Dragon fruit for export (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development held a conference in Hanoi on February 3 toseek ways to promote the trade and production of farm produce, given thecomplicated development of the acute respiratory disease caused by the novelcoronavirus (nCoV) which originated in China’s Wuhan in late December 2019.
Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said the nCoVoutbreak has been hurting all economic industries, especially agriculture,because China is a major market of Vietnamese farm produce, making up 22-24percent of the sector’s total export turnover.
He urged relevant agencies and localities tobuild scenarios with specific groups of solutions to deal with the outbreak for1-2 months or even 1-2 quarters.
According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture andRural Development Tran Thanh Nam, the nCoV outbreak will negatively impact the Vietnam-Chinatrade of agro-forestry-fishery products.
The limited transportation, especially thesuspension of flights from and to China, will hinder the transaction andworking between the two sides’ businesses and management agencies, he said.
To deal with the situation, the ministry hasdirected the Plant Protection Department and the Department of Animal Health tocoordinate with relevant forces in border areas to intensify the quarantine ofanimals and plants, prevent the H5N1 bird flu outbreak, and ban the import ofwildlife animal into Vietnam.
The Department of Farm Produce Processing andMarket Development will have to proactively work with trade agencies ofVietnamese embassies in countries worldwide to diversify markets foragricultural products.
Specifically, the ministry will lead a business delegationto visit Dubai on February 15 to expand the Middle East market. They will latervisit the US from February 22 and Brazil in March, while expanding the marketto Japan in March, Russia in June, Australia and New Zealand in July, theRepublic of Korea in August, Europe in the second quarter of 2020, and Indonesiaand Myanmar in the third quarter of this year.
In case the nCoV outbreak lasts for months, theministry will coordinate with businesses and localities to promote sales offarm produce at supermarkets./.
VNA
