Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Linkedin

Author: Luyen

Alex van Andel: Market research on seed sector of Dalat, Vietnam

Posted on by Luyen

DALAT – As part of the MSc Management, Economics and Consumer Studies at Wageningen University, I conducted an internship at Fresh Studio in Dalat, Vietnam. 

My assignment for this internship was to conduct a market research on the seed sector of Lam Dong Province, the province where Dalat is located.

Internship
The area of Dalat is well known for growing a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, thanks to the altitude and climate. As part of a project to introduce new vegetable varieties in Vietnam for one of Fresh Studio’s clients, I conducted a survey on the nursery sector in Lam Dong. Nurseries are greenhouses where seeds are grown into seedlings after which the seedlings are sold and transported to farmers.


My internship was a nice combination of field and office work. I conducted a survey and follow-up in-depth interviews with the owners of the nurseries and combined the insights into a final report on the seed/nursery sector of Lam Dong Province and the potential for seed sales per vegetable type for one of Fresh Studio’s clients.

About Fresh Studio
Fresh Studio is a young and developing company with passionate, professional, and committed people. I had the opportunity to not only learn from my own project, but also from the projects on which my colleagues were working. Activities ranged from the sourcing of vegetables for a large modern retailer, R&D for agriculture input providers and marketing of avocados in the traditional and modern retail outlets of Vietnam. The open and positive working atmosphere at Fresh Studio made me feel ‘at home’ very quickly.

Choice for Fresh Studio
Multinational companies always appealed to me and so it was an atypical choice for me to undertake my internship within a relatively small company as Fresh Studio. However, I have not regretted this choice, as Fresh Studio is a professional and well-organized company which provided a great learning environment.

Preparation
Before my departure to Vietnam, I arranged the visa, flight ticket and required vaccinations. Next to providing work-related facilities, Fresh Studio arranged my accommodation and covered my expenses.

Looking back
My four month period in Vietnam enriched my life. I experienced the Fresh Studio way of doing business, worked in a professional organization, in a sector which appeals to me very much, in a country that is not only beautiful, but is also economically booming.

Moreover, being part of the Fresh Studio ‘family’, experiencing the Vietnamese culture and traveling in Vietnam and Cambodia after my internship made it an experience I will never forget.Also interesting to read:

Fresh Studio to speak at the Asiafruit Congress in Hong Kong

Posted on by Luyen

HONG KONG – Siebe van Wijk, one of Fresh Studio’s managing partners has been invited to speak during the Asia Fruit Congress, which will take place from the 10th till the 12th of September in Hong Kong.

Siebe will offer his insights on Vietnam’s burgeoning fresh produce business to an audience of about 600 key decision makers of the Fresh Produce Industry. The Asiafruit Congress takes place at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, alongside Asiafruit Logistica, Asia’s only fresh produce trade show.

The conference will run over three mornings on 10-12 September 2008, with the exhibition opening each afternoon. For more information visit: www.asiafruitcongress.com

Also interesting to read:

Successful avocado information event organized in Dak Lak Province

Posted on by Luyen

DAK LAK – A special DAKADO information day (D-Day) was organized, to share the experiences of the DAKADO project with the main stakeholders of the avocado sector.

About 100 people participated in the event which was covered by several national and regional TV stations and newspapers. During the seminar, presentations described how the DAKADO brand was created, and how the DAKADO value chain was formed. Technical presentations and discussions about avocado cultivation practices and post-harvest operational procedures were also made. To promote the use of avocado in Buon Ma Thuot city, the capital of Dak Lak Province, an avocado cooking competition was organized in which hotel and restaurant chefs participated.

For many participants in the seminar it was the first time they had seen and taste avocado as used in salads or as the main ingredient for a sauce. To date, most Vietnamese consume avocados only in milk shakes.

For more information about the DAKADO project please visit the project website: www.dakado.vn

Also interesting to read:

Training farmers in the METRO Requirement standard

Posted on by Luyen

DALAT – Fresh Studio has given the first out of 20 training workshops to introduce the METRO Requirement standard to about 500 vegetable farmers in Lam Dong Province, Vietnam.

