Connecting to help a bussiness collect 1,500 tons of aquatic products monthly

On August 12, MARD's Southern Working Group 970 convened a virtual connecting session between Mekong Seafood Connection Company Limited and representatives from the Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development in Kien Giang, An Giang, Dong Thap, Soc Trang, and cooperatives to explore opportunities for seafood production and consumption connections.

Demand for connecting long-term production cooperation in chains

According to Tran Minh Hai, director of the cooperative economy training and consulting center at the Institute of Management for Agriculture and Rural Development II and a member of Working Group 970, the group has assisted in connecting hundreds of focal suppliers, thereby supplying essential products to localities.

The working group has received many orders in the coming months from companies seeking to connect chain manufacturing to local cooperatives with the assistance of the agriculture sector.

He said that local governments must restructure production and assist cooperatives to expand agriculture and production and invest in pre-and post-processing to fulfill commercial demands.

Mekong Seafood Connection Company Limited is in high demand for connecting and developing raw material processing regions for export. According to company director Hoang Van Duy, the unit requires about 1,500 tons per month of products such as giant freshwater shrimp, pangasius, frog (frog leg), tilapia, red tilapia, dried products, and river anchovies. Additionally, a variety of additional goods are being pushed for trade, including eel, sliced fish, and sea fish.

Thus, it must establish links with cooperatives through local agricultural departments and Working Group 970 to establish a stable, sustainable material zone, particularly to connect the primary force items or regional specialties.

The business urgently needs the assistance of local communities, suppliers, and cooperatives by providing information, pictures, and videos about the products, farmers, and cooperatives, as well as certifications of quality, geographical indications, and regional specialties that have been obtained... From then, the company's communications department will continue to market and brand the company's product chains to both domestic and international consumers.

Localities are ready to provide

According to the agricultural leader of Kien Giang, the area has consumed a variety of agricultural goods as a result of the link established by Working Group 970. Recently, two companies partnered to buy big freshwater prawns for consumption in Ho Chi Minh City, assisting farmers with production.

Additionally, he said that local farmers would gather about 1,500 tons of aquatic products until the end of August, including white-leg shrimp, black tiger shrimp, giant freshwater shrimp, farmed sea crab, blood clam cobia, and gobio gobio. Consumable goods include gigantic freshwater prawns, blood clams, and cage-farmed fish.

Kien Giang province established a plan for aquaculture and marine economic development, which will serve as the province's primary focus in the future years. Additionally, the province intends to promote the benefits of coastal saltwater and brackish water aquaculture, which has a potential annual production of 1 million tons of goods.

Toan encouraged companies to visit the area to learn and sign preliminary agreements for long-term collaboration.

Truong Kien Tho, Deputy Director of An Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, agreed, stating that the province possesses a fairly large raw material area for pangasius, red tilapia, giant freshwater shrimp, and frog... that is prepared to serve as a focal point for connecting production chains.

Tens of thousands of tons of seafood goods such as red tilapia, tilapia, tra fish, frog, and gigantic freshwater shrimp are also produced in Dong Thap each year. Farmed frog products, in particular, are in need of production in light of the present Covid-19 outbreak.

By the afternoon of August 12, 1,064 focused agricultural suppliers had registered with the Working Group 970 for consumption, comprising 392 fish and cattle providers, 288 vegetable and fruit providers, 70 food providers, and 46 other agricultural product providers.

Tran Dinh Luan, head of the Directorate of Fisheries, stressed that in order to link cooperation in fisheries consumption in communes, localities must coordinate production and generate sufficient material area to meet business needs. This means that agricultural households and facilities must adhere to the highest quality standards. To guarantee the quality of raw materials, it is essential to arrange production cooperatively and to adhere to VietGAP requirements. In the long term, the agricultural area code will be assigned a numerical value and assigned in accordance with rules.