Purple-flesh yam wine is introduced at 2021 supply-demand connection conference between Ho Chi Minh City and provinces. (Photo: tuoitre.vn)

The purple-flesh yam harvest of farmers in western provinces last May amid the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the southern region depressed sales.

Although many organizations and businesses helped sell hundreds of tons of farm products produced there, the support was only a band-aid solution.

To deal with the situation, a number of measures were taken to increase agricultural product values.

Wine producer Truong Gia Food Company realized the idea of making wine from purple-flesh yams initiated by the Youth Union of the Ho Chi Minh City Bank.

In their first production run, 6 tons of yams were used to produce 1,000 bottles of sweet potato wine, which received positive feedback from customers because of its health benefits. This effort has also benefitted purple-flesh yam growers. Truong Thi Xuan Hoa, the Director of Truong Gia Food Company said, “Since we successfully developed purple-flesh yam wine, the price of the yams has increased to 66 cents a kilo. We set only one condition for farmers: They must do a preliminary treatment of the yams and keep them clean to reduce damage during transportation. The value of the yams has tripled.”

Vu Viet Duc, the leader of the “Message Coffee” project, decided to buy ripe coffee beans and produce high quality coffee.

Harvesting ripe coffee is different from the traditional method of harvesting both ripe and green coffee beans and drying them on the ground in direct sun.

The traditional method often makes the coffee beans moldy, reducing the quality and flavor of the coffee.

By separately harvesting the ripe coffee beans, the “Message Coffee” project produces higher quality coffee products.

Duc says this significantly increases the value of the coffee beans, greatly benefitting the growers. His coffee recently became one of the best-selling coffee products on many e-commerce platforms.

“If farmers strictly comply with our standards, the coffee beans will fetch more than 3 USD a kilo, 60 to 70% higher than the normal market price. Our products are available at online shopping platforms like shopee, tiki, and lazada at 7.9 to 18 USD a kilo. This is a value-added chain where the value of processed products has been increased  500 to 700%,”  Duc told VOV.

Ha Van Loc’s pharmaceutical startup is another example of successfully investing in a high-value agricultural product development project.

With support from the city’s Business Startup Support Center, Loc's Saigon TCS Company has launched mugwort incense and attar for deodorization.

Bio-products made from mugwort leaves and flowers (Photo: khoinghiepsangtao.vn)

His bio-products made from mugwort leaves and flowers can deodorize bad odors in the air and repel household insects.

Loc has signed contracts with farmers to buy all of their mugwort products at a higher price giving them a stable and long-term source of income.

He explained, “So far the medicinal herb has been sold mainly as a raw product. The farmers sell  fresh leaves right after harvesting or after drying. Selling a raw product produces little profit.”

Loc took an example, “The price of a kilo of fresh peppermint leaves is about 26 cents. But if traders buy peppermint at this price and process it, they can earn more than 130 USD a kilo. If we do the processing to get peppermint essence, we can earn 530 USD a kilo. That means the price of the finished product compared to the original purchase price of the raw material is much higher.”