The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development held a conference in Hanoi on February 3 to seek ways to promote the trade and production of farm produce, given the complicated development of the acute respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus (nCoV) which originated in China’s Wuhan in late December 2019.

Dragon fruit for export (Photo: VNA) 

Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said the nCoV outbreak has been hurting all economic industries, especially agriculture, because China is a major market of Vietnamese farm produce, making up 22-24 percent of the sector’s total export turnover.

He urged relevant agencies and localities to build scenarios with specific groups of solutions to deal with the outbreak for 1-2 months or even 1-2 quarters.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam, the nCoV outbreak will negatively impact the Vietnam-China trade of agro-forestry-fishery products.

The limited transportation, especially the suspension of flights from and to China, will hinder the transaction and working between the two sides’ businesses and management agencies, he said.

To deal with the situation, the ministry has directed the Plant Protection Department and the Department of Animal Health to coordinate with relevant forces in border areas to intensify the quarantine of animals and plants, prevent the H5N1 bird flu outbreak, and ban the import of wildlife animal into Vietnam.

The Department of Farm Produce Processing and Market Development will have to proactively work with trade agencies of Vietnamese embassies in countries worldwide to diversify markets for agricultural products.

Specifically, the ministry will lead a business delegation to visit Dubai on February 15 to expand the Middle East market. They will later visit the US from February 22 and Brazil in March, while expanding the market to Japan in March, Russia in June, Australia and New Zealand in July, the Republic of Korea in August, Europe in the second quarter of 2020, and Indonesia and Myanmar in the third quarter of this year.

In case the nCoV outbreak lasts for months, the ministry will coordinate with businesses and localities to promote sales of farm produce at supermarkets.