Together solve the problem of surplus agricultural products

Farmers complain that whatever they produce is difficult to sell

In the current difficult economic situation, it must be affirmed that agriculture is also better than many other industries because it is related to daily food and drink, which must be consumed. However, farmers in the past were only used to flooding, digging, and turning grass for production. Still, they were not used to raising value, promoting, and selling products, so the chorus of "good harvest, loss of value" kept repeating repeat. Therefore, recently, the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has coordinated with the People's Committee of My Duc District to organize the forum of Agricultural Extension @ Linking the production and consumption of agricultural products. 

This forum is an excellent opportunity for the "four houses," including farmers, managers, scientists, and entrepreneurs, to discuss and solve this difficulty. The story of product inheritance spread from the hallway of the product display to the hall with a series of lamentations, helpless: "My label is the best in the second district, but I sell it for VND 8,000/kg, and it's still empty". 

Mr. Nguyen Quang Hung, the owner of 12 hectares of farms growing vegetables, cucumbers, tomatoes, and cantaloupe in Le Thanh commune, said he is a rare person in the region with GlobalGAP certification. The products of his farm are relatively easy to sell. Still, the selling price is not true to the actual value, usually only about VND 30,000/kg, not encouraging the producer who has invested up to VND 7 billion here.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hoi, a farm owner in Xuy Xa commune, wondered where he followed the VietGAP process correctly, where to buy materials and the price for the products to be sold. In addition, ranchers, who were previously signed by the locality to a 15-year lease of land, which paid off in full but expired in 2019, are now legally suspended, always worried for fear of being punished white clearance, fear of bringing the land to the next auction but not winning. Some farm owners are falling into deep debt, and many others are because of inefficient production that leaves them blank. 

Mr. Nguyen Van Sinh, a farm owner in Huong Son commune, said: The locality has set up a cooperative for farmers to produce together, but the agricultural products made still have no place for consumption. Dozens of tons of litchi and then sell floating, low price. Though it's delicious, his farm has dozens of tons of longan, which traders can only buy at VND 8,000/kg. 

Mr. Nguyen Ba Tien, a farm owner in An Phu commune, informed: My hometown has the largest lotus area in the North, with 178 hectares of single-petal persimmon seeds, but the market is volatile, so I'm testing a few new varieties of this species chlorophyll; there are 91 hectares of seafood, the fish is clean, but the output is still secret, only selling to traders, so I am experimenting with making fish cakes with a result of 50-70 kg/day and do not know how to enter the supermarket. Looking forward to the State's support in branding and traceability for agricultural products. 

Mrs. Phan Thi Thuan, director of My Duc Mulberry Silk Co., Ltd in Phung Xa Commune, owns the famous 5-star OCOP product, self-woven silk blankets, throughout the capital. She hopes to receive support from the State to provide vocational training to many people in the district, especially women; to create a separate brand of silk for My Duc, avoiding the situation that many customers come to order her work but ask for their brand name.

Advice from the experts

My Duc is planned as the capital's green belt with the orientation of agricultural production as the foundation and tourism - service as the spearhead. Up to now, the district has planned seven high-tech agricultural production areas with a total area of 314 hectares; a quality rice area of over 4,500 hectares; a safe vegetable area of 135 hectares; a fruit tree area of 150 hectares; concentrated aquaculture area 750 hectares; lotus growing area on 500 hectares. 

In the past, the models of chain linkage from production to consumption in the My Duc area were also initially attractive. Currently, the district has several branded agricultural products with a stable consumption market, such as Chua Huong fresh vegetables (Huong Son commune); prickly pear from Tue Linh Pharmaceutical Company (Phu Luu Te commune); enoki mushrooms of Kinoko Thanh Cao Company (Doc Tin commune); safe vegetables (Le Thanh commune). However, the general picture is still a small-scale production; products for consumption depend mainly on traders, and prices are volatile. So how to solve this problem? 

According to Mr. Nguyen Tien Thinh, Deputy Director of the Center for Analysis and Certification of Agricultural Products in Hanoi: Currently, the proportion of certified agricultural products in the capital only accounts for about 7%, while supermarkets and shops want to clean food consumed with fresh products must have VietGAP and organic certification, and processed products must have HACCP certification, packaging, and labels. 

Therefore, to improve the value of agricultural products, there is no other way to make certification and transparency of origin. The problem for most farm owners and farmers today is that they only care about production, follow productivity, and pay little attention to quality improvement, certification, packaging, and labeling. Therefore, there needs to be more products and low prices.

Before the farmers' thoughts, Mr. Do Hoang Thach, General Director of An Viet Group, shared, I have been a farm worker for 19 years; before coming to the conference, there were still bottles at 5 am today with the trees. He grew everything from vegetables, fruit trees to ornamental plants. Still, after ten years of continuous loss, he achieved positive results until he switched to a new direction combining organic agriculture and experiential tourism. There was a time when his farm welcomed 700 students, with a ticket price of VND 30-40,000/person, which was a significant source of income. The farm's products are never redundant with tourists, and the selling price is always high. 

However, only some farms can do such tourism, but it needs certain conditions on roads and landscapes. Either way, farms must make a difference in the quality of agricultural products and expand sales channels on marketing platforms such as tik tok, Facebook, and Zalo. If anyone has produced according to organic standards, connect with An Viet Group to buy the product.

Mr. Dang Van Dong: Deputy Director of the Research Institute of Vegetables and Fruits, said that My Duc is one of the most suitable places in Hanoi for safe farming because it has clean water and clean land. The district has several communes that are very suitable for lotus and water lilies, available in the market; millions of tourists come to Huong Pagoda every year. The problem now must be put into planting diverse varieties of lotus with purposes such as flowers, leaves, tubers, and seeds.

 Mr. Doan Duc Dan, Deputy Director of Hanoi Agricultural Extension Center, said that chain linkage models from production to consumption of agricultural products in the area have been promoted over the past. This problem is considered the "key" to promoting sustainable agricultural development, adding value to farm products.