Raw-material growing areas: area, harvest calendar and growing-area codes

AgrifoodV · Published 21 October 2026

Many fruit and vegetable plant projects start from an equipment quotation, while the raw-material growing area is left to be “worked out later”. Yet a plant can only run when fruit of the right variety and ripeness arrives at the gate in sufficient volume within a few hours, with origin records ready when the buyer asks. In article 3, capacity was worked out backwards from area and season. Article 4 opens stage 2 of the journey: that capacity figure must be secured by specific harvested hectares, a harvest calendar and growing-area records.

The growing area determines the plant’s location and scale

In the chapter “Design Principles” of the Handbook of Food Factory Design (2013), P.J. Wallin lists “projected quantities and source(s) of raw materials” among the required contents of a design brief. Wallin also notes that when large quantities of raw materials are used and subsequently “concentrated” in the process, locating the plant near the source of raw materials can save considerable transport costs, vegetable freezing being one example.

K.P. Sutton, in the chapter “Site Considerations” of the same book, asks three questions of any proposed site: is the supply adequate and reliable, are the raw materials of acceptable quality, and can they be purchased at an economically viable cost? If the answer to any of them is “no”, the location is likely to be unacceptable. For fruit and vegetables, according to Sutton, quality issues may outweigh economics: for peas destined for freezing, a delay of only 3–4 hours after harvest can produce detectable off-flavours.

Sutton adds a principle familiar to the juice industry: many raw materials consist mostly of water, and removing much of it at the production site saves considerable transport cost; the book cites concentrated orange juice, milk powder and tomato paste. Shipping fresh fruit over long distances means shipping water over long distances. For a concentrate or puree plant, the sourcing radius is measured in hours of trucking, not in provincial boundaries.

Area: read the figures correctly before signing

Official figures for two key fruits in the juice industry:

Sources: Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection (passion fruit, via Nhan Dan, 18 September 2025); Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (pineapple, via the Government News portal, 8 August 2025).

Three things stand out. First, about 1,800 ha of passion fruit have been planted but are not yet bearing; sizing capacity on planted area overstates supply by almost 21%. Second, supply is concentrated: the Central Highlands accounted for 86.4% of the area and 92.5% of output in 2024, and according to the National Agricultural Extension Centre about 80% of passion fruit output goes to export, including fresh fruit. A new plant competes with the fresh-fruit channel from day one. Third, according to the Agriculture and Environment newspaper (2024), average national passion fruit yield is about 20.3 t/ha, while the potential in the Central Highlands is 50–60 t/ha. Potential yield should not be used in a capacity calculation.

Area also follows price. In mid-2023 the farm-gate price of passion fruit in Gia Lai fell from VND 17,000 to VND 3,000–5,000 per kg (Agriculture and Environment newspaper). CBI (Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs), in its 2026 study of the European passion fruit juice market, describes a 3–4 year cycle for passion fruit, with only about 1.5–2 years of stable supply before a contraction phase, and recommends smallholder models of no more than 5 ha, spread across several regions and coordinated through cooperatives.

Harvest calendar: what decides how many days the machines run

C. Skjöldebrand, in the chapter “Food-Processing Equipment” of the Handbook of Food Factory Design, notes that the supply of many raw materials varies in both quantity and quality through the year, and that providing regular supplies of seasonal raw materials such as fruit and vegetables presents problems. The book identifies four directions of improvement: breeding varieties specifically for processing; growth programming and contract buying of raw materials; better raw material transport and storage; and mechanisation. Any improvement that spreads the harvest season raises processing efficiency and plant utilisation.

The season also determines juice quality. CBI reports that passion fruit aroma increases strongly as the fruit ripens, so harvest timing determines juice quality, and buyers pay a premium for strong natural aroma.

Monthly harvest calendars by region and by fruit have no published figures in the sources AgrifoodV has verified. Investors must build them from the logs of the specific areas they will contract.

Growing-area codes: two new instruments in 2026 and their limits

Investors need to read the two 2026 instruments together:

Resolution 36 also locates growing areas by the land-parcel identifier, and publishes the list of codes with their status: “active, pending approval, suspended or revoked”. It instructs the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to submit a decree amending Decree 38 in September 2026; at the time of writing, AgrifoodV has not been able to verify whether the amending decree has been issued, so the minimum-area rule should be rechecked before preparing a dossier.

The number of codes is not evidence of quality. According to a Ministry of Agriculture and Environment conference on 14 May 2026, Vietnam had 9,546 growing-area codes and 1,525 packing-house codes for fresh fruit exports; since 2025 the Chinese side has issued non-compliance warnings on 403 growing-area codes and suspended or revoked 167 growing-area codes and 99 packing-house codes. The conference acknowledged that farm logs were often “a formality”, with codes being rented out or misused. Official Letter 6398/BNNMT-TTTV of 17 June 2026 requires provinces to stop the buying, selling, renting and lending of codes. Can Tho had 576 codes but by August 2025 was able to monitor only 74.

A limit must be stated clearly: current rules do not require fruit for processing to have a growing-area code. According to the Plant Protection Department, the protocol on fresh passion fruit exports to China (April 2025) applies to fresh fruit, not to juice or puree. Even so, in AgrifoodV’s assessment, growing-area codes and farm logs are the cheapest and most readily available data set for a buyer to check a plant’s raw-material base; a code’s warning history is also a signal the plant should check itself before signing.

