Select and develop OCOP products from key strengths

After 7 years of implementing the OCOP Program, Thanh Hoa province now has 661 OCOP products. Many of them have good consumption, affirming their position in the market. However, there are still some products that have not yet promoted their potential and strengths, facing difficulties in consumption. Therefore, functional sectors and localities need to select and develop OCOP products from their main strengths to avoid "wasting" OCOP stars.

Production of OCOP products of black tea - Solanum procumbens Happlife, Cam Thach commune.

Implementing the OCOP Program, departments, branches, localities, and mass organizations in the province have promoted, guided, and developed OCOP products in a practical and sustainable manner. In particular, focusing on promoting typical products in regions, OCOP products are ranked to boost consumption. Through that, many products have affirmed their quality in the market, contributing to promoting the local brand.

Cam Thach commune was established based on the merger of Cam Binh, Cam Lien and Cam Thach communes (old), with Kinh, Muong and Dao ethnic groups living together, creating unique features in daily life and production. At the same time, there are many key products with typical and endemic characteristics.

Chairman of Cam Thach Commune People's Committee Ha Thanh Son said: "Ethnic minorities with different lifestyles always have strong products. If we know how to "stimulate" and support them, they will develop well into unique products, with strong regional characteristics, and "attractive" in the market. Therefore, in implementing the OCOP Program, Cam Thach Commune prioritizes selecting and developing products containing the production and lifestyle culture of local ethnic minorities into OCOP products."

With a clear orientation in implementing the OCOP Program, Cam Thach commune has developed 7 OCOP products; of which 2/3 herbal tea products are developed based on folk remedies of the Dao and Muong ethnic groups, selling well in the market.

As a typical locality of the province in developing OCOP products, after the administrative unit arrangement, Nga Son commune has 25 OCOP products; of which, there are 2 4-star products and 23 3-star products in the groups of handicrafts, food, beverages... Nga Son commune, in addition to the advantage of traditional craft villages, also has the advantage of high-tech agriculture , but the locality has only developed 2 agricultural products into OCOP products: Van Hoa yellow melon and Van Hoa melon (4 stars). Up to now, both products have had documents not re-recognized because the production entity did not re-register after the 3-year expiration of the OCOP certificate. In addition, the locality also has a number of products in other handicraft groups that were not re-recognized after the expiration. Along with that, most of the products are developed on a small scale of production, the connection from production to product consumption is not high, and has not created many impressions on the market. The above reasons have been reducing the "strength" of the local OCOP product ecosystem.

Nga Son Commune selects handicraft products from sedge to develop into key OCOP products.

Although still in the "top" of the leading localities in the province in terms of the number of OCOP products, the competitiveness and position of Nga Son OCOP products in the market are not really strong. Therefore, in order to develop a substantial and sustainable OCOP Program, the People's Committee assigned specialized departments and offices to review and determine the potential and strengths of the locality and evaluate the potential of entities with potential products to support and develop them into OCOP products. At the same time, upgrade the quality of certified products to 3 stars or higher; 100% of OCOP products are allowed to participate in events to display, introduce, promote, and connect trade of OCOP products...

According to a survey by the Provincial New Rural Development Program Coordination Office, after merging administrative units, most communes and wards in the province have OCOP products, except for some mountainous communes with difficult socio -economic conditions. In fact, the OCOP Program has brought many benefits to both producers and local economic development. However, many OCOP products have not yet promoted their potential and strengths and have encountered many difficulties in consumption. The reason is that the production scale of the subjects is still small, the products are seasonal, so the connection between production and product consumption is still limited. The capacity and production level of the subjects are still weak, not focusing on applying advanced technical measures for safe, effective and sustainable production.

To sustainably develop the OCOP Program, departments, branches and localities need to select OCOP products from key strengths, focusing on product groups with local potential and advantages, prioritizing traditional products, new high-quality products and products deeply processed from typical raw materials. The selection process needs to assess financial capacity and resources, build strong brands and promote trade promotion to enhance product value as well as competitiveness in the market.

Article and photos: Le Hoa

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/lua-chon-phat-trien-san-pham-ocop-tu-the-manh-chu-luc-269844.htm