No market advantage yet

Established at the end of 2021 with the goal of selling clean, OCOP certified vegetables to consumers inside and outside the province, however, Green Gap Village Co., Ltd (Lam Thao district, Phu Tho province) is still struggling to find an outlet for its products. According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Vung, Deputy Director of Green Gap Village Co., Ltd.: “Many customers do not know what OCOP certification is, why are OCOP certified vegetables more expensive than similar products. Therefore, even though it is eye-catching on the shelves, the consumption of the products is still very modest."

Currently, Thai Nguyen province has 129 OCOP products, of which tea products account for nearly 90%, but only one product meets the national 5-star standard. That shows that the development of OCOP products meeting national standards is still difficult. As at Cao Son Tra Cooperative in Binh Son Commune, Song Cong City (Thai Nguyen), there are 5 tea products certified with 3-star and 4-star OCOP. In the period of 2021-2022, the cooperative is supported by more than 1 billion VND by the city to implement the project of linking the planting, processing and consumption of VietGAP tea in association with experience tourism. Through the project, the cooperative has built 8 hectares of safe tea, bringing the total area of ​​the unit's safe material area to 50 hectares. However, the cooperative's tea products are still unable to be exported, which is also one of the difficulties for the product to reach the national 5-star standard. “To achieve 5-star OCOP, it is necessary to invest in more modern factories, machinery and equipment, but the most difficult thing is the output. We look forward to receiving support from all levels of government to support policies, access preferential loans, and support cooperatives to make organic tea,” said Mr. Pham Van Tien, Director of Cao Son Tea Cooperative.

According to Mr. Pham Van Sy, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thai Nguyen province, to become an OCOP product, subjects need to meet a number of conditions such as production throughout, the participation of many households, high economic value, contributing to raising people's incomes and regional characteristics. Therefore, in order to develop OCOP products, localities must rely on reality to determine which products are key and have been planned in the production area or not. However, not every locality or subject has the conditions and capacity to do so. In addition, because the area of ​​agricultural production land in the province is increasingly shrinking, it will be very difficult to develop products that meet OCOP standards in terms of area and ability to supply the market in large, stable and long-term quantities.

Yen Chau mango in Yen Chau district (Son La) is one of the typical OCOP products of the province. In the photo: Farmers in Yen Chau district wrap mangoes to ensure quality and design. Photo: THANH THUY 

Focus on quality, promote

With a factory over 1.000m2, Anh Thu ram cake production facility in Tan Lam Huong commune, Thach Ha district (Ha Tinh province) is one of the production bases invested with modern local machinery system. Before that, at the end of 2018, after completing the trademark registration, each year the establishment produced a large number of ram cakes, raw vegetable rolls, which were popular with customers. By 2020, Anh Thu ram cake will be recognized as a 3-star OCOP product of Ha Tinh. According to Ms. Le Hoai Thu, the owner of a production facility, to find output for products, one of the channels to develop the market is to sell online. “I hope the local government will support the integration of the experience program into tourism activities so that tourists can visit and enjoy the province's OCOP products at the production facility itself. Thereby, helping to promote and sell products better," said Ms. Le Hoai Thu.

In Thanh Hoa province, over the past time, a number of OCOP products have also had positive developments, helping to increase incomes for rural workers. According to Mr. Hoang Viet Chon, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Hoa province, of the 236 locally recognized OCOP products, more than 80% of the products have been involved in supermarkets, restaurants, e-commerce systems... revenue and profit increase year by year. "Implementing the program "One commune, one product", the province determines the focus is on quality, building prestige, not chasing quantity. Many OCOP products are the result of production development, exploitation of local raw material areas, traditional labor and especially collective marks and geographical indications built up many years ago. These products are sold well, contributing to increasing people's incomes", comrade Hoang Viet Chou affirmed.

In Quang Ninh province, one of the "leading" localities of the "One commune, one product" program, in order to open up output for products, the province has organized many trade promotion fairs and product displays with full information on quality as well as production process to create trust for consumers. Along with that, OCOP producers are also very active in putting their products on websites and some e-commerce platforms. The experience of Quang Ninh province is: Standardizing and improving the quality of specialty products in each countryside, each locality; focus on promoting and connecting the market; support to improve production capacity of households as well as enterprises and cooperatives. Those are also issues that need to be done well for OCOP products in the whole country to reach out.

FAMILY