Supporting Policy for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Post-harvest Agricultural Products Preservation and Processing

Abstract

Abstract: In the context of the small-scale and fragmented agricultural production in Vietnam, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in not only collecting agricultural produce but also in its post-harvest preserving and processing. According to the General Statistics Office, 94% of nearly 600,000 enterprises in Vietnam were small and medium-sized. These enterprises play an important role in applying and transferring post-harvest technology, developing new products through processing and especially, developing markets and branding products according to the Vietnamese and international standards. The key factors affecting the post-harvest technology development capacity include incentive policies, infrastructure conditions, enterprise capacity and the system of quality standards for agricultural products. The most important solutions for developing SMEs' post-harvest technology are policies that directly impact SMEs' capacity development, infrastructure improvement for production, and most importantly, the promotion of the establishment and development of a system of quality standards for post-harvest agricultural products in order to increase the percentage of preserved and processed post-harvest agricultural products.

Keywords: Small and medium-sized enterprises, preservation, processing, agricultural product, post-harvest