Nghe An promotes trade, accompanies in finding markets for agricultural products

Nghe An Newspaper interviewed Mr. Nguyen Van Ha - Head of Nghe An Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development about this activity in 2024 and future directions.

PV:Sir! Could you share about the current situation of production, processing and consumption of agricultural, forestry and fishery products in the province, as well as the difficulties in consuming products?

Mr. Nguyen Van Ha:Nghe An has a large area with many mountainous districts, remote areas, so inspection and direction work faces many difficulties; agricultural, forestry and fishery products are diverse but production is mainly fragmented, manual, small-scale; the number of production and processing establishments that care about product design and brand is not much, and they are not proactive in developing the consumption market. Many consumers have the habit of buying and selling food in the wrong places, wanting cheap prices, creating conditions for food suppliers to take advantage of consuming dirty, poor quality food.

Meanwhile, the staff in charge of food quality and safety management are only assigned part-time and are few in number.

PV: So in 2024, what measures have we implemented to boost the consumption of agricultural, forestry and fishery products, sir?

Mr. Nguyen Van Ha:In order to promote trade and develop the market, in recent years, the Nghe An Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development has synchronously deployed many activities to support production and processing facilities of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and OCOP products to penetrate domestic and foreign markets and export markets.

Specifically: Since the beginning of the year, the Department has supported 100 establishments to participate in 43 fairs, with over 230 booths; over 200 types of products were promoted and introduced in provinces and cities across the country; organized connecting trips, trade promotion in the provinces of Lang Son, Kon Tum, Da Nang..., worked with important contacts such as Tan Thanh Border Gate Management Board, large supermarket chains such as An Phu, Intimex, from which, many units such as Pu Mat Medicinal Herbs, Nem Tu Phuong, Nghe An Seafood Fish Sauce Joint Stock Company... have connected, offered and brought products to consumption in these markets.

The Department also organizes training courses on trade promotion, sales, product branding; conferences connecting the consumption of agricultural, forestry and fishery products. Supporting product branding and traceability, during the year, 39 QR codes were provided, bringing the total number of codes provided to 192 for 167 establishments... At the same time, it is the focal point to welcome businesses from many provinces and cities such as Hai Phong, Thai Nguyen, Yen Bai, Phu Tho, Binh Thuan... to survey and seek markets in Nghe An. There are establishments that, after just one visit and survey, have sold hundreds of millions of VND worth of products, creating and expanding their consumption networks in many localities across the country.

In difficult conditions, we have chosen a practical approach, searching for and selecting facilities that have not yet met standards to advise and support on production processes, improving product quality to ensure food safety, packaging, labeling, and traceability to meet market requirements.

From these activities, agricultural, forestry and fishery production and processing establishments have been facilitated to exchange and introduce products; the number of establishments accessing trade promotion policies has increased; agricultural, forestry and fishery products, especially OCOP products of Nghe An, are increasingly consumed outside the province and exported.

Production and processing have gradually shifted to value chain production, focusing on processing, introducing new science and technology into production, paying attention to product design, packaging, labeling, quality and origin of products. In particular, many large-scale production and processing models with modern technology have been invested in and built.

Enterprises and establishments are increasingly interested in promoting and participating in fairs to connect and consume domestic and international products. The awareness and compliance of enterprises and establishments are increasingly raised, voluntarily complying with State regulations in the production and business process. Consumers are increasingly knowledgeable and interested in clean food, participating in the fight against violations, contributing to limiting food insecurity.

That is a favorable condition for us to continue promoting trade and consumption of agricultural, forestry and fishery products in a stable, sustainable direction and increasing value.

PV:Can you share about the direction and solutions of the unit in the coming time?

Mr. Nguyen Van Ha:In the coming time, we determine that trade promotion and consumption of agricultural, forestry and fishery products will continue to face many difficulties. Production links are increasing but not sustainable and not really seriously implemented between the parties.

In production, there is still a situation of using materials and pesticides that are not in accordance with regulations; production and breeding according to good agricultural practices and high technology are low, the maintenance of these models still depends mainly on support funding; leading to the situation of dirty food, of unknown origin, still floating on the market; the rate of food sample control is still low. Some products are difficult to consume, unstable, especially during the harvest season, the market is not yet under control.

Key export products are limited, small in scale, mainly exported in small quantities, through intermediaries. Meanwhile, the work of statistics, inspection, appraisal of food safety certificates and implementation of food safety commitments at district and commune levels has not been implemented resolutely and seriously, and has not achieved high results.

To carry out trade promotion activities for agricultural, forestry and fishery products, the Department will continue to organize forums and conferences to connect the consumption of agricultural, forestry and fishery products in the province; organize connections between safe products and OCOP products of the province to supermarket chains, clean food stores and participate in fairs. At the same time, support the building of brands for agricultural, forestry and fishery products, traceability; strengthen trade promotion of agricultural products, ensure food quality.

PV: Thank you!

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In addition to "traditional" activities, in 2025 we will focus on supporting establishments to access international fairs, first of all in countries in the region; promoting trade on e-commerce trading floors, the immediate goal is to select 10-15 establishments producing 3-4 star OCOP products to support putting them on the trading floor; supporting upgrading the star rating of OCOP products in the area.

Mr. Nguyen Van Ha - Head of Nghe An Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development