Abundant food supply during Tet

There are only a few days left until Tet At Ty 2025. At this time, farmers, cooperatives, and cooperative groups across the country are actively raising livestock, poultry, and aquaculture to serve people's needs.

Consumers shop at GO! and Big C supermarkets. (Photo: MINH TRANG)

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, food products on the market are quite abundant and diverse.

According to the Department of Animal Husbandry, due to the disease situation in livestock and poultry being basically under control, livestock farming is developing well. Thanks to favorable weather for both farming and exploitation, the total aquatic product output in 2024 is estimated at 9.6 million tons. Currently, the price of live pigs and chickens remains stable, and farmers are making a profit. Due to the approaching Lunar New Year, the demand for food and foodstuffs often increases by 10 to 15% compared to previous months.

Director of Hoang Long Cooperative, Thanh Oai District (Hanoi) Nguyen Trong Long shared that the facility is raising more than 4,500 pigs and 500 sows. The farm is expected to sell from 100 to 150 tons of pork per day to serve the market during this time. At traditional markets in the capital, pork belly is sold at 135 to 150 thousand VND/kg, lean shoulder meat is priced at 125 thousand VND/kg; ribs are priced at 115 to 130 thousand VND/kg.

Meanwhile, the price of aquatic and seafood products in traditional markets in Hanoi tends to increase slightly. Grass carp prices range from 80,000 to 100,000 VND/kg, tilapia from 50,000 to 60,000 VND/kg, shrimp from 250,000 to 450,000 VND/kg; beef prices range from 270,000 to 350,000 VND/kg; eggs, livestock and poultry meat are abundant. According to Ms. Le Thi Luong, a chicken vendor at Long Bien market (Hanoi), the price of domestic chicken is currently from 140,000 to 150,000 VND/kg, and will probably be higher near Tet due to increased purchasing power.

Providing more information on this issue, Director of Dong Tao Chicken Breeding and Trading Cooperative (Khoai Chau District, Hung Yen Province) Le Quang Thang said that thanks to its good quality, Dong Tao chicken is trusted by many people across the country and abroad; in 2024, the total chicken flock increased by more than 30% compared to the previous year. To serve the market during the Lunar New Year, the cooperative has prepared about 1,000 chickens to sell to consumers as gifts (big-legged, beautiful-looking) and about 7,000 commercial chickens.

According to the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the city currently has a herd of nearly 1.5 million pigs, a herd of more than 42 million poultry, a herd of more than 124,000 cows; 6,736 large, medium and small-scale farms, more than 152,000 livestock households; 16,000 aquaculture households, of which 12,920 facilities have signed a food safety commitment, 69 aquaculture facilities have been applying good aquaculture processes with a total area of 510 hectares...

In addition to the source of agricultural, forestry and fishery products produced locally, the capital's agricultural sector has proactively connected and exploited the supply of agricultural, forestry and fishery products from 1,327 chains of provinces and cities under the Coordination Program between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Hanoi People's Committee on "Ensuring food safety, improving the quality and value of the agricultural, forestry and fishery supply chain between Hanoi and provinces and cities nationwide in the period of 2021-2025" to have enough food supply for the market during Tet.

Some agricultural and food products that units and enterprises have stockpiled to serve the people include: 298,350 tons of rice, 59,670 tons of pork, 19,890 tons of poultry meat, 16,500 tons of beef, 396 million poultry eggs, 331,500 tons of vegetables...; through distribution channels of 30 commercial centers, 131 supermarkets, 455 markets to bring essential goods with stable prices to the poor and disadvantaged, so that people can have a more complete Tet holiday.

In Ho Chi Minh City, key enterprises participating in the Market Stabilization Program have prepared capital of more than VND 22,000 billion, of which more than VND 8,000 billion is to prepare essential food and foodstuffs for Tet 2025, including: about 8,300 tons of rice, 5,000 tons of livestock meat, 5,500 tons of poultry meat, 23 million eggs...

For example, Vietnam Livestock Industry Joint Stock Company provided the market with 930 tons of fresh food and nearly 3,700 tons of processed food. To keep prices stable during this time, the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Trading Cooperatives has implemented a plan to reserve goods with a total output of more than 12,000 tons, mainly allocated to a number of market stabilization groups such as: rice, livestock meat, poultry meat, eggs, vegetables and seafood, with a total value of 10,000 billion VND.

Not only the two big cities, many other localities in the country have also planned and prepared enough goods. Da Nang City has a total reserve value of essential goods such as rice, meat of all kinds; vegetables, fruits, etc., of about more than 2,800 billion VND. Along with that, the city organized 14 price stabilization points of sale, concentrated in markets near residential areas in the area, distributed reasonably in districts, serving the people from January 25 to 27, 2025.

In order for people across the country to have a warm and economical Tet holiday, one of the urgent tasks at this time of the relevant ministries and branches including Agriculture and Rural Development, Industry and Trade, Health... is to strengthen inter-sectoral coordination in ensuring food safety because in many places, some food production, processing and trading establishments still have violations. The regular operation of flea markets makes it difficult to manage, inspect and handle food safety violations.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has issued a document on strengthening management measures to ensure food safety, especially before, during and after the Lunar New Year 2025. Accordingly, it is recommended that provinces and cities direct specialized agencies and authorities at all levels to coordinate with information and communication agencies to disseminate legal regulations on food safety, the harms and consequences of using prohibited substances, outside the list of substances permitted for use in the initial production, harvesting, preservation, preliminary processing and processing of agricultural, forestry and aquatic products.

Localities need to continue implementing Plan No. 1751/KH-BCĐTƯATTP dated December 18, 2024 of the Central Steering Committee on food safety on implementing food safety work for the Lunar New Year and the 2025 Spring Festival season.

Source