Recently, information about market vegetables and floating vegetables being "magically" smuggled into large supermarkets and clean food stores has caused a stir in public opinion. This information has made people indignant and angry, because they had to spend a large amount of money to buy vegetables at high prices in stores and supermarkets with the hope of using safe vegetables. However, their trust has been "betrayed" when the bunches of vegetables, tubers, and fruits labeled "clean", meeting this or that criterion, are actually floating vegetables in wholesale markets, originating from faraway China!
Meanwhile, the models of clean vegetables in greenhouses, safe vegetables, VietGAP vegetables and organic vegetables are produced but no one buys them, they are "red-eyed" looking for a place to consume but still "blocked" output, because they cannot compete with floating vegetables in terms of price and design! And what people know clearly is that if they grow safe, organic vegetables, they are very susceptible to pests and diseases, the vegetables are not as "pleasing to the eye" as vegetables sprayed with chemicals, using nitrogen and phosphorus indiscriminately, but when going to the market, they still choose young vegetables, green vegetables, and fresh vegetables to eat? It turns out that this habit of consumers has unintentionally "lent a hand" to dirty vegetables to "live". This is considered a "disaster from the mouth" in the literal sense when the number of people suffering from digestive diseases is increasing, the number of cancer cases and deaths from cancer is increasing day by day...
Faced with these market inadequacies and paradoxes, Mr. Kim Nam, a farmer - a pioneer in the organic vegetable model in Nam Dan district, has been struggling with the idea of testing a program tentatively called "Eat vegetables and pay in advance". That is, he needs to gather about 30 - 50 families to register to use clean vegetables from his garden, and give him an advance of 500,000 - 700,000 VND per month (called a deposit, to ensure that organic vegetables produced have a stable place to consume), and he will organize the production of clean vegetables, organic vegetables according to standards, diversify products according to the season, supply, process and ship "to the kitchen" for registered households. The benefit of households participating in the model is to eat clean vegetables with a clear address and origin at a reasonable price (because they do not go through intermediaries); do not have to go to the market, go to the supermarket (because they are shipped to their homes) and do not have to pick vegetables (because they have been processed). In particular, households are monitored, inspected, and tested for vegetable quality periodically and unexpectedly. On weekends, they can visit the garden, experience growing vegetables, catching worms, weeding, and picking vegetables to bring home...
At first, I told him: “Okay, very okay! You do it, it will definitely be successful. Now everyone wants to eat clean vegetables. Especially after the confusion between dirty and clean vegetables in supermarkets and clean food stores…!”. But he pondered: “It’s not that simple! I guarantee that it’s clean from farm to table. However, first, because making clean vegetables costs a lot, the price is higher, so it’s not easy for consumers to accept. Second, the habit of using fresh, green vegetables has been ingrained in the subconscious, and it won’t take a day or two to change. Third, our people often pay for what they eat, spending at least 15,000 - 20,000 VND on vegetables every day (buying floating vegetables), but spending 500,000 - 700,000 VND to prepay for vegetables is hard to accept.” But he said he would try, build trust, and convince consumers with quality. Because daily food is not simply “a vegetable, a fish, a piece of meat” but the health and physical strength of many generations…
Therefore, consumers should change, become wise housewives, know how to distinguish and choose the best for family meals, to gradually limit diseases that come from the mouth...
Article: Tue Anh
Illustration: Document
