Pesticide Governance in Export Supply Chains: The Case of Vegetable and Fruit Production in Vietnam

We analyze the role of international agrofood supply chains in greening vegetable and fruit products and production in Vietnam. Mainly through contract-based procurement, the export-oriented vegetable and fruit supply chain is better structured and organized than the domestic supply chain. Exporters intervene to some degree in fruit and vegetable farming, to safeguard supply and to improve product quality. Pesticide use is one of exporters' concerns, although pesticide application remains largely controlled by farmers. Despite some endogenous innovations to improve vegetable and fruit pesticide practices, farmers and exporters are especially responding to the demands of importers. Relatively lax import regulations from the main export markets (China and Russia) are the main reason for limited achievements in less-pesticide-dependent vegetable and fruit production in Vietnam. By the same token, these limited innovations constrain farmers and exporters from exporting to more challenging markets in the EU, the US, and Japan. Hence, in Vietnam export markets have hardly induced reduction in the use of pesticides in agricultural vegetable and fruit production.