COVID China SE Asian Fruit WEB
Metadata
- COVID China SE Asian Fruit WEB
- May 2, 2022
- Content Type Package
- Language English
- Transcript/Script English USAGM SHARE ((PLAYBOOK SLUG: COVID – CHINA - SE ASIAN FRUIT SUPPLY CHAIN HEADLINE: Southeast Asian Fruit Farmers, Truckers and China’s Fight Against COVID-19 TEASER: As China fights to contain the coronavirus, Southwest Asian fruit farmers and truck drivers feel the squeeze of Beijing’s strict COVID-19 policies PUBLISHED AT: 005/01/2022 at 9:40AM BYLINE: Narin Sun, Steve Sanford TRANSLATIONS BY: Chuong Tan Duong, Pinitkarn Tulachom, Leakhena Sreng DATELINE: Lang Son, Vietnam, Pailin, Cambodia, Chang Mai, Thailand, Washington VIDEOGRAPHER: Narin Sun, Steve Sanford PRODUCER: Elizabeth Lee, Marcus Harton SCRIPT EDITORS: Mia Bush, MPage VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA Original PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __ TRT: 5:42 VID APPROVED BY: MAS TYPE: TVPKG: EDITOR NOTES: This is a stand-alone, longer form, non-narrated piece)) ((NOTE TO EDS AND PRODUCTION TEAMS: This is a non-narrated, 5:42 TV mini documentary with text and subtitles. The English captions for this piece were created using Premiere Pro's caption feature. We have included an .srt file in the published folder. If you import that file into your Premiere project, you can place it above the clean house version of the story to provide a template for positioning your translation along the timeline, replacing the English text, phrase by phrase, with your own.]] ((INTRO:)) [[The pandemic and China’s zero-COVID-19 policy has caused ripple effects throughout the global supply chain. The fruit industry in Southeast Asia has been feeling the impact. VOA’s video journalists in Southeast Asia talked to the people involved, from farmers to truck drivers, over the course of several months. This is their story. VOA’s Vietnamese, Cambodian and Thai Services contributed to this story.]] ((TEXT UPPER LEFT)) s ((Lang Son, Vietnam March 2022 )) ((TEXT)) A makeshift village of truck drivers has been set up at the Vietnam China border. There is not much to do but wait. ((Nguyen Cong Vy, Truck Driver Delivering Jackfruit)) “The Chinese side announced that some of the truck drivers on their side got infected with COVID-19. So they closed the border for disinfection. That’s why we had to wait for so long that the jackfruit became rotten.” “Just eat boxed rice (fast food) as the days go by. Bored, very bored. Frustrated.” Before COVID-19, it takes about eight to nine days for a round trip. Since the pandemic, it is taking more than a month to not even finish making one trip. The seller of the fruit switched off his/her phone. What we have to do next is to try to throw the jackfruit away first. I’m out of cash, I’m broke. I’ve been here too long. I’ve spent all the money on oil, running the refrigeration of the truck.” ((TEXT)) China’s zero-COVID policy temporarily closes borders when an infection occurs and temporarily bans certain imported fruits when COVID-19 is detected. ((Nguyen Huong, Truck Driver Delivering Jackfruit)) “I just want to get the fruit to go through as early as possible so we can go home. If we can finish early, we can go home early with money to buy milk for children, and waiting for this long, we come home with no money.” ((Nguyen Tan Nam, Truck Driver Delivering Mangos)) “It has been a month and 10 days, but I have not finished one trip.” ((TEXT)) Nguyen Tan Nam says a designated team of Vietnamese drivers who regularly test for COVID-19 transport the containers across the border to a parking lot in China. There, Chinese buyers check the goods before paying sellers. Nguyen is waiting for confirmation on his mango delivery. ((Nguyen Tan Nam, Truck Driver Delivering Mangos) “I have never experienced any situation like this before, never. In general, we can make some money to support the family, but if this situation g oes on, the family will suffer and starve.” ((TEXT)) The farmers who grow the fruit in these trucks are also feeling the impact of China’s COVID-19 strategy. ((TEXT UPPER LEFT)) ((Chang Mai, Thailand February 2022)) ((TEXT)) While agricultural products such as coffee and rice can find new markets, produce that depends on the Chinese market are at the mercy of China’s COVID-19 crisis. ((Nanson Muengkaew, Longan Grower in Thailand)) “My name is Nanson