19 Nov
With the time for harvesting winter-season crops approaching and due to current challenges in food supply chain, there is now considerable concern about food production, processing, distribution and demand.
The COVID-19 outbreak, with all the accompanying closures and restrictions, has created logistical bottlenecks that ricochet across the long value chains of the economy.
Closures of restaurants and less frequent grocery shopping diminish demand for fresh produce and fishery products, affecting producers and suppliers, especially smallholder farmers.
Meanwhile, it is found that the restrictions are causing hindrances to border trade with China and Thailand today.
We must take timely necessary measures in order to prevent serious impacts on the entire food supply chain in our country and our exports.
Besides, shortages of fertilizers, veterinary medicines, and other inputs could also affect agricultural production.
If the product is perishable, we need to adjust the export volume and our production, and need to ensure that the perishable product can stay within safe temperature ranges during transport.
Transporting perishable products by air should be one of the options to ensure that disruptions of food supply chains are minimized as much as possible.
We must realize the severity of the situation and sometimes should tighten or loosen the measures according to the spread of the pandemic. The supply chain should be flexible enough to respond to the challenges in this time of crisis.
At an industry level, we recognize that companies must also adapt to today’s challenges and continue to provide access to essential food and beverage products amid changing consumer needs during the crisis.
We must do everything possible to ensure that our food supply chain is functioning properly and that information on prices, production, consumption, and stocks of food is available to all in real-time. Prevention costs less.
Now, more than ever, is the time for us to collectively take action to keep the food supply chains open and to protect the flow of food so that consumers can continue to have necessary access to safe and high quality food to help people get through this pandemic.
We must take care to avoid accidentally tightening food-supply chains.
