Discussing solutions for developing catfish chains after the Covid-19 lockdown

Over 70% of employees have to leave their jobs

According to Tran Dinh Luan, General Directorate of the Directorate of Fisheries by early September 2021, 176 out of 449 catfish processing plants were shut down as it was unaffordable to maintain their operations according to "three-on-the-spot" measure. Currently, 52 among 106 catfish processing plants in the provinces of An Giang, Dong Thap, Hau Giang, Vinh Long and Can Tho City (accounting for 49%) have suspended their operations. More than 70% of workers have left their jobs.

According to Luan, as the result of labor shortages and working in shifts to ensure the requirements of social distancing, the total processing capacity has reached only 30-40% lower than that in early July 2021 before the social distancing measures were imposed. The plants mainly used catfish raised in their own farms instead of buy from farmers resulting in raw material surplus, affecting the catfish supply chain. Sea freights have continuously increased by two or three times, even 10 times sometimes.  In addition, they had to pay additional expenses for the implementation of"three-on-the-spot", accommodation for workers. Can Tho and Tien Giang have the largest number of enterprises suspended.

For the factories that were operating at an indifferent level, they could only allow 20-30% of workers to be involved resulting in a sharp decrease in labor productivity. In addition to that, a same number of the workers involved in the production chain is affected even they do not work directly in the factories. Particularly, the percentage of workers/employees got the first doses of Covid-19 vaccines was different, varying between 10% and 90% depend on each locality and each enterprise, the percentage of workers who got second does was limited at around 10%.

The area of catfish farming was decreased by 50-55% in July and August when the social distancing measures were imposed compared to the prior months. Catfish productivity harvested during this period was reduced respectively by 20% and 44.9% compared to the July and Augusts in 2020. Particularly, in the first half of September 2021, the harvest was decreased by 77% over the same period last year.

Catfish farming has been facing many difficulties as animal feed prices are jumping high and there is a shortage of labor. The transportation of fingerlings, feed and catfish between localities has been disrupted; Covid-19 test requirement is driving the production costs up. All these factor can likely lead to a shortage of catfish raw materials in the year-end months.

What do associations, enterprises propose?

Duong Nghia Quoc, Chairman of Vietnam Catfish Association said "Each province has its own Covid-19 vaccine policy, causing a lot of difficulties for enterprises. Thus it's necessary to prioritize Covid-19 vaccine allocation for the employees working in the catfish industry so that the industry can operate smoothly.  The members of the Association also asked for getting preferential interest rates and debt rescheduling so that they can overcome the current situation".

The Chairman of Vietnam Catfish Association also suggested that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development( MARD) should propose the Government to reduce electricity fees for catfish enterprises, increasing the reduction rate to 20-30% instead of 10% as current. The association asked the MARD to stablize animal feed prices that are rocketing, urging the Government to boost consumption in both the domestic and overseas markets as there is a huge quantity of catfish unsaleable.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vinh Hoan (VHC) Joint Stock Company Truong Thi Le Khanh said it takes many steps to bring catfish from farms to processing plants such as harvesting fish which requires skilled workers. However, the requirements at Covid-19 checkpoints have made the movement between localities difficult. Workers need to be tested for Covid-19 and are required to undergo 14-day quarantine which are affecting the harvesting and processing.

"I suggest that the workers in the catfish industry should get Covid-19 vaccine shots and "green pass" needs to be issued so that fish harvesters can travel easily, administrative procedures must be simplified to facilitate the movement between provinces," Khanh proposed.

According to Trinh Cong Minh, Deputy Director of Tien Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development over 90% of catfish processing enterprises have been affected by Covid-19 since August. Only four enterprises in the province have implemented "three-on-the-spot" and operating at 50% capacity. Minh said that the implementation of "three-on-the-spot" is a temporary option during the peak of pandemic. Therefore the Ministry of Health needs to give the enterprises a guide on the Covdi-19 prevention and control in the new normal situation so that they can operate safely and effectively.

