Many businesses and cooperatives in Ha Noi have reorganised their production to meet market demand and change their business in order to promote the consumption of agricultural products amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nguyen Manh Hong, director of Duc Phat hi-tech farming cooperative in Thanh Tri District, said his cooperative had 26,000 square metres of hydroponic vegetables that used to provide 450 tonnes of vegetables for supermarkets and collective kitchens each month.

However, since the beginning of this year, his cooperative has narrowed its vegetable growing area to meet only orders it has already inked with customers due to the pandemic.

It has converted 80 per cent of the cultivation area to grow Japanese cantaloupe melons, Hong said, adding that thanks to flexibility in production, his cooperative can meet market demand for the fruit.

“Strong consumption of this fruit brings us higher economic efficiency than that of vegetables,” he said.

Dao Thi Luong, Director of the Phu Xuyen District-located Tam Anh Cooperative, which specialises in producing and trading safe vegetables and fruit as well as providing eco-craft village tourism services, said in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, her cooperative has focused on building a chain in production and consumption of farm produce.

To date, it has connected with 30 cooperatives in the city to produce food while teaming up with them to deploy mobile food markets in order to provide essentials to customers living in apartments and urban areas.

According to Director of Ha Noi Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Sub-Department Nguyen Thi Thu Hang the city currently has 141 chains that link producers and consumers of agro-forestry and fisheries products. These chains have included many local businesses and cooperatives.

Amid the pandemic, these businesses and cooperatives have actively coordinated with the city's departments and branches to seek new ways in production and consumption of farming goods. Some of them have launched groups on social networks such as Facebook and Zalo to facilitate consumption of their agricultural products.

However, Hang said the city’s businesses and cooperatives have been facing many difficulties due to the negative impact of the pandemic including high cost of input materials and insufficient personnel for production.

In order to overcome these difficulties, she urged enterprises to diversify their methods of seling agricultural products while proactively adjusting their production plans according to market demand.

Director of Phuc Tho agricultural production and trading cooperative in Phuc Tho District Nguyen Hung Thinh agreed. He also called for closer co-ordination among cooperatives to advertise farming products to consumers.

Meanwhile, Do Hoang Thach, Director of Viet Nam Agricultural Trading Promote JSC in Nam Tu Liem District, said in addition to selling goods directly to customers or via e-commerce platforms, cooperatives should also build closed loops that could help improve product quality and ensure food safety and hygiene in order to accelerate the consumption of their farm produce.

Thach said his company would foster cooperation with cooperatives as well as distributors to provide safe agricultural products for consumers not only in the city but also in other localities.

Selling farming products via e-commerce channels would be also included, he added.

According to deputy director of the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Ngoc Son, in order to expand the agricultural product market, the department has strengthened the connection between Ha Noi and other provinces and cities in consuming safe agricultural products.

Of which, it has co-operated with the municipal Department of Industry and Trade to support localities’ trade promotion activities in the capital city to increase the consumption of agricultural and seafood products.

The department has also organised direct connection activities among manufacturers - distributors - consumers in the city, and launched the website https://chonhaminh.gov.vn to promote connections on the e-commerce platform.

It has also supported businesses in building and advertising their brands of agricultural products to promote consumption via supermarkets, food chains, restaurants, and hotels.

The department will continue to co-ordinate with the Ha Noi Department of Industry and Trade and the Ha Noi Trade and Investment Promotion Centre to speed up the implementation of a programme on regional cooperation, and support consumption between the capital city and other localities.

This programme includes support in introducing farming products and connecting Ha Noi and other provinces and cities to promote the consumption of those products, especially products facing oversupply in harvest seasons.

It will support connections between domestic and joint venture enterprises with foreign partners abroad in the distribution and processing of those products, and encourage businesses to develop e-commerce platforms and apply information technology in consumption activities.

"It is very important that enterprises and cooperatives actively deploy production and business methods suitable to the current context in order to both promote the consumption of agricultural products in the market and ensuring the prevention and control of COVID-19," Son said. — VNS