Locally made goods have become a first choice for many Vietnamese people nowadays. Le Ba Trinh, Vice President of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front, speaks to the newspaper Dai doan ket (Great Unity).
Can you please tell our readers of the outcomes of your recent visit to provinces and cities in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta to assess the campaign launched by the Front calling on Vietnamese people to use Vietnamese made products?
I would say that after three years, the campaign has been quite successful nation-wide, particularly in the Mekong Delta.
To enable people living in remote areas access to Vietnamese made goods, many trading companies have taken their products right to their doors.
During our visits to supermarkets or shopping centres around the region, I would say that up to 95 per cent of the commodities on display are Vietnamese made goods, particularly the in Co-opmart and Vinatexmart supermarket chains.
The campaign’s effectiveness also helped to stabilise the price of an assortment of essential goods when inflation reached double figures.
In short, people now have faith in Vietnamese brands and many of them have started to boycott goods that do not state country of origin or low quality goods.
What have you learnt from these visits?
The first thing I should say is that the co-ordination of various
agencies involved in the campaign has encouraged many people to buy Vietnamese made goods. For example, many provincial steering committees were pro-active when working with industry and the retail sector, as well as Co-opmart taking goods to people living in remote areas of An Giang Province and Can Tho City.
In some areas, these businesses took the initiative and started to liaise with local farmers to develop the raw materials they need to supply their factories and processing plants. The An Giang Vegetables and Food Joint Stock Company – Antesco successfully set up links between distributors and producers around the province and turned it into a supply chain – from field to plate.
The Joint Stock Company Gentraco in Can Tho City is also another good example. The company has worked closely with farmers to create “the big rice field”, to produce high quality rice.
The Dai Nong Fertiliser Plant in Kien Giang Province has tried to apply advanced technology to produce organic fertiliser and other bio products to keep the environment clean while increasing rice productivity for farmers around the region.
What are the difficulties that the provinces and cities have encountered while conducting the campaign?
Poor co-ordination between the local authorities, particularly People’s Committees and Party Committees with Campaign Steering Committee – in this case, the Standing Committee of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front, the industry and trade sector and the local media has limited the campaigns efforts.
During our visits, we realised that monitoring the markets in different localities has been ineffective. Trade fraud has also become a problem for honest traders. As a result, many people are concerned about the rampant sales of unsafe food on the market or low quality products.
On September 17, 2012, the Prime Minister issued specific detailed tasks for central and local governments when carrying out the campaign “Vietnamese use Vietnamese made products.”
However, many administrative problems remain unsolved due to a lack of co-ordination between the statutory agencies. In my opinion, this is the stumbling bloc that has made it difficult for enterprises to do business and it must be resolved as soon as possible.
So in your opinion, what should be done now to make the campaign a success?
The first thing every locality must do is to increase their advertising campaigns to raise the public’s awareness of the importance of using Vietnamese brands.
The second thing is to have a good market monitoring mechanism in place while encouraging the set up of suitable supply chains – from field to plate.
The third thing is that steering committees at every level should take responsibility for developing their action plans and carry out consultations with senior local government offi cials to make sure the campaign is on the right track.
And finally, the producers themselves have to take full responsibility for the quality of their products and ensure fair prices. They must also operate an after sales service, which is extremely important. — VNS
Đăng ký: VietNam News