24,000 tonnes of watermelons were set to rot in the fields as Quang Nai Province confronts one of its biggest economic and agricultural issues for the year.  With the province’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department reporting that up 700 hectares of ripe fruit currently unable to find a buyer, hundreds of farming families in areas including Bình Sơn, Sơn Tịnh, Mộ Đức, Quảng Ngãi, Đức Phổ, Tư Nghĩa who depend upon the delicious melons for their livelihoods are staring down the barrel of bankruptcy.  In some cases, the fruits are now being used to feed livestock before they rot completely.

Big C, the nation’s most loved hypermarket chain, has partnered up with the Quang Ngai Agriculture and Rural Development Department as well as authorities in Son Tin District, sending teams to the fields to gather the fruit from 4 April 2017 and sell nationwide at just 4,800 VND per kilogram.  The chain, which is owned by Central Group, is expected to purchase more than 400 tons of watermelons direct from the farmers, offering a much needed lifeline to them at this time.  All fruits purchased will meet the supermarket chain’s usual standards of food safety, quality and provenance in line with its guarantee to its customers.

In addition to the purchasing of the watermelons, the “Join Hands to support Quang Ngai’s watermelons” project will see Big C support all transportation, logistics, and warehousing expenses, and sell the products without profit.  The supermarkets will further support the sales with in-store announcements and signage, calling upon customers to help support their countrymen with their purchases.

In line with a nationwide commitment to support Vietnamese farmers and manufacturers, Big C has a long history of cooperating with farmers in challenging times. The company regularly announces purchases and no profit sales initiatives to support the output of farmers. The have included the recent support of Dong Nai’s banana farmers, and previously such initiatives as: Hanh tim Nghia tinh (support Soc Trang shallot farmers, 2016); the fresh pompano selling program (support fishermen of 4 Central provinces, 2016); Bac Giang Lychee Week (support lychee farmers in Bac Giang province, 2015, 2016) and many other non-profit sales for Vietnamese agricultural products such as Hoa Binh orange; Da Lat onion; Da Lat tomato; Quang Nam watermelon; Ninh Binh pineapple and so forth.