Mekong Delta farmers struggling to harvest and consume crops during social distancing

 Agricultural production and consumption in the southern province of Kien Giang are facing difficulties due to strict measures for COVID-19 prevention and control.

Tan Phuoc District in Tien Giang province is implementing a social distancing order under Prime Minister’s Directive 15. To keep COVID-19-free areas, only people from the disease-free communes could travel to other disease-free ones. Moreover, the travellers must have SARS-CoV-2 negative result certificates that are valid within 72 hours.

People from areas with confirmed COVID-19 infections are not allowed to enter the disease-free areas.

As a result, pineapple farmers in the district’s Phu My Commune can not go to their farms based in other communes as they don’t have SARS-CoV-2 negative result certificates.

Bui Van Thien, a farmer in Phu My Commune said that he had pineapple farms in Tan Hoa Dong and Thanh My communes.

The fruit was ready for harvest but the farmer could not go to harvest nor transport ripe pineapples through COVID-19 checkpoints, he said.

In Tan Phuoc District, there were very few medical facilities that provide COVID-19 testing, Thien said.

Moreover, the facilities announced four days off for National Day from September 1 to September 5, Thien said, adding that his ripe pineapples had to wait for the harvest.

Not only farmers, but wholesalers also face difficulties accessing production areas.

Nguyen Thi Nguyet, chairwoman of Tan Hoa Dong Commune People’s Committee said that local farming products were usually consumed by wholesalers who come from other localities.

“Now, it’s difficult for wholesalers to arrive in the commune to buy farming products,” she said.

Meanwhile, wholesalers could not reach Thoi Son Commune of My Tho City for days as the commune has been under lockdown for ten days after COVID-19 infections were detected there.

Fish farmers in the communes for the last few days ran out of animal feed. The commune now has about 1,000 fishing cages with an estimated production of 1,000 tonnes.

Increasing animal feed prices added more burden for the fish growers.

Nguyen Tan Binh from Thoi Son Commune said that his family had 16 fishing cages with an estimated production of 40 tonnes. Now, on average, each fish weighs 1.3-1.4 kg and his fish is ready for harvest now.

Binh said that he was very worried as he could not afford to buy feed for smaller fish.

“Normally, after selling adult fish, I will have money to buy fish for young fish. Now, wholesalers don’t go to buy fish, I have no money to buy feed for the fish,” he said.

On September 3, local farmers and enterprises sent letters, calling for supports from authorities and relevant agencies.

Le Huu Khanh, a wholesaler who sell animal feed and buy fish from nearly 1,000 fishing cages in Thoi Son Commune said that after COVID-19 cases were detected in the commune’s Thoi Thanh Hamlet, people were tested for SARS-CoV-2.

All people there were tested negative for the coronavirus three times but the commune authorities still did not allow wholesalers to enter, Khanh said.

Outdoor working – a good social distancing measure for farmers

Vo Quan Huy, Director of Huy Long Anh Company in My Binh District, Long An Province said that the exports of farming products in the official channel, especially to China remained good despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

So, it is necessary to create favourable conditions for farming production. Besides priority is given to people working in the frontline in the COVID-19 fight, working forces who join the “three on-site” model should be prioritised to access COVID-19 vaccines too.

Regulations were also needed to allow farmers to resume working in fields, taking care of and harvesting crops in time.

In urban areas, population density is high. The population density in rural areas, especially in the Mekong Delta region is much lower. When working in fields, farmers hardly meet and talk with each other. Thus, they still follow social distancing measures and maintain farming production, Huy said.