At Binh Duong bridge point, attending were Mr. Mai Hung Dung - Member of the Provincial Standing Party Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and leaders of departments, committees, branches and localities in the province.
The forum also has the participation of more than 200 associations, buyers, supermarkets, distribution, export, import, logistics enterprises at home and abroad, e-commerce enterprises and enterprises, cooperatives, farms, agricultural production establishments in the province.
Overview of the forum at Binh Duong bridge point
Supply chain of agricultural products is affected by the pandemic
According to the report of Binh Duong Department of ARD, over the past time, implementing the policy of restructuring the agricultural branch towards comprehensive and sustainable agricultural development, clean and organic agriculture, high-tech agriculture, proactively responding to climate change along with many agricultural development policies, Binh Duong has created a mechanism to attract enterprises and farmers to invest in production. Up to now, the province has formed 04 hi-tech industrial parks, over 69% of the total poultry flocks, 65% of the total cattle herds and 5,435ha of cultivation applying high technology in production; including nearly 600ha of organic farming.
During the initial period of implementing social distancing according to Directive 16/CT-TTg of the Prime Minister to ensure local regulations on Covid-19 prevention and control, the situation of circulation and transportation faced many difficulties, transportation costs increased, and traditional markets stopped receiving agricultural products, which was the cause of the disruption of the agricultural product supply chain. Currently, Binh Duong is initially implementing the new normal, so the transportation and consumption of agricultural products has been convenient and relatively stable.
At the same time, the Department of ARD has established a Working Group to support production, connect supply and demand and consume agricultural products in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic in the province; coordinate with the Department of Industry and Trade and the Provincial Post Office in implementing the work of connecting agricultural product consumption at post offices in districts, towns and cities. Up to now, sales have been carried out at 20 points with a daily supply of about 06 tons of vegetables, tubers and fruits; 300-350kg of meat; 27,000 eggs/point. At the same time, organizing mobile sales trips in districts, towns and cities. Along with that, supporting cooperatives and farms to deploy online retail channels, online delivery to order focal points; supporting consumption of locally stocked agricultural products with 150 tons of bananas; 250 tons of cantaloupes; 250 tons of pomelos; 50 tons of vegetables; 90 tons of abalone mushrooms, etc. and currently the units are continuing to connect and sell stably. In addition, the province's agricultural output has been reviewed until the time of harvest or is about to be harvested. Currently, there are more than 2,000 tons of fruits (grapefruit, oranges, tangerines, lemons, cantaloupe, guava, longan, etc.), processed agricultural products, cattle meat, poultry and eggs that need to be connected to support consumption.
Agricultural products and fruits of Binh Duong are highly appreciated
Speaking at the Forum, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Mai Hung Dung said that during the past time, in the process of implementing regulations on Covid-19 prevention and control, the agricultural production sector has encountered many difficulties, in which the biggest difficulty is the organization of product consumption. "In the current period, although production and business activities and people's lives are gradually restored, however, the purchasing power of the market is still low, many agricultural products have not been fully reconnected to the supply chain, and the falling selling price has affected production efficiency as well as the reproducibility for the next production cycle", Mr. Dung shared.
Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Mai Hung Dung speaks at the Forum
Enterprises "offer suggestions" to stimulate demand, expand consumption markets
At the Forum, representatives of associations, buyers, supermarkets, enterprises and cooperatives of agricultural production presented their needs as well as exchanged potentials, resources and solutions to stimulate demand, expand the market for agricultural products in Binh Duong. At the same time, there have also been many proposals and recommendations to provincial departments and branches to support connection and circulation; accompany enterprises and manufacturers to overcome difficulties and supply quality products regularly to supermarket chains and buyers.
According to Ms. Ngo Tuong Vy - Deputy General Director of Chanh Thu Company, about a year ago, Chanh Thu Company worked with Binh Duong to research and export pomelos to the US market. According to Ms. Vy, the pomelo material area of Binh Duong is quite concentrated, so it can meet the needs of exporting pomelos to the US this year, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it has not been done. The price of pomelo products in Binh Duong can compete well in these markets due to advantages in transportation.
With the Chinese market, Ms. Vy said that cantaloupe products are being interested by many supermarkets. Meanwhile, in Binh Duong, there is a unit supplying 100 tons/month, so Chanh Thu Company will continue to work to connect with the Chinese market. The company wants the province to conduct in-depth research on post-harvest preservation technology, not only to serve the domestic consumption needs but also for the Chinese market and other international markets.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ao Hang Hai - Head of purchasing section of Saigon Co.op system said that in Binh Duong province, many products from suppliers have supplied the Saigon Co.op system very well such as Ba Huan, 3F, etc. He wished that besides existing suppliers, production and business units in Binh Duong, if there is a need, please contact Saigon Co.op. After receiving the information of the offer to buy, the company will coordinate to survey the product, guide the units to complete the procedures to bring the goods to consumers nationwide. At the same time, Saigon Co.op wishes to support farmers and cooperatives in planning planting areas, testing and verifying product quality at the request of state agencies to be able to bring goods to supermarkets. The response time after an online offer through Saigon Co.op's system only takes about 10 days.
Connect to consume agricultural products
Sharing about digital solutions to help develop a smooth trade market, the representative of Sorimachi Vietnam Co., Ltd. presented an outstanding technology solution in agricultural product management, which is an electronic diary. This is an app with many features, including the function of generating QR codes, making it easy for sellers and buyers to access information.
Connecting and consuming agricultural products in industrial parks
Mr. Pham Van Bong - Director of the Department of ARD said that in the coming time, the Department will coordinate with other departments, committees, branches and localities to continue to have more effective solutions in the production and consumption of agricultural products, in which focusing on promoting the application of the process of granting planting area codes; building and replicating models of chain linkage, closed supply chain models of agricultural products with food safety, etc., in order to contribute to ensuring, stabilizing prices, and making agricultural product consumption markets more favorable for farmers. In particular, it will promote the development of e-commerce and digital transformation in agriculture with the goal of expanding the consumption market for a number of potential and advantageous agricultural products of Binh Duong province.
Speaking at the Forum, MARD Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam emphasized that Binh Duong is a province with great potential for agricultural development, especially high-tech agriculture. The forum has achieved some remarkable results, solving the problems of distributors and manufacturers. In addition, connecting agricultural product consumption between cooperatives and enterprises in Binh Duong with the retail and export system of agricultural products, exchanging a lot of information. Through this, many enterprises also expressed surprise to know that Binh Duong has the potential of fruit with many specialties and the ability to develop organic agriculture.
MARD Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam speaks at the Forum
The Deputy Minister suggested that the province should have a plan to promote more widely about the development of organic agriculture, strategic products, as well as the province's strengths in handicrafts, ceramics, lacquerware and farm tourism. At the same time, he hoped that Binh Duong would continue to deploy planting area codes, meet GAP standards in raw material areas, and strive to become a trusted destination for retail and export enterprises by 2025; partners can rest assured to sign off on product consumption. In addition, the Deputy Minister also suggested connecting agricultural products to consumption in industrial parks of the province, specifically to increase efficiency, through each forum, there should be an enterprise acting as a connection to bring more specific results in the coming time, if there are problems, the MARD will coordinate to solve them as quickly as possible; help manufacturers, distributors, and buyers get closer together.
Reported by Doan Trang - Translated by Nguyen Trang