VietNamNet Bridge – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has several times asked the leaders of the Government, National Assembly and local authorities to help sell Vietnamese farm produce in the world market.

Bac Giang had bountiful litchi crop this year

The northern Bac Giang and Hai Duong provinces had bountiful litchi crop this year, and Hung Yen province with longan output higher by 30 percent than last year.

Farmers feared that the supply would force the prices down and the sales would go slowly as seen in previous years. However, this did not happen this year, because Deputy PMs and ministers helped them promote sales, while the localities helped them connect consumers and enterprises.

At a meeting with Minister of Agriculture Nguyen Xuan Cuong and enterprises to discuss the distribution of longan, Hung Yen province’s chair Nguyen Van Phong asked the heads of departments and districts to ‘spend 1-2 hours a day to help farmers sell longan’.

Farmers feared that the supply would force the prices down and the sales would go slowly as seen in previous years. However, this did not happen this year, because Deputy PMs and ministers helped them promote sales, while the localities helped them connect consumers and enterprises.

Hung Yen’s chair goes abroad twice a year and brings longan on every business trip. He noticed longan at supermarkets in South Korea during a trip last year, but the fruit was labeled as a product of another country.

“I told them that the longan is from my home village. They later came to Hung Yen to seek business opportunities and they bought longan in large quantities,” he said.

Phong, with his experience in longan sales, said farmers need reliable information about market demand.

“Every year we shift from rice cultivation to crop, flower and herb farming on 1,000 hectares of land. We want to know the size of the market so as to properly program our cultivation scale,” he said.

The news about provincial leaders doing marketing to help farmers boost sales is no longer rare. The images of sugarcane, fragrant rice, Phu Huu pomelo and catfish are shown on the cards of Hau Giang province’s leaders, which allow them to easily introduce their local specialties.

Cuong told the local press that the ‘agriculture front’ has recently received strong support from central agencies, provinces, economic sectors and farmers.

"Never before has agriculture received such special attention and support. Party Committee’s secretaries and provinces’ chairs not only organizing material growing areas, but also promoting trade and selling goods abroad,” he said. Cuong said. 

"If the whole political system, local authorities, businesses, cooperatives, and economic sectors join forces with farmers, we will limit the devaluation and price drops,” he said.

Vietnam targets to export $40 billion worth of farm produce this year.

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