HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội’s People’s Committee has assigned the provincial authority and sector of Mê Linh District to conduct a survey and suggest a location for the construction of a wholesale market.

The proposed market is expected to improve agricultural consumption in the province.

The request was made Thursday morning at the working meeting between the chairman of the committee, Nguyễn Đức Chung, and the district’s authority to discuss measures to assist farmers who recently had to discard tens of tonnes of turnips because of low prices.

At the meeting, Trần Thị Phương Lan, deputy director of the city’s Department of Industry and Trade said the price of turnip had fallen significantly as farmers had no stable output.

Lan said 95 per cent of harvested white turnips had been purchased by traders and only five per cent had been consumed at supermarkets.

So far, as many as 2,000 tonnes of turnips have been harvested from 20 hectares of farmland. Many have ripened already.

Lan said, after the lunar New Year Festival, hundreds of households in Tráng Việt Commune had to pull out their turnip crops as the vegetable’s prices had plunged drastically.

Even selling the vegetable at very cheap prices was not possible because it was a bumper crop.

Currently, good turnips are sold at VNĐ3,000 per kilogramme at the farm and the overripe kind is VNĐ1,500 per kilogramme.

In addressing the situation, Chung said the key issue was that the State’s management agencies should be responsible for assisting farmers in the consumption of goods.

He said the 2,000 tonnes of turnip were valued at VNĐ1 billion ($44,200).

Chung has assigned the city’s Departments of Industry and Trade and Agriculture and Rural Development to invite the retail systems and businesses to find ways to consume the agricultural products in the city.

The Department of Industry and Trade was asked to support farmers in building their own brand and tracking the origin of their vegetables.

In addition, according to Chung, farmers should diversify their products by processing them in a variety of ways apart from simply providing fresh produce.

He has assigned the Departments of Natural Resources and Environment and Planning and Architecture to select the location for a wholesale market in Mê Linh District.

The city, together with the investors, will build a wholesale market for vegetables and flowers for the local people to bring their agricultural products for consumption, he said. — VNS