Southern localities suggested to establish onsite agricultural service teams

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Working Group 970, southern provinces and cities are facing difficulties in agricultural production due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The supply of farming products for exports in the last six months of this year will be reduced sharply because many material zones are under a lockdown or social distancing, resulting in a slowdown in harvesting and farming production.

Many processing plants have to operate below their capacity.

Fearing about the possible spread of COVID-19, local governments imposed inflexible measures to control the production, harvest, trade, transportation and circulation of farming products and agricultural inputs.

Tran Lam Sinh, vice director of Dong Nai Province’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department said that at this time, farmers were restricted to work on the field from 6 pm to 6 am, thus their labour productivity was reduced.

The prices of rice and other farming products dropped sharply not because of a reduction in supply or demand but the disrupted supply chains.

For example, international importers wanted to buy Vietnamese rice but domestic rice suppliers failed to deliver the rice.

Tan Cang Port – the main container port in Vietnam stopped receiving and delivering rice for export since July 2021 without announcing any details about the resumption date.

A big amount of containers got stuck in Cat lai Port due to only half of the port staff are working.

The supply of breeds and animal feed for aquaculture production is also facing difficulties in both road and waterway transportation.

About 7 billion breeding shrimp need to be transported from south-central provinces to southwestern provinces monthly. About 150,000 tonnes of animal feed need to be transported from Đong Nai and Binh Duong Provinces to the southwestern provinces monthly.

Aquaculture processing plants are important in aquaculture value chains but many of them now are unable to operate due to a shortage of workers.

Moreover, many plants failed to arrange stays for their workers at the plants’ campus. Only 324 out of 449 aquaculture processing plants are eligible to continue operation as they could arrange stays for workers.

Labour shortage and reduction of worker number in every shift made productivity of the processing plants decrease to 30-50 per cent compared with those before the Government’s Directive 16 on social distancing order is implemented.

Shrimp and tra fish will enter the main harvesting time in the coming months. Some aquaculture processing plants have started purchasing tra fish in the provinces of Dong Thap, An Giang and Tien Giang. They reported difficulties to travel among the provinces, urging for interprovincial co-operation to solve the problem.

According to the Working Group 970, the shortage of poultry will happen ahead of Tet ( lunar new year) celebration because of the reduction in poultry population to be raised.

So, it is necessary to improve the supply chain for livestock products, especially the circulation, processing and frozen of poultry when poultry prices drop.

Agricultural service providing teams

Seeing difficulties in harvesting, trade and transportation of farming products in southern localities, the Working Group 970 recommended the localities establish onsite teams.

Members of the teams will be prioritised to get COVID-19 vaccines and protective equipment. They are managed and licensed by State’s agencies to work and travel in COVID-19-hit areas with approved working schemes and trips.

They could deal with harvesting crops, loading/unloading farming products and transporting the products and agricultural inputs as well as taking care of the crops like transplanting, fertilising or spraying pesticides.

The Working Group 970 has announced that it received offers from two US COVID-19 vaccine suppliers. The suppliers asked for the assistance of the Working Group 970 to buy COVID-19 vaccines and COVID-19 testing kits for Vietnamese aquaculture processors.

The working group is verifying the offers and will soon report the result to the National Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

More than food suppliers registered

Until August 8, Working Group 970 received 911 registrations from food suppliers. Of the suppliers, there are 257 vegetable suppliers, 224 fruit suppliers, 345 ones supplying aquaculture and livestock products, 44 rice suppliers and 41 ones supplying other products.

The suppliers include 295 co-operatives, 343 household farms, 172 companies, 75 small household businesses, six market management boards and 20 suppliers from other sectors.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Working Group 970, fertiliser prices are 50-73 per cent higher than those of early this year.

The group has asked its counterpart from the Ministry of Industry and Trade to direct market watch forces in southern provinces to tighten control of the trade of agricultural inputs.

The market watch forces need to regularly inspect businesses that relate to agricultural inputs like fertilisers and pesticides to prevent them from speculating or stockpiling to get profits.

The market watch agencies would co-operate with inspectors from Plant Protection Department and National Steering Committee 389 for Anti-smuggling, Counterfeit Goods and Trade Fraud in examining the production, trade, import and export of fertilisers in southern localities.

The move is expected to help ensure fertilisers’ quality and prices are properly controlled under current regulations.