A hi-tech farm in the capital city which has supported businesses in building and advertising their brands of agricultural products to promote consumption via supermarkets, food chains, restaurants, and hotels. — VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Many businesses and cooperatives in Hà Nội 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.

Nguyễn Mạnh Hồng, director of Đức Phát hi-tech farming cooperative in Thanh Trì 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, Hồng 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.

Đào Thị Lương, Director of the Phú Xuyên District-located Tâm 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 Hà Nội Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Sub-Department Nguyễn Thị Thu Hằng 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, Hằng 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 Phúc Thọ agricultural production and trading cooperative in Phúc Thọ District Nguyễn Hưng Thỉnh agreed. He also called for closer co-ordination among cooperatives to advertise farming products to consumers.

Meanwhile, Đỗ Hoàng Thạch, Director of Việt Nam Agricultural Trading Promote JSC in Nam Từ Liêm 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.

Thạch 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 Nguyễn Ngọc Sơn, in order to expand the agricultural product market, the department has strengthened the connection between Hà Nội 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 Hà Nội Department of Industry and Trade and the Hà Nội 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 Hà Nội 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," Sơn said. — VNS