Sharing the same point of view, Tran Thi Phuong Khanh, Deputy Director of Long An Department of Agricultural and Rural Development urged the Ministry of Health to have  general guidelines on quick tests and PRC tests. For "three-on-the-spot" option, it must depend on each enterprise and the enterprises should be allowed to have their own way of management and operation.

Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of An Giang province Tran Anh Thu also asked for the solutions to help enterprises remove difficulties for example reducing production costs, providing accommodation for workers, assisting with quick tests and PCR tests and funding to ensure the supply of raw materials for catfish processing in the near future.

Meanwhile Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Can Tho suggested that vaccination strategies should be developed with farm workers; pricing policies for raw materials, animal feed and policies capital investment are needed to facilitate catfish farming and processing in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Secretary of Dong Thap Dong Thap Provincial Party Committee Le Quoc Phong said the Ministry of Health needs to set out guidelines on Covid-19 screening tests for workers in the near future. However the enterprises themselves also need to adjust their production schedules based on the new situation to ensure disease prevention and control.

Defined smaller "red zone" to resume production

Responding to the proposals relating to the Covid-19 situation, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Song said nineteen Southern provinces and cities are now taking measures on Covid-19 prevention and control at different alert levels. So, the the Ministry of Health agreed with setting up a set of general guidelines for the Southern provinces and cities in particular and the whole nation in general to ensure an uniformed policy for the economic development including the catfish industry in the Mekong Delta.

In that regard, the MoH will work with the MARD to solve the problems. The MoH understands that it's impossible to obtain "Zero Covid" status and a flexible scenario for disease control is needed. The MoH is developing new instructions to ensure the safety for  production system in the new normal situation.

"The MoH will continue to administratively classify four groups at risk of Covid-19 infection. The People's Committee at all levels and the enterprises should develop a very-detailed plan for achieving a status of safe production. For example if a factory is in the "green zone" and its workers are in the "red zone" how will we deal with the situation? or vice versa what shoud we do? Only when we create a matrix diagram can we come up with an effective production plan, Deputy Minister Son emphasized.     

Regarding the proposal of vaccinating farm workers, Deputy Minister of the MARD Tran Thanh Nam, Head of Special Working Group 970 urged the relevant agencies to soon collect proposals and submit the reports to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control to promptly allocate Covid-19 vaccines to workers involved in catfish production chain in localities.

Building post-pandemic momentum

Addressing  the conference, Minister of the MARD Le Minh Hoan affirmed no one is safe from Covid-19. It's worth mentioning that no scientist can be sure when the pandemic will end. The Government also shares the same view. The Government has held an emergency meeting, affirming that it's impossible to cover every sector, every industry and every career with Covid-19 vaccines right now. The Government also realized that the measures designed to prevent Covid-19 were not uniformed. Therefore the Minister asked the MoH to soon develop guidelines so that enterprises can know how to operate in the new normal situation.

He also said that this is an occasion for 13 provinces in the Mekong Delta to make the trial of regional linkage according to Resolution 120, enhancing regional economic operation. For the catfish industry, it needs to be linked into an economic entity. "I always think that only when 13 provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta become an economic entity, can the Mekong Delta's economy including catfish industry develop.  I consider economic space from one locality to another, from factories to workers, from one ponds to another to be a flow or blood vessels. So if one vessel is broken the whole body will die. Economic space is not a matter of one province but it involves many people from workers to breeders, from provinces to ports and from the country to the world," said Minister Le Minh Hoan

He also urged localities and enterprises to build post-pandemic momentum. "If we are optimistic we will win the fight against Covid-19 soon," said Minister Le Minh Hoan.

Minister Le Minh Hoan said in the past the agricultural sector only focused on production, today the MARD will hold a role as a bridge to connect all related units to form an economic entity and to create economic recovery and growth after Covid-19.

"When we see shrimps or fish in ponds we can't say if it's successful or not. It's a long way to go to achieve success. We must understand to have a fillet of catfish for export how many steps we need. We need to revive the catfish industry, setting up a long-term strategy for catfish industry. The Prime Minister is also concerned about the issue and the bottleneck in the supply chain," Mr. Hoan said.