Representatives of the Hanoi Farmers' Association present gifts to disadvantaged households. (Photo: Ngoc Anh/VOV5)

With the motto ‘Fight the epidemic as if fighting an enemy’, the Hanoi Farmers’ Association at all levels has mobilized 4,000 members to man pandemic control checkpoints, 5,200 people to participate in community-based teams for COVID-19 prevention and control, and 1,600 people to conduct communications activities via Facebook, Zalo, and Fanpage groups.

When Hanoi imposed social distancing, the Association’s members donated 220,000 USD to the Fund for COVID-19 Prevention and Control and 264,000 USD to the COVID-19 Vaccine Fund.

Pham Hai Hoa, Chairwoman of the Association, said, “Many models created by Hanoi farmers have proved effective, such as teams to link the sales of agricultural products, and ‘zero-dong’ stalls for the poor.”

“Thanks to the support of Hanoi Farmers Associations at all levels and the municipal Youth Union, 70 tons of vegetables and millions of free meals were provided to needy people in the city’s inner districts. The city’s farmers have donated thousands of dollars and 7,900 gifts worth 140,000 USD to frontline pandemic workers and other struggling workers,” Hoa added.

Among its practical support programs, the Farmers Association of Thanh Oai district opened a showroom to display and connect the sales of products from Kim Bai town. The Ung Hoa district Farmers’ Association put up the money to build ‘houses of gratitude’ and opened a stall to sell agricultural products in Van Dinh.

Pham Van Hung, Chairman of the Phu Xuyen district Farmers Association, said, “We provided more than 20 tons of vegetables and 10 tons of other farm produce to inner and outlying districts of Hanoi where the pandemic spread. We want to share the burden of people in infection areas of Hanoi.”

To date, every branch of the Farmers Association has visited and presented gifts to frontline pandemic workers and pandemic-affected people, with a total value of 530,000 USD.

Nguyen Thi Thanh, Chairwoman of the Hoai Duc district Farmers’ Association, said the supply chain of agricultural products for Hanoi has not been interrupted during the pandemic.  

“Teams have been set up in districts and communes to sell farm produce. We’ve worked with localities in Hoai Duc district, with the municipal Farmers’ Association, and with social organizations to co-ordinate the distribution of agricultural products. If they already met the local demand, we helped sell farm produce grown by local farmers to other districts. We also helped sell the agricultural products of other districts, including frogs raised by farmers in Thanh Oai district and bamboo shoots grown in Ba Vì district,” said Thanh.

In response to the "Million gifts, thousand tons of agricultural products" program launched by the Vietnam Farmers' Union, the Association sent 6,600 USD worth of agricultural products to the Farmers Associations in HCMC, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai province, which were hardest hit by the pandemic. Many farmers set good examples in production, trading and overcoming difficulties.

Vu Thi Dung, head of the garment team of Cao Vien commune in Thanh Oai district, said, “We set up a chat group on Zalo to introduce new products and patterns and find out the source and price of input materials. As a result, our products are selling at about the same price.”

The Hanoi Farmers' Association has been supporting people with the spirit of "love and affection", which is a great encouragement for them to overcome difficulties caused by the pandemic and stabilize their lives.