Problems in agricultural production and consumption mostly solved

The production and consumption of farming products in provinces are almost resumed to normal despite difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A farmer in Phu Yen Province work on rice field. Photo: KS.

The mountainous district of Khanh Son in the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa entered durian harvesting time when it is implementing social distancing under the Prime Minister’s Directive 15.

Nguyen Van Nhuan, chairman of the district People’s Committee said that to ensure COVID-19 prevention and control requirements, wholesalers and harvesting workers must stay at concentrated quarantine areas for at least seven days and tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 twice.

After leaving the concentrated quarantine areas, they had to take 7-day self–quarantine. They would allow reaching the durian orchard if they were tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 one more time.

Trucks carrying agricultural products could enter the Khanh Son District if they could show a QR code that proved they registered and were eligible to pass COVID-19 checkpoints to go through locked-down areas. Drivers must show their COVID-19 negative results too, Nhuan said.

The trucks then head to specific areas where commune authorities designed for farming product trade. When the farming products are loaded onto the trucks, drivers are required to stay in the cabin and would have to drive the trucks out of the district within 24 hours.

Nguyen Thanh Tin, a durian farmer in Son Binh Commune said that Khanh Son durians were mostly sold to wholesalers from western and southern provinces.

Tin said that his family had five ha of durian, of that, two ha produced fruits already.

He expected to harvest more than 30 tonnes in 5-7 days as wholesalers contacted him already and they were under health quarantine, Tin said.

He added that for the last two weeks, wholesalers had visited to purchase durians and there were no problems at all.

“Local authorities and farmers strictly implement COVID-19 prevention and control measures,” he said.

Dao Ly Nhi, vice director of Phu Yen Province’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department said during the COVID-19 pandemic, local farmers were still allowed to work outdoor as long as they fully took disease prevention and control measures, particularly the Health Ministry’s 5K message: Khẩu trang (facemask) – Khử khuẩn (disinfection) – Khoảng cách (distance) – Không tụ tập (no gathering) – Khai báo y tế (health declaration). 

Local authorities instructed farmers to work at home and harvest farming products in small groups.

However, Nhi said that in locked-down areas, farmers were restricted to travel to their farming areas. In such cases, they asked for help from others, for example, their relatives, in nursing and fertilising.

Regarding the transportation and circulation of agricultural inputs, Nhi said that when there were no specific lists of essential goods, they faced difficulties.

Now, after the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and province People’s Committee issued guidelines, the transportation and circulation of agricultural inputs go smooth.