Muengkaew. I’m 73 years old and I live I n Ban Chimplee Mongkol in Ban Mae Sub District, San Pa Tong District, Chiang Mai Province. I’ve been a longan farmer for 30 years now.” ((TEXT)) Last year, China temporarily banned Thai longans because the pest, mealybugs, were found. Trucking delays at the border slowed down the supply chain. Muengkaew says his longans sell for about 30% less than what he would normally get before the pandemic. ((Nanson Muengkaew, Longan Grower in Thailand)) “The market went down and there weren’t as many vendors as before anymore. The prices also went down, but we still had to grow them, which affected my income.” “We didn’t have a place to sell them (longans) and it reduced our income. It affected my life because I didn’t have enough money to pay the bills, but I have to keep going because I’d already grown my farm.” ((TEXT UPPER LEFT)) ((Pailin, Cambodia)) ((TEXT)) In neighboring Cambodia, Preap Nak also depends on a middleman to sell her fruit. In the past, a Thai company would buy her fruit and send it to China. She says no one has been buying her fruit for export during the pandemic. ((Preap Nak, Longan Farmer in Cambodia)) “We are able to sell just a little in Cambodia, (but) not much outside Cambodia like before. It's very difficult. Sometimes the longan fruit ripens amid the COVID lockdown, so even selling domestically is a challenge. Both buyers and sellers are struggling.” ((TEXT)) Even if the fruit sells, the prices are lower. Fertilizer and oil costs are higher. ((Preap Nak, Longan Farmer in Cambodia)) “Sometimes they buy, sometimes they don't. We are hopeless.” ((TEXT)) Longan farmers expect to be able to sell directly to China soon, if they meet export standards. ((nat sound transition back to border)) ((Nguyen Tan Nam, Truck Driver Delivering Mangos)) “We try to comfort ourselves by sometimes having drinks together. Our family and children will have to take care of themselves at home. We don’t count on the wages anymore.” ((Text)) China continues to combat outbreaks within its borders with a zero-COVID policy. Economists expect disruptions in the global supply chain to continue.
- Transcript/Script USAGM SHARE ((PLAYBOOK SLUG: COVID – CHINA - SE ASIAN FRUIT SUPPLY CHAIN HEADLINE: Southeast Asian Fruit Farmers, Truckers and China’s Fight Against COVID-19 TEASER: As China fights to contain the coronavirus, Southwest Asian fruit farmers and truck drivers feel the squeeze of Beijing’s strict COVID-19 policies PUBLISHED AT: 005/01/2022 at 9:40AM BYLINE: Narin Sun, Steve Sanford TRANSLATIONS BY: Chuong Tan Duong, Pinitkarn Tulachom, Leakhena Sreng DATELINE: Lang Son, Vietnam, Pailin, Cambodia, Chang Mai, Thailand, Washington VIDEOGRAPHER: Narin Sun, Steve Sanford PRODUCER: Elizabeth Lee, Marcus Harton SCRIPT EDITORS: Mia Bush, MPage VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA Original PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __ TRT: 5:42 VID APPROVED BY: MAS TYPE: TVPKG: EDITOR NOTES: This is a stand-alone, longer form, non-narrated piece)) ((NOTE TO EDS AND PRODUCTION TEAMS: This is a non-narrated, 5:42 TV mini documentary with text and subtitles. The English captions for this piece were created using Premiere Pro's caption feature. We have included an .srt file in the published folder. If you import that file into your Premiere project, you can place it above the clean house version of the story to provide a template for positioning your translation along the timeline, replacing the English text, phrase by phrase, with your own.]] ((INTRO:)) [[The pandemic and China’s zero-COVID-19 policy has caused ripple effects throughout the global supply chain. The fruit industry in Southeast Asia has been feeling the impact. VOA’s video journalists in Southeast Asia talked to the people involved, from farmers to truck drivers, over the course of several months. This is their story. VOA’s Vietnamese, Cambodian and Thai Services contributed to this story.]] ((TEXT UPPER LEFT)) s ((Lang Son, Vietnam March 2022 )) ((TEXT)) A makeshift village of truck drivers has been set up at the Vietnam China border. There is not much to do but wait. ((Nguyen Cong Vy, Truck Driver Delivering Jackfruit)) “The Chinese side announced that some of the truck drivers on their side got infected with COVID-19. So they closed the border for disinfection. That’s why we had to wait for