HCMC – In the past few months the portfolio of clients contracting Fresh Studio for quality assurance assignments has been growing rapidly.
Fresh Studio now assists several clients in developing their QA systems to comply with the following standards: BRC, GLOBALGAP, Ethical Trade Initiative standard (ETI) and HACCP.
These QA projects cover a variety of products, ranging from fruits, fish, and vegetables to special packaging materials used by the agricultural sector.Also interesting to read:
WAGENINGEN – During the 9th WICANEM conference in the Netherlands, Fresh Studio’s marketing director, Sigrid Wertheim, presented a paper titled: “Avocados in Vietnam: value chain development beyond donor support”. This conference brought approximately 200 participants from the world of science and business to share experiences.
This is the abstract of Sigrid’s paper (with authors: S.C.O Wertheim-Heck, P. Quaedackers, N.T. Anh and M.S. Van Wijk): Numerous initiatives have been implemented by international donors in Vietnam, aiming for elevation of rural communities out of poverty, predominantly focusing on farmers. Unfortunately many of the initiatives have experienced difficulty in realizing sustainable businesses.
This paper describes how the development of an avocado value chain in Vietnam became an engine for rural growth, which was sustained beyond donor support.
It describes a VC development approach in which: (1) the focus was on the domestic market of Vietnam, (2) the lead firm was not a MNC, but a small local trader, (3) the commodity chain involved new product introduction which required demand creation, where the retail sector did not act as chain integrator, (4) and choices were made which preferred long term sustainable business-building rather than short term all-inclusiveness, and significant income gains.
Ingredients for success have been: participatory chain analysis, focus beyond farmers, participatory stakeholder selection, incorporation of consumers, and a step-by-step approach with achievable goals and small pilots.
For those interested in reading the whole paper, please contact Fresh Studio.Also interesting to read:
HANOI – For one of its public sector clients, Fresh Studio assisted in the development of an organic vegetable value chain.
The client had already developed several organic vegetable farming groups, which were certified using the IFOAM acknowledged PGS certification system.
For more information see www.ifoam.org
Fresh Studio worked with the client to develop a distribution and marketing system for their organic vegetables. The main challenge was to gain the trust of Hanoi consumers, as marketing research revealed that 81% of modern supermarket shoppers in Hanoi distrust any food safety claims.
To win this trust, a Triple A marketing campaign approach was developed and implemented (Attention-Attraction-Adoption). Marketing materials developed for this triple A approach enabled Hanoi consumers to understand what organic vegetables are, how the certification system works, who the farmers are, and where and how the vegetables are produced. Through in-store campaigns in Hanoi supermarkets, thousands of consumers were reached, with very good sales as a result.
KUALA LUMPUR – From the 15th till the 17th of March 2010, the Fresh Produce Malaysia trade conference will be organized in Kuala Lumpur.
This is Malaysia’s only international business and networking conference for the region’s fresh produce industry. The event is “a must-attend” for any business looking to explore the exciting procurement and marketing opportunities in the fresh produce sector of one of Asia’s strongest and most vibrant economies.
The organization committee of this event has asked Fresh Studio to speak about the emergence of new regional suppliers to Malaysia. During an exciting 20 minute presentation Siebe will highlight how much potential there is for growth in the intra-Asian fresh produce trade. Several cases will be presented regarding Fresh Studio’s professionalization of companies in Vietnam, in assisting them to become leading exporters in Southeast Asia.
For more information about this trade conference please visit: www.freshproducemalaysia.com
Also interesting to read:
HANOI – The work of Fresh Studio in Vietnam attracted the attention of both the Vietnamese and Dutch press.
Fresh Studio’s director, Siebe van Wijk, was interviewed by both Vietnam’s leading newspaper, “Tuoi Tre”, as well as the Dutch financial newspaper “Het Financieel Dagblad”. The article in Tuoi Tre can be found here: www.phienbancu.tuoitre.vn
The article in het Financieel Dagblad can be found here: www.fd.nl Also interesting to read:
HCMC – A growing number of international clients are requesting Fresh Studio’s experienced quality assurance team to undertake pre-shipment inspection services.
