Output for agricultural products: "Trust" creates market

(Baonghean) -With a large volume of products, diverse and rich varieties, Nghe An's agricultural sector is gradually developing towards commodity production. However, finding outlets for domestic products and overcoming the situation of "good harvest - low prices" is a difficult problem with no solution. The story of outlets for agricultural products is not new, but has never lost its topicality...

The vicious cycle of "good harvest - low price"

Every year, millions of tons of agricultural products are produced in the province, with all kinds. In a province that mainly relies on agricultural production, most of the people's lives depend on agricultural products. However, the consumption of agricultural products is always a concern for producers. There are times when people have not yet had time to be happy about a good harvest, but are sad because the price of agricultural products has fallen dramatically. More importantly, not only products that do not have a stable outlet for consumption, but also products that have production links with enterprises such as cassava, sugarcane... cannot avoid being "squeezed" on output. Although, in recent times, sectors and localities have made many efforts in deploying and applying scientific and technical advances in breeding, planning production areas... But most people still produce spontaneously according to their own subjective opinions, depending on what is good or bad, sometimes even leaving it to chance.

A few years ago, due to the effectiveness of cassava, farmers in communes in Con Cuong and Anh Son districts rushed to convert forest land and vegetable land to cultivate and expand the area of ​​this plant. However, cassava prices have recently dropped dramatically, causing people to be devastated. In the 2011 harvest, at its peak, cassava cost 2,800 VND/kg, but in 2012, the best price was not even as high as the previous year, only 700 VND/kg. Find out why cassava prices have dropped so dramatically. From farmers to agricultural officials in cassava-growing localities, everyone said that because the previous crop had a good price, the next crop people "took advantage of the victory" to expand the area.

A typical example is Con Cuong district, where the cassava growing area in the whole district in 2012 increased to 1,000 hectares, an increase of nearly 500 hectares compared to 2011. Most communes expanded their area, some doubled such as Luc Da, Chau Khe, Chi Khe... Cassava was purchased at a low price. One of the main reasons is that people competed to plant massively and harvest at the same time, creating conditions for traders to have the "right" to choose and control both the selling price and product quality. According to the people and leaders of the communes, due to the "sudden" increase in cassava area and output, factories could not purchase all of it, so traders secretly controlled and colluded to push cassava prices down...

Not only cassava, recently watermelon, chili... have also been unstable according to the consumption market. The image of a long line of trucks carrying watermelons traveling thousands of kilometers, waiting wearily at Lang Son border gate to export to China, then being forced to supply and lower prices, has discouraged farmers in the integration period. Currently, Nam Dan is the district that grows the most chili in the province, with an area of ​​nearly 60 hectares, of which Khanh Son and Nam Cuong communes are the two leading localities with an area of ​​nearly 30 hectares, with an average yield of 7 tons/ha. In 2010 - 2011, the price of fresh chili fluctuated from 6,000 - 7,000 VND/kg, traders came to the fields to buy. However, in the spring crop of 2012, chili prices dropped to only 4,000 - 4,500 VND/kg. With this price, although there is no loss, many households are confused this spring 2013 crop and do not dare to invest in expanding the area.

Mr. Pham Van Duoc - Vice Chairman of Khanh Son Commune People's Committee said: "Chili has long been the main traditional crop of the commune, in previous years, it was mainly consumed in the domestic market, with a production area of ​​more than 10 hectares. Since 2010, Tuan Linh Company Limited (located in Bac Ninh province) through Nam Dan district, directly signed a contract with the commune to grow Chinese chili seeds for export. According to the commitment, the company supported 40% of the seed cost and purchased all products, the district allocated funds to support an additional 60% of the seed price. In the spring crop of 2011, the area signed a contract with Tuan Linh Company was 30.5 hectares of Chinese chili. The enterprise still applied the form of 40% seed support, the purchase price in the contract was committed to be at least 6,000 VND/kg of fresh fruit, if the market price was higher, it would be purchased at the market price.

Therefore, many households boldly expanded their acreage, some of them planted up to 4-5 sao. However, from the beginning of the season, the purchase price was unstable, always changing with each harvest and there were different product requirements in each harvest. In the first purchase, Khanh Son Cooperative exported 1,500 kg, the Enterprise purchased the bulk at 4,000 VND/kg of fresh fruit; the second batch exported 6 tons, the import price increased to 5,000 VND/kg; the third batch exported 16 tons, the Enterprise lowered the purchase price to 4,500 VND/kg. In the fourth batch, the Company required the fruit to be 100% ripe, and the stem and hairy calyx had to be cut off, but people were only paid 4,000 VND/kg; For households whose products do not meet the given standards, the purchase price is only 3,500 VND/kg... After 2 chili export crops, no businesses have returned to the locality to continue implementing production linkages"...

