How has the situation of agricultural product consumption obstructed due to the impact of social distancing in the localities resolved, sir?
- Under the direction of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has established working groups in the South and the North. Since then, the team has closely coordinated, continuously updated and informed with the Government's Special Working Group, with representatives of ministries, branches and localities to promptly solve arising problems and handle problems. bottlenecks and obstacles in the stages of production, processing, harvesting, circulation and consumption of agricultural products... of farmers and businesses.
Up to now, many localities have formed "agricultural product supply hubs", meeting the needs of food and essential food. However, before the epidemic, there were still complicated developments and the application and implementation of regulations were still different between localities, the situation of production and consumption chains in a number of agricultural products was still more or less affected. such as sweet potatoes in the field are overdue for harvest, pangasius and rice have not been able to find a source of purchase due to the "broken" stage of distribution and transportation. The general situation has improved somewhat, but there are still many difficulties due to the rapid spread of the disease over a large space.
- How is rice consumption in the Mekong Delta today?
- The situation of rice in the West began to prosper, but the continuous fluctuation of rice prices is inevitable. After increasing from 300 to 500 VND per kg, the price of rice recorded in some places and at some points is decreasing slightly locally.
The reason is due to the lack of traders to purchase, while the business's demand for rice has not been well met because of limitations in moving and transporting... Some businesses are facing difficulties in capital but are still struggling. try to maintain production, to ensure the fulfillment of export orders.
Rice production areas in cooperatives, linked with chain enterprises, are less affected, thanks to support, coordination, and focus on relevant focal points. This shows that, besides benefits, participating in association and cooperation in production and business can help farmers minimize damage and share risks in unusual conditions and circumstances. happen.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed the Government to study and open a green channel for transporting rice by waterway when 95% of rice and rice in the Mekong Delta passes through this "channel". Transporting rice by water can help reduce traffic pressure, help maintain the supply chain of rice from the field to the processing plants and distribution and consumption points, provided that the driver , transport participants ... strictly ensure safety criteria to prevent and combat Covid-19.
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The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is piloting a combo pack of 10 kg a bag of agricultural products for 100,000-200,000 VND, which many provinces and cities participate in. How do you rate this program?
- This is a good initiative of Working Group 970 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, directed by Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam. Currently, this contributes to supporting the distribution and consumption of agricultural products in the localities to Ho Chi Minh City, helping people to both access the package of agricultural products at an appropriate cost, ensure quality, and minimize the risk. disease spread.
Looking further, the "combo" package can be a suggestion, a signal, an indicator from the market, encouraging producers to actively cooperate to meet different needs of consumers and the market. .
For example, with a 10 kg bag of agricultural products including 5 types of agricultural products, producers of each agricultural product can "shake hands" with each other, boldly come and join cooperative groups and cooperatives, to search, connect the consumption market, limit the status of passive, "blind" information.
Above all, this is the first step to create a sustainable "rural economy" foundation, develop the capacity of rural communities through production and business activities organized in cooperation and association. methodically, closely associated with the requirements and standards of the market.
In the near future, on the basis of closely monitoring and grasping the actual situation, the working groups of the Ministry will continue to update and synthesize information, actively exchange with ministries, branches, localities, and other agencies. relevant parties, in order to promptly propose and deploy effective, feasible and synchronous solutions.
At the same time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will soon introduce the "Information Forum connecting agricultural production and consumption". In addition to contributing to support the supply of food and essential food for localities that are deeply affected by the epidemic, the forum aims to have many long-term goals such as: trade promotion, connection supply and demand, market information... From there, the Ministry will synthesize information data for production management, trade promotion and connection of supply and demand of agricultural products.
We encourage the development of codes for growing areas, farming areas, traceability, quality assurance, agricultural product safety, aiming to organize production and business linkages along the value chain... are the startups to implement digital transformation in the agricultural sector.
In your opinion, what do farmers need to do in the production and consumption of the upcoming crop?
- I wish to convey to the farmers: we must change together. The bottleneck of a "fragmented, small, spontaneous" production needs to be overcome based on the spirit of "linking - cooperation", meeting the needs and standards of the market.
Participating in cooperative economic models, linking production - consumption with businesses can help reduce seasonal risks. In addition to the role of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in policy making, search, negotiation, and market connection, together with the guidance and direction of enterprises, it is farmers who directly produce safe, quality and responsible agricultural products to meet the increasing and diversified demands of the market and consumers.
In addition, while the prices of inputs and raw materials increase, in parallel with the management and regulatory role of the State, people need to apply effective forms of input reduction as recommended by the agency. functions, avoiding the abuse of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides... In many places, farmers have reduced costs by boldly changing and optimizing production methods.
Source: Vnexpress.net/ Ngoc Tai
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