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Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien

How does the Deputy Minister comment the difficulties that firms, cooperatives and business households in the agricultural sector have been facing, especially in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic?

For many years, agricultural firms have faced difficulties such as; small production model, low infrastructure; preliminary processing, backward processing; application of high technology accounts for a small proportion; the production chain has not accounted for a huge proportion.

Therefore, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, firms, cooperatives, and business households will face even greater difficulties and challenges.

The first is capital; as the product cannot be sold, it is deposited in the product, in the fields, in the pond, in the barn, in the factory, in the warehouse.

The second is circulation and distribution, which is currently, congested in many places at commune, district and village levels. Recently, at a meeting of the Minister of Transport, the Directorate for Roads still listed a number of provinces with inappropriate documents, contrary to the regulations and directions of the Government and the Prime Minister.

The third is "three on-site" production, there are firms and factories with production facilities that have not yet prepared the facilities to ensure "three on-site"; implementing “three in place” increases the cost enormously. Fourth is the difficulty in the workforce. Currently, the distance, workers moved back to their hometowns, re-employment is a very difficult problem, especially production and business will be restored in future.

Another difficulty is the high cost of transportation, including domestic and export transportation costs. In addition, all costs from input materials such as fertilisers and pesticides also increased. Notably, in agricultural production chains, only 10-15% of workers in the chain are vaccinated.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has been implementing many solutions to stabilise production, avoid disruptions in production, processing and consumption of agricultural products. Can the Deputy Minister share more details about the results achieved?

During the time of being affected by Covid-19, methods of commercial transactions changed. The agricultural sector and the economy must also follow the trend to meet new needs. That is why in the past time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has actively established two special working groups in the south and the north, to connect the consumption of agricultural products, and at the same time grasp the situation of production, circulation and distribution. .

The Southern Working Group has connected with firms, cooperatives and farms with more than 1,000 focal points to connect and consume agricultural products. Up to now, the problems in circulation have been basically solved and the problem of circulation and transportation of inputs for agricultural production is also promoted. With the northern provinces, the Northern Working Group focuses on coordinating with localities to promote production growth to ensure sufficient food reserves and at the same time can supply the southern provinces in case of shortage.

Along with stabilising production, in the future, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will work with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Finance to guide localities on the issue of traceability, stamps and labels to suit the new normal situation.

On September 9, the Government issued Resolution No. 105/NQ-CP on supporting firms, cooperatives and business households in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. On September 21, 2021, Directive 26/CT-TTg of the Prime Minister on promoting the production, circulation, consumption and export of agricultural products in the context of the prevention and control of the Covid-19 pandemic were promulgated. According to you, how will the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development promote the tasks and solutions to realise the content of these Resolutions and Directives next time?

To remove difficulties and support firms, cooperatives and business households, based on the instructions from the Government, in the immediate future, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will review firms and cooperatives in the four most affected commodity groups, namely cultivation, animal husbandry, fisheries and forestry in provinces and cities, especially in isolated places. Based on the current production and supply capacity statistics, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will prepare seeds, input materials, veterinary drugs, plant protection drugs and vaccines for the new production season. After grasping the situation, the ministry will organise symposiums on specific issues, to focus on solving difficulties for each sector.

Along with production recovery, export is also one of the important targets assigned by the Government to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Therefore, the agricultural sector will make every effort to ensure that agricultural, forestry and fishery products can be circulated in the best way and sold at the best price.

In general, in the future, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will direct localities to synchronously deploy solutions to ensure no interruption of the agricultural production chain; at the same time, review and fully prepare conditions for the next crop production, especially agricultural product processing and exporting firms in the provinces that implement social distancing in accordance with Directive 16/CT-TTg; ensure to fully meet agricultural products for domestic consumption and processing and export demand in all situations, especially in the last months of the year and the Lunar New Year; organise effective linkage of raw material areas with preliminary processing, processing and preservation to enhance added value.

In addition, directing localities to promote the development of production, consumption and export of agricultural products to regions and areas that have controlled the Covid-19 pandemic to support and make up for the shortfall in other localities, especially the southern provinces and cities; continue to effectively promote the role of two working groups directing production, connecting the supply and consumption of agricultural products in the north and the south.

Many difficulties as above, will the production and export goals of the agricultural sector for the whole year be achieved?

In fact, currently, Hanoi's pandemic prevention and control work is very tight, the number of F0 cases and the number of F0 cases outside the community have decreased significantly; There are also very positive signs in Ho Chi Minh City. Up to now, the conditions for re-organisation of production have been positive.

With the drastic implementation of solutions in Resolution 105/NQ-CP and Directive 26/CT-TTg, striving to overcome difficulties and replicate closed-chain production models, food and food will meet domestic consumption demand as well as achieve export targets from now until the end of the year. Based on the prognosis of recovery after the pandemic, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will strive to achieve goals so that agriculture continues to be the support of the economy.