growers. A single flagged shipment could trigger the recall of multiple containers. More seriously, a planting area code could be suspended, triggering a domino effect that could send market prices plunging.
The shock sent a clear signal: the durian export market had entered a new phase in which transparency and strict compliance are embodied in a small traceability label – a kind of “digital passport” determining whether a product can survive in the global market. Traceability is no longer a passive requirement but increasingly a matter farmers must manage.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Chien, Director of Tan Lap Dong Cooperative in Krong Buk Commune, Dak Lak Province, emphasized: “If just one household fails to follow the process, the entire planting area may lose its code. Transparency is therefore a principle that cannot be compromised.”
Remaining hurdles
Traceability is rapidly becoming the common language of global agricultural trade. When production chains are made transparent through data, market confidence is strengthened, risk costs are reduced, and the competitiveness of Vietnamese agricultural products can rise to a new level. Product tracking also helps preserve consumer trust in Vietnamese brands. Phu Quoc fish sauce, Bac Ninh lychees, Hung Yen longans, and many other Vietnamese specialties attain their highest value only when their origins can be clearly verified.
Cooperatives’ limited data management capacity, combined with fragmented production, high investment costs, and a lack of interoperability among digital platforms, results in bottlenecks in Vietnam’s agricultural provenance system.
In particular, insufficient input data, weak record-keeping throughout production and distribution, and incomplete documentation make it extremely difficult to trace products back to their source.
According to Mr. Nguyen Bao Trung, Deputy Director General of the Department of Digital Transformation, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the core issue is that input data do not follow any unified technical standard – each locality does things differently. In addition, most businesses enter their own data, while verification by state agencies remains limited. As a result, the reliability and value of traceability data remain relatively low.
Many people assume that an agricultural product with a QR code on its packaging is easily tracked. In reality, a QR code often simply directs consumers to a product information webpage. Genuine traceability requires the use of interoperable digital technology throughout the entire production chain of each product.
At present, data sharing and interoperability between systems used by state agencies and businesses remain extremely difficult. Too many traceability systems operate under different standards, resulting in inconsistent data that cannot be connected. At the same time, production remains fragmented and small-scale, while maintaining systems and regularly updating data can be a heavy burden for cooperatives and small producers. Moreover, each market – including the EU, the United States, and China – has its own technical requirements for traceability.
Difficulties in trackability also stem from limited and weak accountability in protecting product quality and producer reputation. “There are still many cases of superficial or performative record-keeping. In some instances, documents are falsified, product records are fabricated, certifications are forged, and planting area codes are misused. The proliferation of traceability software and apps has also created confusion. At the same time, regulatory criteria remain outdated compared to global market standards,” summarized Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuc, Executive Committee Member of the Vietnam Digital Agriculture Association.
Toward a big data ecosystem for Vietnamese agriculture
According to the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association (Vinafruit), the country’s fruit and vegetable export turnover reached nearly USD 8.6 billion in 2025, up about 20% from 2024. The main growth drivers were key fruit products, such as durian, banana, mango, jackfruit, and coconut. The United States remained Vietnam’s largest agricultural export market, with turnover reaching about USD 500 million. Other markets, including South Korea, Japan, and the Netherlands, all maintained import turnover exceeding USD 100 million. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has acknowledged that sustaining this growth will require Vietnamese agricultural products to meet increasingly strict requirements for planting area codes, traceability, and food safety.
One important step recently introduced by the Ministry is a pilot digital platform for agricultural source verification. In early January 2026, the Ministry issued the Implementation Plan for Traceability of Agricultural, Forestry, and Fishery Products for the 2026 – 2030 period, with a vision to 2035. From 1 January to 30 June 2026, the Ministry will pilot a traceability system for durian. Starting from 1 July 2026, the system will be expanded to cover most major agricultural products. By 2035, the Ministry aims to complete a national agricultural tracking system that forms a fully integrated traceability chain connecting the National Traceability Information Portal with local systems and other national databases.
Vietnam currently has 19,000 agricultural cooperatives, 14,200 agricultural enterprises, 7,500 agricultural processing facilities, and 9,400 supermarkets and first-class markets. Together, these form the foundation of the agricultural sector’s big data ecosystem. Scaling traceability nationwide requires a comprehensive approach to manage vast volumes of data.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment considers agricultural traceability one of the eight key priorities in the sector’s digital transformation agenda. However, digitizing traceability requires coordinated participation from all stakeholders – Government agencies, businesses, cooperatives, and farmers alike.
Mr. Huynh Tan Dat, Director General of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, said that implementing traceability would place farmers and businesses at the center while encouraging proactive participation based on harmonized interests. The Department supports a phased approach, beginning with pilot programs and gradually improving and expanding the system to ensure that traceability delivers real value.
Regarding solutions to improve the source verification system, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Toan, Director of the Center for Digital Transformation and Agricultural Statistics at the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, emphasized the need for legal frameworks and policy mechanisms to standardize production processes and ensure interoperability across the agricultural value chain.
“Building traceability means enhancing transparency across an entire commodity sector,” he said. “The goal is for provenance to become more than just a label – it must represent producers’ responsibility, earn consumers’ trust, and ultimately reflect the accountability and transparency of Vietnamese agriculture.”
