Rice boats were weighed by Ong Tho Rice Joint Stock Company in the 2021 summer-autumn crop during a stressful epidemic time |
With the goal of providing specialty rice to the market, GOT has farming methods that protect the environment and are transparent in origin. GOT deployed the cultivation of organic rice material areas on the Ca Mau peninsula for the first time in 2021. Just a few months later, the fourth wave of epidemic broke out violently, which was also the time when the company needed to negotiate rice areas. organic with farmers.
At the same time, the summer-autumn rice crop has grown green in other raw material areas. The whole company was almost passive because of the quarantine order, travel restrictions between provinces and cities, and practical contacts between farmers and project implementation officials were suspended. On the one hand, farmers in the organic rice raw material area have not received formal technical training, on the other hand, the raw material area in the summer-autumn crop is about to harvest.
Meeting with farmers "in the clouds".
GOT immediately discussed with experts to plan to work online with farmers, but convincing them to "go to the cloud" to work with the company is not easy. The company had to contact local authorities to ask them to support farmers in using the Zoom meeting tool and organizing online meetings with farmers. After a week of online meetings, farmer households were trained in organic farming techniques so as not to miss the harvest. In addition to farming techniques, farmers are also trained online by GOT on how to record farming technical parameters according to traceability standards.
On July 9, the epidemic entered a tense phase in Saigon, Directive 16 was applied in Ho Chi Minh City, which was also the time when people's demand for rice storage peaked, but the circulation of agricultural products was not smooth because there were Many anti-epidemic checkpoints. Meanwhile, GOT as well as many rice production enterprises at that time had the task of providing adequate essential food for the people of the city and the Southeast provinces, including the Northern provinces.
GOT alone is also responsible for avoiding local shortages in the system because it must build a distribution system for the newly formed raw material area. The GOT leadership must meet quickly, communicate quickly, and direct continuously, in order to coordinate many means so that the transportation system can circulate smoothly. At the same time, the company also took advantage of the power of local authorities and the agricultural rescue working group 970 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, asking the Ministry to intervene to clear the flow of rice transportation from factories in the provinces. the West to the hands of the people.
| Ms. Duong Thanh Thao - Deputy Director of Ong Tho Rice Joint Stock Company standing on the right side of the photo introducing the company's delicious rice products |
Working together to overcome difficulties and keep rice prices stable
The demand for rice storage in Ho Chi Minh City usually peaks in July every year. Unfortunately, the fourth wave of the pandemic fell during this time. From early morning to midnight, GOT's entire workforce lived in a state of extreme stress due to constant coordination. Some people, unable to withstand the great pressure, submitted their resignations. Therefore, not only good at foreign affairs, GOT leadership must also be good at domestic affairs, calmly sitting down with employees to solve each problem one by one, helping their team regain balance.
That was also the time when F0 appeared among the company's staff, GOT's epidemic prevention plans were forced to focus on the group of delivery staff (assessed as having the highest risk of infection). The entire staff suffered from severe morale with an overwhelming fear of illness.
However, because the company had prepared a scenario for this situation in advance, the company quickly established the group "GOT SUPPORT OVERCOME COVID", with many coordinated measures: Volunteer doctors were invited by the GOT leadership consulting and employee care company; uninfected staff providing support to infected people; fully stock oxygen tanks and necessary medical equipment; Support for treatment costs and living expenses for at least 1 month of quarantine for infected employees. These measures quickly revived employee morale. During the epidemic, only GOT's transit warehouse was temporarily suspended for disinfection, while rice products at processing factories were continuously distributed to the retail market to reach people.
Ms. Duong Thanh Thao - Deputy Director of Ong Tho Rice Joint Stock Company, said that during the most difficult times, the board of directors convinced workers who wanted to quit that the working environment was intense, with constant pressure and tension. This is an opportunity for them to learn from experience faster than ever. Thanks to that, the leadership team and employees worked together with the spirit of overcoming difficulties, even when stuck in a blockade.
At the same time, understanding the huge demand for rice from volunteer groups in Saigon, while rice prices in the epidemic area were pushed up, GOT held an online meeting with traders to form a connection. keep rice prices stable for people.
When overcoming the most difficult time, Ms. Thao suddenly realized that in just a few months GOT had built a production material area with proper farming techniques. The company also arranged a new distribution chain, paving the way for the young raw material area during the most difficult transportation period, something that at the beginning of 2021, the company had expected to take 5 years.
In the midst of difficulty, wisdom emerged, Ms. Thao proudly said: "Profit is a measure of a business's performance but is not the only goal that Ong Tho Rice pursues. Accompanying to solve social problems and Contributing to building a better living environment is a worthy mission for Ong Tho Rice's staff and leadership team to aim for. During the epidemic, we have accomplished the task that we thought would be profitable after a few years What we can do is support many volunteer groups to bring rice to a series of workers who have lost their jobs."
Thanks to such efforts, GOT was honored by the Center for Supporting Community Service Initiatives (CSIP) as the 2021 Green Swallow, with the meaning of honoring resilient businesses "like swallows", that have overcome epicenter of the pandemic and strong recovery.