At the Huy Toan Điện Biên Company Limited, receiving a domestic planting area code for 7ha of green-skin pomelo in 2024 opened up a new pathway in organizing production and product consumption. Currently, the enterprise invests in cultivating 12ha of green-skin pomelo and guava, in which the guava area is also being calculated and registered by the unit for planting area code granting in the coming time.

According to Nguyễn Thành Luân from the Huy Toan Điện Biên Company Limited, planting area codes help consumers easily verify information about products, while enabling enterprises to raise awareness during the production process. Planting area codes are very convenient for customers, as they can check barcodes when consuming to ensure origins and sources. The company’s current crop area is produced toward 100% organic methods. Fertilizers are leveraged from farmyard manure, and pest control agents are processed and fermented using microbial enzymes to ensure safety for consumers, Nguyễn Thành Luân shared.

Beyond enterprises, cooperatives also view planting area codes as a “ticket” to enhance product prestige and expand markets. In 2024, the Pu Lau Sweet Pineapple Cooperative in Mường Nhà commune had 10ha of pineapple granted a domestic planting area code. This was an important step forward helping the cooperative organize systematic production, while enhancing transparency in introducing and consuming products. After receiving the planting area code, the cooperative built a website introducing products, production zones, and care processes.

Through this, customers can look up information on coordinates, planting area locations, plant varieties, and farming methods. Thào A Giàng, Director of the Pu Lau Sweet Pineapple Cooperative, stated that through the granting of planting area codes, more customers feel confident, and many come to visit the gardens and clearly know the coordinates and locations of production zones. Consumers feel more assured regarding safety matters, seed sources, and care processes.

The entire province has currently been granted 16 planting area codes with a total area of over 75ha. Among these are 7 coffee planting area codes covering an area of over 9ha in Mường Ảng and Quài Tở communes; 6 fruit tree planting area codes for pomelo, orange, pineapple, and mango with an area of more than 25ha in Mường Thanh ward and Mường Nhà, Thanh Yên, Thanh An, and Pú Nhung communes; 1 macadamia planting area code covering an area of 15ha in Tuần Giáo commune; 1 tea planting area code covering an area of 16ha in Mường Lạn commune; and 1 rice planting area code covering an area of 10ha in Mường Lay ward.

These figures, though not yet large compared to the province’s agricultural production potential, demonstrate a shift in production mindset among local people, enterprises, and cooperatives. From small, fragmented production methods heavily reliant on experience, producers have progressively shifted to managing growing areas in accordance with specific processes, standards, and data.

According to Phạm Đình Lai, Head of the Sub-department of Agriculture under the Department of Agriculture and Environment, granting planting area codes is exceedingly necessary, as this serves as the foundation for traceability, managing cultivation and tending processes, controlling pests and diseases, monitoring seedling origins, and overseeing the use of plant protection chemicals.

The provincial Department of Agriculture and Environment continues to review and select production areas with potential and eligibility to guide and support the establishment and granting of planting area codes, combined with raising producer awareness regarding compliance with farming protocols, recording production logbooks, and managing cultivation areas. Granting codes also needs to be linked with building concentrated raw material areas, producing according to standards, developing OCOP products, building brands, and strengthening linkages between farmers, cooperatives, and enterprises.

From the first planting area codes, Điện Biên is progressively forming a transparent, controlled production method tied more closely to market demand. This will be an important premise for local agricultural products to enhance value, expand consumption channels, and step by step affirm their standing in the market.