Not outside the law of supply and demand, in recent years, the movement of raising specialty animals has developed strongly, bringing quite high profits to breeders. However, not all breeders can easily find outlets for their products, especially small breeders who find it even more difficult to sell. Remember, 3 years ago, raising commercial porcupines was considered a "money-making" profession, many farmers did not hesitate to invest heavily to raise this wild animal.

At the peak (around 2009 - 2010), buying a pair of breeding porcupines cost 18 million VND, each year the mother porcupine gave birth to 2 litters, each litter had 2 - 3 babies; after 3 months, the porcupines could be sold for 15 - 20 million VND/pair. Commercially raised, within 6 months the porcupines weighed 15 - 20 kg/head, with an average selling price of 500 - 800 thousand VND/kg. In just 6 months, porcupine breeders not only recovered their capital, but also made a profit. If they continued to raise them for 12 - 15 months, they would have another pair of parent porcupines... Because of such a large and quick profit, many households rushed to raise them. But now, the price of porcupines has dropped sharply. From 15 - 20 million VND for a pair of breeding porcupines, now it is only 1.2 - 1.6 million VND; Commercial porcupines cost about 150,000 - 200,000 VND/kg. This situation has caused many porcupine farmers to be stuck "selling is bad, leaving is not good". If they sell, they will not have enough capital, and the more they raise, the more they lose. For those who are new to the farming industry, they have not yet had time to get rich before going bankrupt for an understandable reason - no output...

Eliminate the "live for the moment" mentality

In Nghe An, there are currently 6 supermarkets in operation, including 2 big names: Big C and Metro. Although the supermarkets are large in scale and have a high daily consumption of goods, they are lacking in local agricultural products. Building and promoting brands, bringing agricultural products from their homeland to dominate the domestic market, is the burning desire of many people. However, the exit has opened, but the entrance is too narrow, with too many barriers, both objective and subjective. Therefore, without a strategic vision, eliminating the "quick fix" mentality, producers in the province can only watch with regret as "foreign" products freely dominate their home market.

Big C supermarket is located in Vinh city, just a "link" in the chain of 24 supermarkets in the system nationwide. Present in Nghe An, the supermarket should be an important bridge between the manufacturers in the province and the market nationwide. Unfortunately, up to now, out of over 16,000 products with 90% domestic goods sold in the supermarket, the products produced in the province can be counted on the fingers, such as: Vegetables, tubers (Nghi Kim), chicken eggs, chicken, pork of Luc Lam Enterprise (Nghi Dong commune - Nghi Loc)... with small quantity, simple designs and forms, not as rich as products from other provinces.

Previously, Vinh oranges, fish, and Cua Lo squid were also available here, but because they did not meet the conditions prescribed by the system, they had to give up. It would be normal if the products were not the province's strengths. But these products are even promoted as local specialties such as Nam Dan soy sauce, Nghi Loc coffee, peanuts, beans... Individuals and organizations do not grasp and perfect them to "enter" the supermarket. Or for example, salt products, our province has a production area of ​​more than 700 hectares with an output of nearly 80,000 tons/year, but currently in the supermarket, from refined salt to raw salt products are all provided by VISACO Thanh Hoa City Joint Stock Company. Or sugar products of all kinds are also from the Vietnam Life Trading and Service Joint Stock Company - Hanoi; tapioca starch products of Thanh Loc - Hung Yen Trading Joint Stock Company are also dominating the display area...

Metro supermarket imports over 300 tons of vegetables and tubers of all kinds from Quynh Luong commune (Quynh Luu) every year.

The reason why local agricultural products have difficulty entering supermarkets is partly due to the lack of connection. People grow vegetables, tubers, fruits, raise pigs and chickens only on a household scale, the quantity supplied to the market is small, so bringing goods to supermarkets in a stable manner, meeting standard requirements, is beyond the capacity of individual households. Moreover, to get products into supermarkets also requires a lot of paperwork related to legal procedures, which each individual household will find difficult to carry out; Enterprises are also hesitant to consign goods to supermarkets, because they have to compete and comply with strict regulations. On the other hand, because the business mindset of "eating quickly and staying temporarily" has been deeply rooted, few producers think about long-term benefits. They have not calculated, or do not want to calculate, the problem: Bringing goods to supermarkets, although the profit is small, is a form of image promotion, a way to find partners nationwide and internationally...

