Solutions for agricultural products production and consumption to adapt to the pandemic

Social distancing in many provinces and cities has made agricultural products production and consumption difficult. However, many localities and businesses have had solutions to adapt.

The 1st article: Everyday purchasing hundreds of tons of export fruits

Prioritizing vaccination for traders or investing in technology for preservation are among the solutions to facilitate fruit consumption.

Take the initiative for circulation to be uninterrupted

Ms. Ngo Tuong Vy, Deputy Director of Chanh Thu Fruit Import-Export Co., Ltd (Hoa Nghia commune, Cho Lach district, Ben Tre province), shared that the enterprise has been proactive in human resources, warehouses, reviewing the organization system to adapt to the new situation.

Chanh Thu Company has currently called on employees to arrange family affairs and has taken the initiative in 50% of the workforce qualified to perform "4 on-site".

Chanh Thu Company still ensures to buy fruit in raw material areas to export to USA. Every day, the company collects 70 - 120 tons of fruits of all kinds. This season is mainly for xuong longan, thanh longan and rambutan... Thanh longan is purchased by the company for VND 40,000/kg, VND 20,000/kg for xuong longan, VND 5,000 - 10,000/kg higher than the market average.

However, according to the company's representative, the biggest difficulty is still the source of capital to store farmers’ goods during the ripe season while circulation keeps encountering hardships. "Enterprises wish to receive credit support to be able to buy more stockpiles in this time when circulation is difficult", Ms. Ngo Tuong Vy suggested.

As claimed by Mr. Nguyen Van De, Director of Hieu Trung Orange Crockery Cooperative (Hieu Trung Commune, Vung Liem District, Vinh Long Province), oranges are very valuable at present. Their price is about VND 16,000/kg. However, due to the implementation of social distancing, the cooperative, although proactive, still lacks human resources to harvest oranges. Therefore, the cooperative has contacted and sold oranges to traders with abundant workers and clear green lanes to quickly consume products.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Anh, Director of Cong Thanh Dao Thanh Cooperative, said: "These days, the amount of fruit consumed at supermarkets is very small, so the cooperative has had posts on e-commerce trading platforms, Zalo groups, Facebook and others to find the consumption focal point. In this way, each day the cooperative consumes 3-5 tons of agricultural products for the people".

Apply technology, increase preservation time for fruits

According to Ms. Tran Thi Bich Tran, owner of Tran Fruit Barn on Nguyen Van Cu street, An Khanh ward, Ninh Kieu district, Can Tho city shared: During the social distancing, the Industry and Trade sector and the Can Tho City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development have sent a list to fruit granaries and tens of fruit-collecting cooperatives in the area to ask for consumption support for those facing difficulties in output.

According to Ms. Tran, the reason why the establishment has the current favorable output is thanks to the initiative in advance and signing contracts with the supermarket systems Co.opmart and Bach Hoa Xanh, so the amount of fruit when purchasing from the cooperative or the farmers brought back is in accordance with the quantity committed from the beginning; the supermarket system receives all the goods according to the agreement and does not increase the price.

Ms. Tran added that now the farmers' agricultural products are still abundant, the output is still limited, while many other traders are temporarily taking a break to prevent diseases, Tran Fruit Barn boldly registers for all Covid-19 prevention procedures and has been granted a "green lane" to purchase agricultural products.

Prioritize vaccination for traders

Vinh Long is the locality with the second largest area of fruit trees in the Cuu Long Delta with more than 60,000 ha. Currently, the province has two main types of fruit that are in full bloom: longan and orange, in which, orange consumption is stable. However, longan is struggling in terms of output.

According to Mr. Truong Thanh Danh, Director of Vinh Long Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Department is advising the Provincial People's Committee to issue guidelines to create more favorable conditions for fruit production and circulation. Specifically, each district will set up fruit collection groups with core members being traders, cooperatives, … Members of this group will be given priority to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

In order to promote the consumption of agricultural products in the context of ensuring Covid-19 epidemic prevention, Mr. Nguyen Minh Canh, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ben Tre province shared that localities are paying attention to ensure the safety of local markets, prioritize quick test for small merchants trading to the markets. For any agricultural products that can remain hanged and harvested later, the authorities should have technical instructions for the people to ensure productivity and quality.