The METRO Requirement standard was developed by Fresh Studio within the framework of a project with Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam. To assure the quality of its vegetables, Metro Cash & Carry has invested in a state-of-the-art distribution center in Dalat, and in a direct farm sourcing program. To assure quality and basic food safety, Fresh Studio developed the METRO Requirement standard in such a way that after intensive coaching, Vietnamese smallholders will be able to meet this standard. After a first introduction about METRO Requirement to about 500 farmers, a smaller group of farmers were selected to become dedicated long term suppliers for METRO. Through an intensive extension program, these farmers will be assisted to fulfill the METRO Requirement. This long-term investment should result in a growing market share for METRO Cash & Carry in the domestic vegetable market, so that it can add an increasing number of farmers to its program.

During the training workshop, Ms. Mathilde Thuy of Metro Cash & Carry elaborated on Metro’s activities and the project in Lam Dong Province. After this, Fresh Studio’s Uyen Nguyen explained to farmers in an interactive workshop, what the requirements for the Metro GAP system are. After a presentation on food safety hazards during daily activities (such as spraying pesticide application), the farmers were challenged to use their own experience and knowledge to carry out a risk assessment.

After the workshop all farmers received a workshop participation certificate and a gift box. Using the gift box, farmers could immediately start implementing lessons from the workshop. The box contained, among other items, soap bars to remind farmers about hygiene lessons from their training – hands must be kept clean to prevent micro-biological contamination of fresh vegetables. The box itself can also be used to store pesticides securely.

DAKADO Campaign in Hanoi

Posted on by Luyen

HANOI – After the success of the avocado promotion campaign in HCMC in 2007, Fresh Studio and its project partners expanded the avocado campaign to Hanoi.

In the North, the campaign took place in ten stores of the FIVI-Mart supermarket chain and in the two METRO Cash & Carry stores. This campaign took place in addition to the ongoing DAKADO promotion efforts in METRO Cash & Carry stores and Saigon Co.Op Mart supermarket chain in HCMC.

The campaign in Hanoi was complicated because Dak Lak Province is almost 3 days drive away. To guarantee the quality, the new DAKADO trays were flown in daily between Buon Ma Thuot and Hanoi.

As last year in HCMC, Hanoi consumers reacted very positively to the first ever marketing campaign for a domestic fruit. Both METRO and Fivi-Mart saw their avocado sales increase almost tenfold. Many consumers could not believe that this product was from Vietnamese origin, as they had never seen such a professional presentation for a Vietnamese fruit.

This year’s campaign was a design based on the experiences of last year, and from desires expressed by several consumer focus groups. During focus group sessions, Fresh Studio’s Sigrid Wertheim-Heck and Ha Thi Viet Phuong discussed with representative consumer panels their perceptions of the use of brands for fresh produce in Vietnam.

Also interesting to read:

Fresh Studio invited speaker at the World Potato Congress 2009

Posted on by Luyen

CHRISTCHURCH – The organization of the World Potato Congress 2009 invited Siebe van Wijk to present about creating value chains in Asia.

This conference is visited by 500 key players of the potato industry each year. The 7th World Congress will be in Christchurch, New Zealand from the 23rd until 25th of March 2009. For more information about the conference visit: www.wpcnz.org.nz

Also interesting to read:

Construction started on the first avocado fruit packing house of Vietnam

Posted on by Luyen

DAK LAK – Provincial avocado wholesaler, Ms. Nhon, is one of the key players in the successful DAKADO chain. She has begun the construction of the first avocado packing house of Vietnam.

This new warehouse will enable Ms. Nhon to significantly increase the sourcing volume of avocados which meet the DAKADO quality standard. Ms. Nhon made the decision to invest in this warehouse after the Fresh Studio team assisted her in making a business plan.

Ms. Nhon received further financial support from GTZ and METRO Cash & Carry to invest in the packing house, but the majority of the investment is her own.

Also interesting to read:

Column: Boer zoekt kwaliteit

Posted on by Luyen

HANOI – De ministers Frank Heemskerk en Bert Koenders zijn deze week met veertig ondernemers in Vietnam en houden een dagboek bij voor het FD.

