Handshake with farmers

The "four-house handshake"

As our grandparents reminded us, we have to learn everything: "Learn to eat, learn to speak, learn to wrap, learn to open", now we have to learn how to shake hands. When shaking hands, we are happy, but sometimes we are unintentionally criticized for being awkward and lacking enthusiasm.

Recently on a forum, a passionate businessman said that to develop sustainable agriculture, there needs to be a "handshake of four parties": business people, farmers, scientists, and the government.

This article only discusses the handshake between businessmen and farmers. The handshake between this and that family in the four families will be posted in another article, or if anyone is inspired, they should also write to inspire each other. Everyone has the natural talent to write and write articles.

In the agricultural industry, except for the closed chain of enterprises, farmers undertake the production stage, called input; enterprises undertake the purchasing, preservation, processing, distribution, and export, called output. Input and output are closely related to each other, symbiotic with each other, if not connected, the industry is fragile. Without input, there can be no output, with input but without output there will be congestion. So the two ends need to join hands, but who is the one to take the initiative to reach out first? A businessman affirms, it must be the businessman!

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan, leaders of Nghe An province and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nghe An province interacted and presented gifts to people of the forest planting cooperative in village 1, Linh Son commune, Anh Son district, Nghe An. Photo: KN

In the agricultural industry, except for the closed chain of enterprises, farmers undertake the production stage, called input; enterprises undertake the purchasing, preservation, processing, distribution, and export, called output. Input and output are closely related to each other, symbiotic with each other, if not connected, the industry is fragile. Without input, there can be no output, with input but without output there will be congestion. So the two ends need to join hands, but who is the one to take the initiative to reach out first? A businessman affirms, it must be the businessman!

A respected professor concluded: a country where groups of people sit separately will develop slowly. In society, the rich often seek out rich people, the poor seek out poor people; the old gather with the old, the young play with the young; the elite discuss with the elite; the common people gather with the common people. Similarly, businessmen sit separately in forums to discuss business, farmers stand by the fields to discuss crops.

When each person, each class, each separate space does not understand each other, it is difficult to join hands to go far. Every day, the media reports that here and there, the contracts between businesses and farmers are broken. Sometimes, businesses break their promises, agree to cancel the contract, and do not buy when the price goes down. Sometimes, farmers go back on the contract, return the deposit, and do not sell when the price goes up. The vicious cycle is like a refrain, although it has improved recently, but it happens every season. "Is it because of you, because of her, or because of both sides?". Thinking about it makes me feel bitter!

Visiting a rice processing enterprise in a country not far from his own country left many thoughts. The business owner confided that on the traditional New Year, the first visitors were rice farmers who provided raw materials for this factory. He also expressed: "Thanks to those farmers, I have the business I have today, so I am grateful to them!". Well, it turns out that this owner's business philosophy is not "buying well and selling well" but gratitude and repayment!

Farmers need businesses to consume agricultural products, but they also need sincere handshakes from businessmen.

Join hands to go further, go faster!

Many businessmen share the difficulties when doing business with farmers. They are forced to do all sorts of things, haggling over one thing and one thing more. The quality is not as promised, sometimes the commitment is even in writing, but when the price goes up, they sell to other middlemen. All of these desires require the help of the "state" with strong enough sanctions. Is it all due to the "willing buyer, willing seller" business mindset, causing difficulties for both sides, or "both sides' fault"?

The idea of ​​buying and selling in the form of "barter", then "barter for money", "money for goods" has existed in classical economic theories for the past few hundred years. Modern business management theory has non-economic approaches such as: culture, beliefs, community thinking...

Soc Trang farmers join the project to grow 1 million hectares of high-quality rice. Photo: HX

Businessmen, despite facing many storms in the business world, also work hard, but still have more conditions than farmers. They understand more because they travel here and there. Life is somewhat better, thanks to being more active, in addition to the main profession, there may be other opportunities. Farmers are only stuck with the same fields, gardens, forests, barns, ponds, cages. Everything depends on each season, each farming cycle. Sometimes "money is like a piece of meat", only thinking about the immediate future without thinking about the long term.

Farmers need businesses to consume agricultural products, but they also need sincere handshakes from businessmen. A handshake is like a commitment to long-term companionship. A handshake instills confidence after an unsatisfactory harvest due to natural disasters and epidemics. A handshake shows gratitude and repayment to farmers. Writer Nguyen Huy Thiep, who often writes about rural farmers, reminds himself, and perhaps also reminds everyone: "My mother is a farmer, I was born in the countryside".

Entrepreneurs are building corporate culture. After all, culture depends on how relationships are built. Trips back to the hometown to visit relatives, with small gifts but with great heart, will create a relationship between both sides. If you call each other relatives, then treat each other like relatives, not just as contractual partners. Besides sending employees to purchase, entrepreneurs go to the fields, shake hands and greet farmers, which will create happiness for both sides. Organizing for relatives to visit the factory, sharing ways to create added value, will increase pride for both sides.

Industry associations are not just private spaces for businessmen and business owners. Meetings with the presence of farmers and raw material suppliers are opportunities for both sides to understand each other, share the good and the bad, and "shake hands" to go far together. Eating a meal together, attending a party together will create a bond. Only when coming together with the heart can there be a lasting bond, and "The shortest way to the heart is through the stomach!".

A famous writer commented: "There are hands I have touched that feel like the two people are miles apart. But there are also handshakes filled with light, their handshake leaves you with an extremely warm feeling."

Come on, let's join hands to go further, go faster!

Source: https://danviet.vn/cai-bat-tay-voi-nong-dan-2024091216333545.htm