Phuong Hong Nguyen POLICY SEMINAR Food System Transformations: National Actions in a Globalized World Co-Organized by the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) and IFPRI NOV 14, 2019 - 12:15 PM TO 01:45 PM EST

1. Food system transformation in
Vietnam
Phuong Hong Nguyen1 and Tuyen Huynh2
1Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division, International Food Policy Research Institute
2International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Vietnam
A4NH/IFPRI Policy Seminar
Washington DC| November 14, 2019

2. Burden of malnutrition in Vietnam
37
9
34
29
4
25
7
15 15 15
20
32
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Child stuntingChild wasting Child
underweight
Female
underweight
Adult
overweight
and obesity
Adult high
blood
pressure
Adult
elevated
blood
cholesterol
%
2000 2005 2010 2014
Source: NIN – The statistics on child malnutrition over the years 1999 – 2015, National nutrition
surveillance and nutrition profile.
Data for NCDs comes from Tuan T Nguyen and Hoang (2018)
21
55
26
60
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Anemia Zinc deficiency
%
Urban Rural
Source: NIN micronutrient survey 2014-2015
Micronutrient deficiency among
women of reproductive age

3. Vietnamese food choices
 Food has to be fresh
 Convenience can be as straightforward as
being able to ‘enter on you motorbike’
 Heavily depends on “wet market”
 Rapid dynamic change in the last decades

4. Food System Transition
• Intense agricultural production
• Main crops: rice, coffee, rubber,
cashew,
• 6th largest producer of pig meat
(30 million animals)
• Rise of national milk production
• Predominance of wet markets
• Rapid growth of
supermarkets, safe food
shops and convenience stores
• Culture of eating out
• Food loss and waste under-
researched
• Rapid / direct supply
• Demand for post-harvest
technology
• Strong export orientation
• Preference for fresh
• Range of ‘typical products’:
noodles, fish sauce, etc.
• Products on the rise: milk
products, instant noodles
• Only 5-10% of the total
agricultural products are
processed.

5.  High contamination with
fecal bacteria, pathogenic
bacteria, and parasites
 23% of vegetables exceeded
the maximum levels for
pesticides (MARD)b
Food safety risk management in
Vietnam. WB 2017
 Overuse of antibiotics and
chemicals
 Instability in aquaculture output
 Unpredictability and large scale
of disease occurrence.
 83% comes from very small or
small farms
 76% of pigs are processed in
small slaughtering
 Preference for fresh “warm”
pork supplied in retail
traditional markets
 Concerns on antimicrobial
growth promoters,
prophylactics, and therapeutic
treatments of diseases
Food Safety in Vietnam
Vegetables Pork
Sea foods

6. Efforts and new programs to tackle food system transformation
in Vietnam
 Economic reforms of the Doi Moi (1986–1993): Vienam
become the world’s third-largest exporter in 1989
 Shift from a supply-oriented focus on agricultural
production, to a focus on market responsiveness and
sustainability in Agricultural Restructuring Plan 2014
 Globalization Trade:
o Removed several tariff barriers and opened doors to
new markets
o Move from quantity-driven to quality-driven exports
 Cross-collaboration national action plan for SDG2: Zero
Hunger, 07 ministries, led by MARD
 Nutrition Action Plan with Nutrition sensitive components
and collaborations with other NGOs
 Traditional and whole sale market upgrading
Food
System
Transformat
ion
Demand &
Food
environ.
Policies
&
Programs
There is an emerging food
systems interest within a
rich policy environment

7. Challenges in tackling food system transformation
 Lack of innovation and technology with
few high-tech agrobusinesses
 The limited scale and the low quality of
infrastructure
 Lack of human resources and capacity
 Lack of evidences & data based policy
mechanism for cross collaboration among
ministries to reallocation resources along
the food systems
 Lack of financial resources for system
approach during the rapid food system
transformation
 Pockets of widespread poverty
 Geo-graphical divergence of the country
 Climate change and disaster is getting
more complicated and quickly

8. Institutional setup & capacity for food safety management
• National policy frameworks for inspection and
surveillance systems are emerging, but remain fragile
• Each Ministry has its own network of laboratories with
different capacities.
• General knowledge about SPS principles in international
and national food safety management systems is still
insufficient.
• Only few institutions currently provide specific training
courses on food safety risk analysis.
• Regulations on the labeling of prepacked foods in Viet
Nam is voluntary
The government explicitly aims to reduce food safety incidents through a combination of legislation and
retail modernization. Legislation in Viet Nam (Law on Food Safety (LoFS)s No.55/QH12/2010) (Government
of Viet Nam 2010) aims to ensure that ‘food shall not cause any harm to people’s health and lives.’

9. Challenges of application of food safety policies in Viet Nam
 The government’s ability to control food safety is
weak.
 The national surveillance system is inconsistent and
inadequate to monitor the large population and the
amount of food produced.
 High level of corruption among food inspectors
 Viet Nam’s production system is still small and
fragmented, and lacks investment in technology
 Even when a case of bad food practices is uncovered
by the authorities, the system for implementing
sanctions is not strong
Sources: World Bank 2006; Naziri et al. 2014; Pham and Dao, 2016

10.  Food systems transition occurring at multiple levels in the food supply chain
 It is important to understand food system interactions at multiple scales and to identify
leverage points to improve food systems
 Key outcomes should include the food system capacity to deliver and assure food
quality, diversity and safety, healthy diets, sustainability in production and food supply.
Conclusion