In order for agricultural products to "enter" supermarkets, there needs to be a connection between local authorities, agricultural cooperatives and supermarket businesses themselves. The role of agricultural cooperatives and purchasing agents is quite important. If local agricultural product purchasing agents are established, then procedures such as trademark registration, business licenses and quality inspection are carried out, agricultural products will certainly "calmly" enter supermarkets. From there, Nghe An agricultural products can develop and expand in scale.

For supermarkets, instead of having to order and hire vehicles to transport agricultural products from large provinces and cities to Nghe An for consumption, with a transportation time of several days and relatively high transportation costs, receiving products on the spot will reduce costs, improve product quality, and create close, friendly relationships with people and localities. When there is a "mutually beneficial" interactive relationship, the existence and development of supermarkets or local production will be of concern to both parties.

The word "trust" creates the market

While in many localities, farmers' products have no defined output, and people produce in a haphazard manner, in Quynh Luong commune (Quynh Luu), along with the direction to build a model of safe, high-quality vegetable cultivation, the locality has actively sought stable consumption markets so that farmers can confidently develop production and increase income... Coming to Quynh Luong now, we can only see safe, high-quality vegetable fields in the harvest period. It is known that since 2000, implementing the land consolidation movement, people have expanded the vegetable growing area to 180 hectares. By 2002, the People's Committee of Quynh Luong commune had developed and applied information technology and communications to serve product promotion.

In October 2003, Quynh Luong vegetables officially went online, with its own website.www.quynhluong.gov.vn". Immediately after Quynh Luong vegetable products were promoted to the large domestic and international markets, the amount of vegetables consumed increased significantly. From 10-15 tons/day to 60-70 tons/day. When the products were introduced stably on the internet, more and more customers accessed, traded, and placed orders. The market was no longer limited to the surrounding areas, but quickly spread from Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, to Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Hue, Da Nang... Now in Quynh Luong, honest farmers all sell their products via phone, via the Internet, production and consumption take "trust" as the most important thing. All payments and transactions are mainly via bank transfer, or directly without the need for the owner to be present.

Mr. Ho Canh Sau, Chairman of Quynh Luong Commune People's Committee said: "Since the orientation of commodity production, Quynh Luong has paid great attention to clean vegetable production; people are very aware that consumer trust is the most important factor ensuring sustainable development. In 2010, after passing the strict and rigorous inspection round of Metro-Thang Long Supermarket on quality, design, ensuring standards on pesticide residues, nitrates, etc., Quynh Luong vegetables officially have a foothold in the Hanoi market. The commune has signed a contract with the Metro supermarket system, planning 10 hectares (in hamlet 3) to grow safe vegetables to supply to the supermarket.

Currently, Metro only consumes about 300 tons of vegetables and tubers of all kinds each year out of the total output of more than 15,000 tons/year of Quynh Luong, but the government and people are still determined to do it, both to affirm the brand and to create the habit of creating clean, quality products in production". In July 2010, Phu Luong Cooperative - the first safe vegetable growing cooperative in Quynh Luong and also the first cooperative in our province to produce safe vegetables according to VietGap standards was established. People are guided to produce vegetables according to VietGap standards, producing according to customer needs at each time, thanks to that, productivity, quality and food hygiene and safety as well as consumption issues are guaranteed...

For the agricultural product market to truly develop sustainably, the planning of agricultural production and raw material areas must be one step ahead. Enterprises need to take the lead in consuming agricultural products, combined with advance investment in seeds, fertilizers, and technical guidance for farmers to produce according to technical processes, creating quality products. The production process, as well as consumption, needs to ensure the rights, obligations and interests between enterprises and producers... Local authorities at all levels need to focus on directing, guiding and supporting enterprises and farmers in the process of building, organizing the production and consumption of agricultural products. The management capacity and product consumption activities of cooperatives and farmers' cooperatives must be improved to truly be a bridge between enterprises and farmers. Along with that, farmers need to change their mindset of self-sufficient production, learn and anticipate the market, to reduce the hardship and worry about the output of agricultural products after each harvest.

Ngoc Anh