Dong Nai currently holds a cashew cultivation area of over 176,000 hectares with an annual output exceeding 186,000 tons, accounting for approximately 58% of the country's total cashew area. This serves as a vital advantage to comprehensively develop the cashew industry's value chain, spanning from production and processing to commercial consumption and export. In reality, however, the city's cashew sector faces numerous difficulties and headwinds. Consequently, Dong Nai has been deploying multiple solutions to foster sustainable development for the cashew industry, marching toward becoming one of the world's premier cashew trading hubs.

Assessing Dong Nai’s cashew industry, Mr. Dang Hoang Giang, Secretary General of the Vietnam Cashew Association (VINACAS), noted that Dong Nai is not only the "cashew capital" of Vietnam but also stands as a critical cashew hub globally. The city is currently one of the few localities possessing a relatively complete cashew industry ecosystem, encompassing raw material zones, processing plants, specialized mechanical engineering for cashew equipment, logistics networks, export channels, and supporting enterprises.

Nevertheless, Dong Nai's cashew industry confronts immense challenges due to its heavy reliance on raw cashew nut (RCN) imports from Africa. Furthermore, climate change is actively depressing crop yields and quality; foreign competition in processing is intensifying; environmental standards are becoming increasingly stringent; and the sector experiences a severe deficit in highly skilled technical personnel alongside structural bottlenecks in digital transformation.

Locally, according to Mr. Le Thuc Long, Deputy Director of the Rural Development Sub-Department, regarding production, Dong Nai has step-by-step established large-scale specialized cashew cultivation zones. Farmers have actively invested in renovating old orchards, converting to high-yielding grafted cashew varieties, and applying mechanization alongside technical advancements in cultivation and harvesting. Yet, a vast area of cashew trees remains aged and low-yielding; production scales are scattered and fragmented; the adoption of VietGAP and organic standards is constrained; raw material quality lacks uniformity; and the negative impacts of climate change, pests, and diseases continue to escalate.

In terms of processing and consumption, Dong Nai hosts a vast network of buying, preliminary processing, and processing establishments, with approximately 2,793 facilities operating in this sector. A segment of enterprises has invested in modern technology, developing deep-processed commodities such as salt-roasted cashews, flavored cashews, cashew milk, cashew butter, confectionery, and nutritional cashew foods. The city's cashew products are actively consumed in the domestic market and exported to numerous nations. However, marketing and commercial activities still face roadblocks: market prices are volatile; dependency on export markets remains high; the deep-processing ratio is low; very few strong international brands have been established; and trade promotion activities are not yet commensurate with the sector's potential.

To ensure the sustainable development of Dong Nai's cashew industry, VINACAS Secretary General Dang Hoang Giang stated that the association fully endorses the city's major policy of restructuring raw material zones sustainably, upgrading the added value in processing (developing deep-processing industries), creating a synchronous trading and logistics ecosystem, and integrating into global supply chains. This strategy aims to gradually forge an International Cashew Trading Hub in Dong Nai, build strong brands for both Dong Nai and Vietnamese cashews, and drive digital, green, and circular economic transitions.

VINACAS emphasized that besides tightening linkages among production, processing, and markets—and driving technological applications, digital transformation, and green transitions toward a circular economy—the sustainable development of the cashew industry is not merely an export growth target. It is also an essential mission to elevate incomes and improve the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of cashew-farming households, contributing to livelihood preservation, social stability, and sustainable rural economic growth.

The association pledges to continue accompanying Dong Nai in engineering a modern, sustainable, and internationally integrated cashew industry. It will actively support the locality and corporate community in trade promotion, market connectivity, digital transformation, green transitions, branding, human resource training, and enhancing the global competitiveness of the Vietnamese cashew industry.

VINACAS is also fully prepared to collaborate with municipal departments, boards, sectors, local authorities, corporations, and international organizations to research and propose appropriate mechanisms and policies to transform Dong Nai into a regional and global industrial and cashew trading hub in the coming time.

On the local government side, Mr. Le Thuc Long, Deputy Director of the Rural Development Sub-Department, disclosed that the city is developing sustainable raw material zones. This involves reviewing and planning specialized cashew zones, accelerating the replanting of old orchards, encouraging the usage of high-yielding varieties, expanding production zones aligned with VietGAP and organic standards, and strengthening the issuance of growing area codes alongside product traceability.

Concurrently, the locality is driving value chain linkages by deploying solutions that support cooperation among farmers, cooperatives, and enterprises, developing specialized cashew cooperatives, and encouraging corporations to invest in raw material zones with guaranteed off-take contracts.

To upgrade processing capabilities and branding, the city encourages investments in deep-processing technologies, diversification of cashew-derived products, building and promoting the "Dong Nai Cashew" brand, and supporting the development of cashew-based OCOP (One Commune One Product) commodities.

Furthermore, Dong Nai is stepping up trade promotion by organizing trade fairs and business matchmaking during local festivals, accelerating digital marketing on digital platforms and e-commerce, assisting enterprises in accessing export markets, and linking the cashew industry with local tourism and cultural activities.

According to the master plan through 2030, Dong Nai designs to maintain 163,000 hectares of cashew cultivation with an output target of 293,200 tons. Concentrated production zones will be anchored in the communes of Xuan Hoa, Xuan Loc, Dinh Quan, La Nga, Xuan Thanh, Xuan Bach, Phuoc Thai, Thong Nhat, Bu Dang, Bu Gia Map, Phu Rieng, Dong Phu, and Thien Hung.

The city will replant or top-graft aged cashew orchards over 30 years old that exhibit low productivity, replacing them with high-yielding varieties optimized for processing, such as PN1, AB29, AB05–08, LBC5, and similar strains. By 2030, approximately 80–90% of newly planted cashew areas will utilize standard-compliant varieties; areas applying intensive cultivation techniques will account for 40–50%; and cashew areas utilizing intercropping (with cocoa, spices, medicinal plants, mushrooms, etc.) or integrated farming (honeybees, poultry, etc.) will reach around 8%.

The locality will implement synchronous intensive farming technical measures (proper variety selection, fertilization, pruning, canopy management, undergrowth clearing, etc.) to upgrade cashew productivity, boost resilience, and mitigate the impacts of pests and out-of-season rains. By 2030, 100% of cashew kernel processing facilities must automate their shelling and peeling stages, and over 95% of cashew processing establishments must implement, maintain, and secure quality management certifications under ISO, HACCP, and GMP standards.

In addition, Dong Nai will continue to invest in upgrading processing machinery and technology, accelerating deep processing to elevate the value chain. It will diversify processed sub-products derived from cashews, including refining cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL), producing ethanol from cashew apple juice, and manufacturing plywood from cashew wood and shell residue, aiming to boost the deep-processing ratio of cashew kernels to 25–30%.

Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh, Vice Chairman of the Dong Nai Municipal People's Committee, committed that the city will continuously accompany farmers and businesses within the cashew industry, creating favorable conditions to forge stable raw material zones, a modern processing industry, high-quality products, robust brands, wide-open markets, and sustainable livelihoods for farmers.

Source: https://bnews.vn/