A COVID-19 control station along Highway 5 in Lai Cach town, Cam Giang district, Hai Duong province (Photo: nhandan.com.vn)

According to the Hai Duong Department of Industry and Trade, since the COVID-19 epidemic broke out at the locality in late January, most COVID-19 control stations in neighboring provinces and cities have restricted entry for vehicles going from or through Hai Duong, leaving agricultural produce stuck and impacting farmers' production, sales, and livelihoods.

Pham Thanh Hai, the Department’s Director, said that a product consumption process has been deployed that meets  the criteria on the epidemic prevention and control.

Under the process, all vehicles carrying goods and farm produce must be disinfected before going out of Hai Duong, said Hai.

“The Department has designed plans to ensure there is an adequate supply of goods for the locals, and surplus for other localities. From the beginning, we have worked to ensure a stable circulation of local farm produce and applied VietGap standards in agricultural production. In addition, due to the epidemic conditions, Hai Duong authorities have particularly focused on safety,” said Hai.

He further explained, “A package of goods must be disinfected after packing, and before loading on the trucks. The disinfection will be continued at each control station. Agricultural products from Hai Duong transported to other localities must ensure food hygiene and epidemic safety.”

To help the distribution and sales of agricultural products for farmers in Chi Linh, one of the COVID-19 hotspots, Chi Linh City’s Economic Division and Farmers’ Association have jointly worked with communes and wards to make lists of cattle, poultry, and other agricultural products.

To date, a number of vehicles have been authorized to come into Chi Linh to transport goods, essential commodities, and materials for agricultural production, with drivers and those on board to make the medical declaration and show certification from local authorities.

Nguyen Thi Que, Chairwoman of Chi Linh City Farmers’ Association, said local farmers have completed the harvest of all winter crops and vegetables, adding that the whole city plans to cultivate about 4,000 hectares of rice this season, but must still keep  epidemic prevention measures.

“Farmers can’t stop the production. They have prepared for rice seedling transplantation which was planned to be completed before Tet. Local farmers still maintain the production as normal, if the work doesn’t require crowded gathering. They keep cultivating crop while following the epidemic prevention instructions,” said Que.

Thanks to the strict process, distributors, restaurants, and supermarkets have promoted the sales of farm produce to help mitigate economic losses for Hai Duong farmers.

Hai Duong's farm produce on sale at preferential prices at Big C supermarket (Photo: baochinhphu.vn)

The Big C (now renamed Go!) supermarket chains have run a program to sell some agricultural products such as tomatoes, kohlrabi, carrots, cabbage, scallions and cauliflower at preferential prices, and will continue to consume Hai Duong’s products until the end of the season.

The retail giant VinMart are  also actively participating in supporting the consumption of safe agricultural products for Hai Duong farmers by selling a number of agricultural products as a loss leader.

Pham Thi Hai My, Deputy Director of Co.opmart Hanoi, said her company is committed to selling products at non-profit prices, adding, “To date we have been consuming 7 to 8 tons of agricultural products each day with a condition that the products meet food safety and hygiene, epidemic prevention, and delivery criteria.”

According to My, “Saigon Co.op and Co.opmart Hanoi are working with the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance to sell the agricultural products at the best prices. We are committed to providing consumers with agricultural products at non-profit prices.”