Importers need a reliable and professional third party to check that the quality of the products in containers meets product specifications, and that they constitute the correct weight. Our QA team has extensive knowledge of a wide range of agricultural products, of which fish, fruit, vegetables are the most important categories. These on-sight container inspections can save thousands of euros per container for an importer.Also interesting to read:
VIETNAM – Growing domestic demand has been a saving grace for Vietnam’s economy during the recent global downturn, and similar trends towards self-reliance are emerging in the fruit business.
Make no mistake: the global financial crisis had a true negative impact on Vietnam’s economy. A review of 2009 by market research firm TNS Vietnam shows that while GDP rose 5.32 per cent, exports fell by 10 per cent, FDI dropped by a whopping 70 per cent and tourism slumped by 14 per cent.
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Source: AsiaFruit magazine
Publication date: June 2010Also interesting to read:
HANOI – Sigrid Wertheim-Heck of Fresh Studio discusses a new organic vegetable initiative in Northern Vietnam, which marketed its first product in Hanoi at the end of May.
Please can you give us some background information to your organic production and marketing efforts in northern Vietnam?
Sigrid: The ADDA VNFU Organic Project in Northern Vietnam, initiated by the Danish NGO ADDA, has been operational since 2004. The activities were at first mainly focused on training farmers in organic cultivation methods. Although these activities delivered some nice organic supply initiatives, the actual organic supply chain remained limited to direct home delivery sales on a very small scale.
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Source: AsiaFruit Magazine
Publication date: June 2010Also interesting to read:
DALAT – Fresh Studio, Dalat University, Applied Plant Research (PPO) and Van Hall-Larenstein (VHL) successfully developed an R&D, extension and education project for the Dalat vegetable sector.
PPO and VHL are part the world-leading agriculture research and education institute, Wageningen UR. After having won a competitive grant in the Dutch funded “Vietnam facilty” program, the project team began its implementation in late 2010. The goal was to find tailored practical solutions for a number of serious cultivation problems faced by the market oriented vegetable sector of the Dalat region.
These problems relate to productivity and profitability constraints in vegetable farming, irresponsible pesticide use, over-abundant fertilizer use, farmer safety and consumer food safety. The current vegetable sector in the Dalat region has limitations when it comes to farmer management skills, decision-making ability, and in finding innovative solutions to address modern market requirements such as sustainable production methods, food safety and off season production. The project includes an innovative cooperation model between farmers, Dalat University, Fresh Studio, market players, agricultural policy makers and others which continually applies innovative R&D and extension to promote sustainable and profitable vegetable farming in the Dalat region of Vietnam.
Since the inception workshop in January 2011, much has occured. Based on a selection of focus crops and key issues, specialists in arable vegetable farming from PPO have developed master classes about these topics. These on-site master classes were presented to the extension team of Fresh Studio, Dalat University lecturers, and a selection of top Bachelor and Master students. The Fresh Studio team “translated” these into “farmer master classes”. Together with an extension team of Fresh Studio, farmers developed possible ideas for innovations to be tested on-site in different agro-ecological zones, as well as at the Fresh Studio R&D farm.Also interesting to read:
HANOI – Vietnamese consumers have a passion for brands and a pride in local produce, factors that can be exploited by the country’s increasingly professional fruit sector.
Riding on my motorbike through the streets of Hanoi, it’s always a joy to behold how much Vietnamese people love brands: the bigger the better, and no matter whether they’re fake and misspelled or real and expensive, brands leap out from chests and backs, phones and bags.
The Western lifestyle is an aspiration here, and over the past few years I have seen Vietnam transform itself into the ‘Fast Brand Nation’ with the assumption that the best is coming from the west. But is that always true? And does it also apply in the case of fresh produce? Not necessarily so.
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Source: AsiaFruit Magazine
Publication date: May 2010Also interesting to read:
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