Dakado Avocado

Discover DAKADO Avocado




The avocado is relatively new in Vietnam and consumers are not yet familiar with the product itself, its nutritional values and its uses. If consumed, avocados are mainly used as an ingredient for fruit shakes: the well known Sinh To Bo. In developed avocado markets, e.g. Mexico, the USA and Australia, avocados are consumed and appreciated in many different ways: as fruit, as vegetable, as vegetable oil and in various beauty products. There is thus an enormous potential for the production and consumption of avocados in Vietnam.
The not-for profit project 'Development of an avocado value chain in Dak Lak province', aims to create an avocado value chain that will deliver high quality avocados which provide the Vietnamese consumers with a delightful experience at a cost-effective price, resulting in improved benefits for all actors in the chain. In general the project has three objectives:

• professionalizing the avocado chain
• raising the avocado demand
• offering a high quality avocado brand

"Professionalizing the avocado chain": creating a consistent and year round supply of high quality avocados with better shelf life.
To be able to get higher quality avocados, close cooperation between farmers, collectors and traders is required. The focus is on quick wins in harvesting and post harvest operations. Introduced will be: New and simple avocado harvesting tools; Standard Operating Procedures for harvest and post harvest operations; Development of more homogenous avocado batches consisting of the same varieties and with the same maturity levels; Pilots with cold storage and Improved packaging solutions.
"Raising the avocado demand": Creating a greater awareness of the values of the avocado, introducing a quality brand and assessing the processing and export potential.
Since many consumers are unaware of the benefits of avocado or even don’t know avocado at all, a consumer awareness campaign was developed in Mid 2007. The "Discover the magic..." campaign in Saigon Coop and Metro in Ho Chi Minh city, seduced consumers to try new way of enjoying avocado, both as a fruit and as a vegetable and informed consumers about all the fantastic nutrition values of avocado for health and beauty, for young and old, for male and female...
The high quality avocado offer combines with the informational campaign resulted in rocketing sales volumes that persisted beyond the campaign.
From mid June 2008 on the high quality DAKADOs will be available in:

• Metro
• Saigon Coop
• Fivi Mart

PROJECT PARTNERS
The project is being executed by the following organizations:

• Centre for Science and Technology Application (CSTA) based in Buon Ma Thuot
• Western Agriculture Science Institute (WASI) based in Buon Ma Thuot
• The Department of Science and Technology of Dak Lak (DOSTE)
• Fresh Studio Innovations Asia Ltd. with offices in Hanoi and Dalat

• Mr Trung Anh of Fresh Studio Innovations Asia Ltd.: 
  Email: anh.nguyen@freshstudio.biz
  Tel: 063 533137
• Mr Trinh Duc Minh of the Dak Lak department of Science and Technology:minhtd@yahoo.com

FUNDING
The DAKADO project is funded by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and development within the framework of the MPI-GTZ’s Small and Medium Enterprise Development Program.

For more information about this program visit: www.sme-gtz.org.vn or contact Ms. Pham Ngoc Tram: tram.pham@gtz.de
Download project information leaflet