Securing the growing area through contracts

For the contract buying that Skjöldebrand describes, Decree 98/2018/ND-CP supports linkage projects: 100% of the consultancy cost of setting up the linkage, up to VND 300 million; 30% of investment in machinery and infrastructure serving the linkage, up to VND 10 billion; on condition of a linkage of at least 5 years for crops with a cycle of 1 year or more.

On the business side, Nhan Dan (April 2026) describes an MD2 pineapple model in Can Tho: the company advances seedlings and inputs of up to VND 170 million per hectare, deducted from payment after harvest; offtake at VND 7,000–8,000 per kg at the field; company engineers guide cultivation to GLOBALG.A.P. Securing a growing area therefore ties up real working capital.

What companies should do

AgrifoodV recommendations:

• Build a parcel-level raw-material register before fixing capacity: harvested area (not planted area), actual yield over the last three seasons, monthly harvest calendar, and trucking hours from farm to plant gate.
• Sign long-term linkages with several small areas in different regions rather than one large area, with clauses on farm logs, pesticide lists by target market and harvest timing by ripeness.
• Ask core areas to apply for growing-area codes with export markets declared, even though the law does not yet require this for processing fruit; check code status on the public system, and treat warned or suspended codes as a signal to drop the area.
• Recheck the rules just before filing, as Decree 38/2026 is awaiting amendment.

AgrifoodV supports companies in developing the design brief, building the raw-material growing-area file and setting the design direction for processing plants.

References

1. Wallin, P.J. “Design Principles”, chapter 12 in Baker, C.G.J. (ed.), Handbook of Food Factory Design. Springer Science+Business Media New York, 2013 (p. 299, section 12.2 on the design brief; p. 303, proximity to raw materials). DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-7450-0_12.
2. Sutton, K.P. “Site Considerations”, chapter 11 in Baker, C.G.J. (ed.), Handbook of Food Factory Design. Springer Science+Business Media New York, 2013 (pp. 284–285, section 11.2.1.1 “Proximity to Source of Raw Materials”). DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-7450-0_11.
3. Skjöldebrand, C. “Food-Processing Equipment”, chapter 3 in Baker, C.G.J. (ed.), Handbook of Food Factory Design. Springer Science+Business Media New York, 2013 (p. 56, section 3.4 “Raw Materials”). DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-7450-0_3.
4. Decree 38/2026/ND-CP of 24 January 2026 on imports of plants with soil and on growing-area and packing-house codes; summary by the Can Tho City Department of Justice, 27 January 2026. pbgdpl.cantho.gov.vn.
5. Resolution 36/2026/NQ-CP of 31 July 2026 on simplifying administrative procedures for growing-area and packing-house codes (Articles 2–6; effective from the date of signing). datafiles.chinhphu.vn.
6. Official Letter 6398/BNNMT-TTTV of 17 June 2026 on strengthening the establishment of growing-area and packing-house codes. luatvietnam.vn.
7. Agriculture and Environment newspaper, Quản lý mã số vùng trồng, cơ sở đóng gói đi vào thực chất [Making growing-area and packing-house code management substantive] (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment conference of 14 May 2026), 15 May 2026. nongnghiepmoitruong.vn.
8. Agriculture and Environment newspaper, Mã số vùng trồng tăng nhanh, nhân lực giám sát không theo kịp [Growing-area codes rise fast, monitoring staff cannot keep up], 11 August 2025. nongnghiepmoitruong.vn.
9. Plant Protection Department, signing of the protocol on phytosanitary requirements for fresh passion fruit and chilli exported from Vietnam to China, April 2025. ppd.gov.vn.
10. Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection and National Agricultural Extension Centre, passion fruit data for 2024, cited in Nhan Dan, Phát triển bền vững cây chanh leo [Sustainable development of passion fruit], 18 September 2025. nhandan.vn.
11. Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, pineapple sector data, via the Government News portal, republished on antidumping.vn, 8 August 2025. antidumping.vn.
12. Dai bieu Nhan dan newspaper, Central Highlands share of passion fruit area and output in 2024, 14 December 2025. daibieunhandan.vn.
13. Bao Van hoa newspaper, Gia Lai định hướng phát triển bền vững cho ngành hàng chanh leo [Gia Lai charts sustainable development for passion fruit], 12 December 2025. baovanhoa.vn.
14. Agriculture and Environment newspaper, Cải thiện chuỗi giá trị chanh dây [Improving the passion fruit value chain], 8 July 2024. nongnghiepmoitruong.vn.
15. Agriculture and Environment newspaper, Mong manh số phận chanh dây [The fragile fate of passion fruit], 12 June 2024. nongnghiepmoitruong.vn.
16. CBI (Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs), market study on passion fruit juice in Europe, 2026. cbi.eu.
17. Decree 98/2018/ND-CP on policies to encourage cooperation and linkages in the production and consumption of agricultural products, effective 20 August 2018. luatvietnam.vn.
18. Nhan Dan, Mở đường xuất khẩu khóm MD2 [Opening the export path for MD2 pineapple], April 2026. nhandan.vn.

Article by AgrifoodV, compiled and interpreted from the sources above (accessed 10–21 October 2026). This content is not a substitute for design advice or legal advice for any specific project. Cover image: hartono subagio / Pexels.

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