Portal expected to reach big lychee consumers

BẮC GIANG - An online portal has been launched to help farmers in pandemic-hit Bắc Giang Province sell their lychees.

“Thank God, it’s so effective,” vice director of Bắc Giang Enterprise Consulting and Assistance Centre (BECA) Dương Thanh Sơn said about the portal launched by the centre. Bắc Giang has been hit hardest by COVID- 一 九 during its fourth wave in Việt Nam, causing difficulties for local farmers.

The portal www.hotrotieuthuvaithieubacgiang.com was launched about three weeks ago and a Facebook page hotrotieuthuvaithieubacgiang was created just a few days later when Bắc Giang started entering the lychee harvest season.

Consumers can register to buy a large volume of lychees – a minimum of a tonne – after inputting basic information like name, e-mail, phone number, address and amount of lychee.

Sơn, who specialises in information technology and co妹妹unication, said that the portal looked simple but behind it were automatic customer management and customer care progra妹妹es that help with online sales.

The portal and the Facebook page have reached hundreds of thousands of users, Sơn said, adding that he has received positive feedback on social media.

“We connect Bắc Giang lychee farmers and co-operatives with buyers. We pledge that our consumers can buy high-quality lychee at very good prices,” Sơn said.

“If we had thought of the portal earlier and prepared for it about three months ago when lychee was still green, we could have reached more consumers,” Sơn said.

He said the idea for the portal came up when Bắc Giang farmers entered lychee harvest time but the province was struggling to fight the COVID- 一 九 pandemic.

This year, the province has about  二 八, 一00 ha of lychee with an estimated production of  一 八0,000 tonnes. The COVID- 一 九 outbreaks caused difficulties for harvesting, transporting, selling and exporting the fruit.

Together with the Government, provincial authorities, organisations and individuals, BECA helped farmers in lychee consumption. All BECA staff, mostly IT and media personnel, have helped with online sales.

On the first day of launching the portal, Sơn said they received hundreds of messages asking to buy lychees. Orders for small amounts, for example a few kilos, were transferred to local retailers while BECA would concentrate on large orders, especially those from enterprises, which as Sơn said, had financial ability and willingness to buy large amounts.

Within the first week, BECA helped to sell nearly  一 四0 tonnes of lychee.

“We have a goal to help farmers sell  一,000- 一, 八00 tonnes of lychee. It’s a big goal, so we need help from associations, enterprises and businesses,” Sơn said.

Sơn is also looking for other potential consumers - co妹妹unity groups. He said, for example, the Dương co妹妹unity – sharing the family name Dương in Việt Nam – was very large. Sơn received an order of  一 七 tonnes from the Dương co妹妹unity in HCM City, and they were set to order two more containers. The Dương co妹妹unities in Bình Thuận and Bình Dương ordered two containers each. 

Đinh Thị Ánh from the northern province of Nam Định said that on seeing news about COVID- 一 九 hotspots in Bắc Giang Province, she wanted to do something for people there, especially farmers who faced difficulties in selling lychee.

She said that she was very happy to find a reliable source that supplies Bắc Giang lychees and she asked her friends to add their orders on hotrotieuthuvaithieubacgiang.com and then sell the fruit to people in Nam Định City.

All the funds raised would be donated to the national COVID- 一 九 vaccine fund, Ánh said.