+ Download the complete column

 ____________________________________________________

Source: Financieel Dagblad (FD)

Language: Dutch

Publication date: March 2008

Changing mindsets key to overcoming Asia’s supply chain challenge

Posted on by Luyen

BANGKOK- Changing the mindset of the key people in the Asian fresh produce supply chain is the major challenge for companies seeking to apply solutions to the problems currently facing the industry. That was the standout message from the final session: ‘Case studies from the Asian fresh produce supply chain.’

As Siebe van Wyk of Fresh Studio Innovations Asia noted, many Asian producing-countries face challenges with rapid expansion of growing areas, multiple smallholders, lack of market information and price wars. The parties in the supply chain are typically focused on their own competitiveness rather than that of the overall chain. Fresh Studio is focused on shifting Asia’s produce trade from this traditional product chain scenario to a “value chain” where traders, farmers and retailers form a strategic alliance that focuses on the competitiveness of the overall chain.

+ Download the complete article (article to be found on page 6)

____________________________________________________

Source: AsiaFruit Magazine

Publication date: September 2007Also interesting to read:

Exciting Vietnamese consumers with the best avocados from Vietnam

Posted on by Luyen

DAK LAK – Fresh Studio and several local partners are implementing a two year program to professionalize the avocado agricultural sector of Vietnam.

The best avocados in Vietnam come from Dak Lak Province, where about 250,000 avocado trees are grown. After an extensive supply chain analysis, all actors in the avocado sector were brought together and an action plan was developed.

One of the main activities was the creation of a consumer awareness campaign to grow the domestic market demand for avocado. Another important activity was to create a higher quality avocado, and to determine an introductory label (DAKADO) which would later be harnessed as a real brand.

In a unique cooperation with Vietnam’s largest supermarket chain, Saigon Co.Op Mart, and Vietnam’s largest wholesaler, Metro Cash & Carry, the avocado sector will present itself to Vietnamese consumers through the ‘Discover the magic of avocado’ campaign. This campaign will run from the 23rd until the 29th of July in the stores of Vietnam’s largest supermarket chain, Saigon Co.Op Mart, and from the 9th until the 16th of August in the stores of Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam.

The avocado is relatively new in Vietnam, and consumers are not yet familiar with the fruit’s nutritional value and uses. For example, few know that the avocado contains more than 14 vitamins and minerals, almost as much protein as milk.

In Co.Op Mart stores in Ho Chi Minh City, special avocado promotion teams will inform consumers about the magical values of avocado, and inspire consumers to discover new ways of preparing avocado through presenting versatile recipes, and offering taste-tests of the Dak Lak variety. To demonstrate dishes made with avocado, the campaign in METRO’s An Phu store in August will include a cooking demonstration by a professional chef. For one week consumers in-store will discover the ‘magic avocado brings to your kitchen, your health, your beauty’ and of course, to nature.

This consumer campaign is part of the not-for profit project titled ‘Development of an avocado value chain from Dak Lak province’ (DAKADO for short). The DAKADO project aims to create a supply chain which will deliver Dak Lak quality avocados to Vietnamese consumers, while resulting in improved benefits for all actors involved in the chain. To achieve this goal, the DAKADO project team facilitated a dialogue between farmers, collectors and traders, which resulted in a cooperative agreement to ensure high consumer quality, through improved avocado harvesting and post-harvest operations.

Now, for the first time in Vietnam, avocados will be harvested in a professional way, transported with care, packed in specially designed trays, and labeled with the DAKADO logo. In the coming eighteen months more improvements will be made – avocado cultivation training programs and cold storage experiments will be implemented. The potential for avocado processing (avocado oil, for example) will be assessed. In 2008, the DAKADO label will be further developed into a consistent quality brand.

The DAKADO project is funded by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development within the framework of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Program of the Ministry of Planning and Investment and GTZ. The project follows a so-called ‘value chain’ approach. This means that strategies have been developed for all stages in the chain, from planting avocados to eating avocados. The DAKADO work is carried out by the Center of Science and Technology Application (CSTA), the Western Agriculture Research Institute (WASI) and Fresh Studio.

For more information about the project and avocado facts please visit : www.dakado.vnAlso interesting to read:

Follow us on:

Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Linkedin

© 2022 Fresh Studio

en_GBEN
en_GBEN viVI