so long that the jackfruit became rotten.” “Just eat boxed rice (fast food) as the days go by. Bored, very bored. Frustrated.” Before COVID-19, it takes about eight to nine days for a round trip. Since the pandemic, it is taking more than a month to not even finish making one trip. The seller of the fruit switched off his/her phone. What we have to do next is to try to throw the jackfruit away first. I’m out of cash, I’m broke. I’ve been here too long. I’ve spent all the money on oil, running the refrigeration of the truck.” ((TEXT)) China’s zero-COVID policy temporarily closes borders when an infection occurs and temporarily bans certain imported fruits when COVID-19 is detected. ((Nguyen Huong, Truck Driver Delivering Jackfruit)) “I just want to get the fruit to go through as early as possible so we can go home. If we can finish early, we can go home early with money to buy milk for children, and waiting for this long, we come home with no money.” ((Nguyen Tan Nam, Truck Driver Delivering Mangos)) “It has been a month and 10 days, but I have not finished one trip.” ((TEXT)) Nguyen Tan Nam says a designated team of Vietnamese drivers who regularly test for COVID-19 transport the containers across the border to a parking lot in China. There, Chinese buyers check the goods before paying sellers. Nguyen is waiting for confirmation on his mango delivery. ((Nguyen Tan Nam, Truck Driver Delivering Mangos) “I have never experienced any situation like this before, never. In general, we can make some money to support the family, but if this situation g oes on, the family will suffer and starve.” ((TEXT)) The farmers who grow the fruit in these trucks are also feeling the impact of China’s COVID-19 strategy. ((TEXT UPPER LEFT)) ((Chang Mai, Thailand February 2022)) ((TEXT)) While agricultural products such as coffee and rice can find new markets, produce that depends on the Chinese market are at the mercy of China’s COVID-19 crisis. ((Nanson Muengkaew, Longan Grower in Thailand)) “My name is Nanson Muengkaew. I’m 73 years old and I live I n Ban Chimplee Mongkol in Ban Mae Sub District, San Pa Tong District, Chiang Mai Province. I’ve been a longan farmer for 30 years now.” ((TEXT)) Last year, China temporarily banned Thai longans because the pest, mealybugs, were found. Trucking delays at the border slowed down the supply chain. Muengkaew says his longans sell for about 30% less than what he would normally get before the pandemic. ((Nanson Muengkaew, Longan Grower in Thailand)) “The market went down and there weren’t as many vendors as before anymore. The prices also went down, but we still had to grow them, which affected my income.” “We didn’t have a place to sell them (longans) and it reduced our income. It affected my life because I didn’t have enough money to pay the bills, but I have to keep going because I’d already grown my farm.” ((TEXT UPPER LEFT)) ((Pailin, Cambodia)) ((TEXT)) In neighboring Cambodia, Preap Nak also depends on a middleman to sell her fruit. In the past, a Thai company would buy her fruit and send it to China. She says no one has been buying her fruit for export during the pandemic. ((Preap Nak, Longan Farmer in Cambodia)) “We are able to sell just a little in Cambodia, (but) not much outside Cambodia like before. It's very difficult. Sometimes the longan fruit ripens amid the COVID lockdown, so even selling domestically is a challenge. Both buyers and sellers are struggling.” ((TEXT)) Even if the fruit sells, the prices are lower. Fertilizer and oil costs are higher. ((Preap Nak, Longan Farmer in Cambodia)) “Sometimes they buy, sometimes they don't. We are hopeless.” ((TEXT)) Longan farmers expect to be able to sell directly to China soon, if they meet export standards. ((nat sound transition back to border)) ((Nguyen Tan Nam, Truck Driver Delivering Mangos)) “We try to comfort ourselves by sometimes having drinks together. Our family and children will have to take care of themselves at home. We don’t count on the wages anymore.” ((Text)) China continues to combat outbreaks within its borders with a zero-COVID policy. Economists expect disruptions in the global supply chain to continue.
- NewsML Media Topics Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
- Network VOA
- Embargo Date May 2, 2022 10:03 EDT
- Byline Elizabeth Lee
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America