In Cao Lanh city in Dong Thap province at the heart of the Mekong Delta, a conference about goods consumption connection between five provinces in the Mekong Delta including Dong Thap, Ben Tre, Vinh Long, Long An, and An Giang, and Ho Chi Minh City was held on January 15, 2022. Vice Chairwoman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Thi Thang, leaders of provinces, and about 500 enterprises were attending.

Within the framework of the program, one day before yesterday, a delegation from Ho Chi Minh City including more than 60 enterprises led by the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City visited several gardeners and agro-processing enterprises of some provinces in the Mekong Delta region.

The supply of goods in the Mekong Delta before the Lunar New Year was quite abundant, most of the goods had relatively stable prices, even some fell quite deeply. This situation has never been before.

This year, the complicated development of the Covid-19 epidemic has strongly affected purchasing power. For instance, Cao Lanh District, Dong Thap Province currently has 7,800 hectares of fruit trees, hundreds of thousands of tons of products with diverse and rich varieties such as mangoes, oranges, lemons, guava, and jackfruit put on the market each year.

This year, although it is the peak season of the Tet holidays ( the Lunar New Year), the prices of many types of products are falling deeply, driving farmers into despair. For example, jackfruit price dropped from VND40,000-VND50,000 to VND4,000-VND5,000 a kg; many other fruits also decreased about 20 percent over the same period.

Thanh Binh District in the same province has more than 3,150 hectares of fruit trees, nearly 570 hectares of aquaculture. The price of seafood of all kinds is decreasing by about 20 percent compared to 2021. Worse, an enormous volume of commodities was stockpiled before the Lunar New Year season.

Vice Chairman of Thanh Binh District People's Committee Mai Van Doi said that over the past time, farmers, as well as many local enterprises, have improved product quality and packaging; however, fresh products have not been still processed, and no enterprises have undertaken consumption of agricultural products.

Quality Manager of San Ha Company Nguyen Huu Tri said that from September 2021, the enterprise signed a contract to purchase livestock and poultry in the Mekong Delta for the whole year 2022 at a relatively stable price.

He added that the Covid-19 epidemic has disrupted the supply chain, leading to an increase in raw materials for livestock and poultry. The company will share difficulties with farmers.

Most of the enterprises, cooperatives, and leaders of the five provinces admitted that farming, production, and processing were still fragmented and had not been linked for mutual development. In particular, in the past time, many businesses have only focused on export, neglecting the domestic market; as a result, trucks got congested in the northern border gate.

Faced with this situation, representatives of the wholesale and retail market system from Ho Chi Minh City proposed that businesses in the Mekong Delta and local departments should create commodity chains that connect local products to retailers and supermarkets.

On the other hand, farmers and businesses need to pay attention to product quality, especially paying attention to the cultivation process, traceability because supermarkets are very strict about product quality and reasonable prices.

Speaking at the conference, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Thi Thang assessed that the Mekong Delta has many strengths in agricultural production along with the value chain. However, farmers often tend to produce spontaneously without an understanding of market demand resulting in abundant production.

Therefore, she suggested that leaders of provinces create favorable conditions for manufacturing and exporting enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City to boost investment in projects to build material areas for a stable source of goods, traceability, reputable brand name, agricultural products with good quality. Moreover, enterprises should have sale contracts at international border gates and main border gates; thereby, creating a new, large-scale, stable, and long-term market area for enterprises in HCMC and provinces.

Source: SGGP

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