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Nguyen Thanh Son, Chairman of Vietnam Poultry Breeding Association

After Hanoi implemented social distancing under Directive 16, to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses and farm owners made recommendations on the transportation of livestock breeds and animal feeds facing many difficulties at checkpoints. Are businesses of the association facing issues?

When 19 southern provinces and cities implemented social distancing under Directive 16, congestion at quarantine checkpoints occurred. In recent days, when Hanoi implemented social distancing, many businesses of the association encountered a similar situation, making the transportation of animal feed and breeders difficult and congested.

The association's hotline constantly receives complaints about the inability of businesses and farm owners to transport agricultural materials like seeds and animal feed.

As far as I know, the ministries and branches have clearly stipulated which transport vehicles can register for the national "green channel" via QR code. However, as there are too many registered businesses, network congestion occurred and could not be registered. In addition, some localities have not clarified the concept of essential goods, including livestock breeds and animal feed, so transportation of businesses is also congested.

On July 21, the Ministry of Industry and Trade sent a document to the Departments of Industry and Trade of provinces and centrally-run cities, requesting they submit to the People's Committees of the provinces and cities to supplement the list of essential goods, define which items are essential, suggest adding more agricultural materials (fertilisers, animal feeds, pesticides), plants and seeds to the list.

Then, on July 26, the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade also submitted to the city People's Committee a list of essential goods, including additional plant varieties - livestock, agricultural materials such as fertilisers, animal feed, plant protection products. Hopefully, the problems will be gradually removed.

In addition, one cause of the congestion in the transport of agricultural goods and materials is the regulation on the validity of SARS-CoV-2 test papers. Although the Ministry of Health has directed localities if a driver has a negative test certificate (rapid test or PCR test) for SARS-CoV-2, they will be cleared, but some localities do not accept rapid tests, only PCR tests.

There are localities that accept the validity of the test paper for 24 hours, some for 48 hours, and other places for 72 hours. The inconsistency of regulations among localities also causes difficulties for the circulation and transportation of goods.

Could you share more about the bottlenecks that businesses face due to difficulties in implementing "green channel" in recent days?

In recent days, many businesses have reported that the trucks transporting goods, animal feed, and one-day-old breeding animals from Binh Dinh to Dong Nai and Binh Duong have been congested.

Immediately, the association called the Working Group to direct production, connect the supply and consumption of agricultural products in the southern provinces and cities in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic (Working Group 970) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam, the vehicles were allowed to circulate in a timely manner. Many units without the intervention of Working Group 970 would be stuck.

From this fact, it can be seen that the central Government directed uniformly, but each locality did it differently, without consistency, leading to congestion in circulation of agricultural products and agricultural materials, difficulties for pandemic prevention.

For Hanoi, on the first day of social distancing under Directive 16, the association also received information that many farms and livestock establishments were facing the risk of food shortage due to traffic congestion and many vehicles have not yet applied for a card to enter the "green channel". But I believe the situation will be recovered soon.

What recommendations does the association have to remove difficulties in the circulation and transportation of goods for livestock firms?

The Vietnam Poultry Breeding Association has sent a document to ministries and branches, maintaining a hotline to reflect the difficulties of enterprises. Gladly, after receiving the business's complaint, in the south, Task Force 970 handled it urgently, the team leader directly called the locality where there was a traffic jam to release goods. Hanoi has also made timely adjustments.

However, in our opinion, the Government needs to have agreement among ministries and sectors on the list of essential goods and the validity period of the SARS-CoV-2 test papers. Because of the fact, many localities say the regulation is on the national highway, not the provincial and district roads, while the livestock farms are located in remote areas, often deep in the alleys.

In addition, priority should be given to vaccination for cargo transporters to ensure normal production and circulation in the context that the country is straining against the pandemic.