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Efforts to Rescue Agricultural Products
Posted: Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Since the beginning of 2018, Vietnam's agricultural products have been supported with a series of "rescues" of turnips, kohlrabies, potatoes, etc. "Good havest, price fall” is a very common phrase. One of the main causes leading to the surplus is due to farmers lacking information on the market, not considering how to sell their products.
Re-orientation of production and consumption needed
Mr Nguyen Quoc Toan, Deputy Director of Department of Agro-product Processing and Market Development, MARD also said that it is necessary to re-orient production, link production with consumption, accurately forecast market demand for farmers to have a suitable production direction, avoiding goods stagnation.
In 2018, Vietnam will have eight more processing plants being built with a capacity of 1-1.2 million tonnes with a focus on fruit products processing.
With the aim of boosting the consumption of agricultural products in the country, many dialogues among three players: Authorities, businessmen and farmers have been organised. These meetings have produced very positive results, with a series of cooperative agreements between farmers and supermarkets signed.
Mr Tran Duy Dong, Director of Domestic Market Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade, said, the Ministry will continue to coordinate with localities nationwide to hold a conference to connect supply and demand. Thereby, we will find solutions to remove difficulties, promote market expansion and consumption of agricultural products in the country and abroad.
According to the Representative of Ping Xiang Fruit Import Export Corporation (Ping Xiang City, China), Ping Xiang Trade Association is the leading company in terms of export and import of agricultural products (accounting for 51 percent of fruit import-export turnover of China). On average, its amount of agricultural products imported and exported is about 2 million tonnes. The business delegation from Pingxiang, China has been to Vietnam to study some agricultural areas to set up cooperation.
Noteworthy was the agricultural product consumption promotion conference with the participation of departments of industry and trade, 100 enterprises and traders operating in the agricultural import and export of Vietnam and China was held on April 17th. At the conference, Trade and Industry Departments of Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Phu Yen, Binh Dinh, Lang Son, Lao Cai and Quang Ninh signed a cooperative agreement on agricultural products consumption.
According to Tran Thi Phuong Lan, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade, farmers need to change their production habits aiming to produce safer products and establish more sustainable distribution channels.
Many supermarkets such as Big C, Vinmart, Lotte and Fivimart have joined hands to "rescue" farm produce for farmers. In 2017, these supermarkets also participated in the rescue of watermelon and pork and many others.
Take initiative in exporting
Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh stressed the importance of raising product quality and competitiveness and trademark at the dialogue between the Prime Minister and the farmers in Hai Duong recently. All of these factors are related to reorganisation of production. Only when the competitiveness in terms of price, quality, brand is higher, will the products be able to meet the requirements of the export market and not be dependent on any market.
According to Minister Tran Tuan Anh, some agricultural products are stuck because they are mainly consumed through informal channels, especially small ones, which are difficult to control quality. In order not to be dependent on the Chinese market, the only way we have to do is actively seek and exploit new markets. Farmers should actively raise awareness, catch information, associate with enterprises, produce agricultural products in accordance with standards and regulations of import markets, ensure quality and sustainability for export of agricultural products of Vietnam.
Statistics show that the Chinese market accounted for more than two thirds of Vietnam's US$ 3.5 billion fruit and vegetable export turnover in 2017. To reduce agricultural risks, Vietnam is also speeding up talks with China to increase the share of agro-industrial output.
In terms of export markets for agricultural products, many businesses emphasise the role of Vietnamese trade counsellors in the country. Trade councellors should promote the role of providing market information and supporting the removal of technical barriers to promoting exports. They need to support businesses and farmers more effectively in terms of information. The most important is to provide market information, regulations on agricultural quarantine, consumer culture to enable farmers to understand the standards for cultivation.
Speaking at the conclusion of the Dialogue with farmers, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc affirmed that issues related to agriculture, farmers and rural development must be resolved synchronously in line with the process of industrialisation and modernisation. It is necessary to concentrate on implementing the restructuring of the agricultural sector in the direction of commodity production, large scale, hi-tech agriculture, stepping up deep processing and new products, raising output, product quality. It is necessary to promote attracting businesses to invest in agriculture and rural areas. At the same time, we also need solutions to basically solve the problem of market access, product consumption, minimise the passivity and excess products like the recent time.
Huong Giang
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