On the morning of July 4, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha chaired a meeting to give opinions on the proposal to amend the set of criteria and process for evaluating and classifying products under the One Commune One Product (OCOP) Program to suit the two-level local government organization model.
Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha requested to build a systematic, long-term OCOP Program, associated with digital transformation and national branding - Photo: VGP/Minh Khoi
The OCOP program has entered a new phase.
The Deputy Prime Minister assessed that since its implementation, thanks to policies and attention from localities, the OCOP program has had a profound impact, improving the quality of production, commercializing agricultural products, bringing Vietnamese products to domestic and foreign markets. This is a very meaningful program, contributing to increasing the value of farmers' products, helping them gradually participate in the global market.
Up to now, the OCOP Program has entered a new phase, so Decision 148 needs to be further improved, in accordance with local management capacity, in order to fully promote the value and mission that the OCOP Program brings.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, besides the proposed amendments of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment , a bigger issue is that ensuring quality, food safety, intellectual property protection and branding for OCOP products still has many shortcomings.
The Deputy Prime Minister hopes that the meeting will provide specific solutions, including taking into account the State's responsibility in supporting communities and localities to build OCOP products with clear standards and regulations. "Each locality has a product, but all must meet quality standards and have commodity value."
"OCOP cannot just be a local product, but must become a product representing the brand of Vietnamese goods. Regardless of whether the product is produced by a household, a cooperative or a small community, if it meets national standards, the State must protect the brand and support its development into the international market. This requires unity in building a national brand for OCOP products - so that when they leave Vietnam's borders, they are "OCOP Vietnam", a national product," the Deputy Prime Minister said.
Many opinions say that perfecting the legal framework and investing properly in OCOP will contribute to increasing the value of Vietnamese agricultural products in the international market - Photo: VGP/Minh Khoi
Special meaning and position
Reporting at the meeting, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Thanh Nam said that up to now, the country has 16,855 OCOP products with 3 stars or more, of which 76.2% are 3-star products, 22.7% are 4-star products and 126 products are 5-star products - recognized as national products. There are a total of 9,822 OCOP subjects, of which 32.9% are cooperatives, 25.3% are small enterprises, 33.5% are production households, business establishments and the rest are cooperative groups. Notably, up to 40% of the subjects are women and 17.1% are ethnic minorities. Currently, more than 3,000 cooperatives have participated in the production of OCOP products, showing the spread of the program.
OCOP products not only contribute to the development of agricultural production, promote the restructuring of the rural economy, but also play an important role in preserving cultural identity and promoting indigenous knowledge. Thanks to a clear set of criteria and a strict evaluation process, OCOP products increasingly meet quality standards, food safety, environmentally friendly designs and are suitable for domestic and international markets.
In addition to the outstanding results, many OCOP products face difficulties due to the lack of stable raw material areas, limitations in technology application, and difficulty in accessing investment credit - while the majority of OCOP subjects are small-scale production facilities. This reality requires specific support policies from authorities at all levels so that enterprises and cooperatives can invest in machinery, factories, preservation technology, ensuring quality standards and traceability.
Notably, in recent times, some international supermarkets have highly appreciated Vietnamese OCOP products but have reflected that the supply is still limited. Therefore, instead of chasing quantity, the program aims to improve quality, increase uniqueness, cultural value and competitiveness in the international market.
With a long-term vision, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment emphasizes the orientation of developing OCOP into a national brand - not only a product of each village and commune - but also protected by intellectual property, with a promotion system and policies to support market expansion. Completing the legal framework and investing properly in OCOP will contribute to increasing the value of Vietnamese agricultural products in the international market.
In order to ensure consistency in the organization of evaluation and classification of 3-star OCOP products (previously under the authority of the district level), the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment proposed to amend and supplement some contents in Decision 148 in the direction of transferring the task of evaluating and classifying 3-star OCOP products from the district level to the provincial level.
The Deputy Prime Minister agreed that OCOP products with 3 stars or higher should be implemented by the provincial level at the current stage, "to increase brand value, there must be a reputable organization to evaluate" - Photo: VGP/Minh Khoi
At the meeting, leaders of several ministries, sectors and localities said that the professional evaluation and classification of 3-star OCOP products affects the quality and reputation of the products and needs to ensure consistency and objectivity. Delegation of authority to the commune level should only be implemented if the locality has sufficient capacity of staff, organization and practical experience (such as Ho Chi Minh City), while other localities continue to maintain it at the provincial level, or delegate authority to specialized departments, ensuring flexibility but not loosening quality.
President of the Vietnam General Association of Agriculture and Rural Development Ho Xuan Hung expressed his support for the plan to assign the authority to evaluate 3-star OCOP products to the provincial level, because this is a suitable direction to protect the reputation and value of the OCOP brand - which is positioned as a national brand. In fact, there have been OCOP products brought by high-ranking leaders as foreign gifts, making the whole region and the whole commune excited and proud. This shows the special meaning and position of OCOP products, not only in terms of economy but also in terms of spiritual and cultural value.
"It's a great joy to be recognized by the province as a three-star. It might be a bit difficult, but we have to accept it to increase the value of the product," said Mr. Ho Xuan Hung.
However, whether decentralized or not, the issuance of criteria for evaluating OCOP products needs to be carried out in a long-term approach, with a clear legal basis, transparent criteria and full guidance to avoid the situation of "doing and adjusting at the same time" as well as subjective and inconsistent assessments.
Concluding the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha emphasized: OCOP products need to be recognized as a national brand, not just a local brand. Therefore, the organization of assessment and recognition must ensure professionalism, objectivity, interdisciplinary and consistent, associated with high quality standards and regulations.
Regarding the assessment authority, the Deputy Prime Minister agreed that OCOP products with 3 stars or higher should be implemented by the provincial level in the current period, "to increase brand value, there must be a reputable organization to evaluate". In case of decentralization to communes, localities must have their own projects, ensuring organizational conditions, human resources, knowledge and coordination mechanisms.
The Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to promptly absorb and complete the Draft Amendment to Decision No. 148, submit it to the Prime Minister for signing and promulgation, to avoid policy gaps after implementing the two-level local government model.
In the long term, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment will coordinate with ministries, branches, the General Association of Agriculture and Rural Development and localities to build a systematic OCOP Program with a long-term vision, converging all factors such as high quality, food safety, added value, market scale, geographical indications, brands, applying digital transformation and e-commerce technology.
"OCOP products must carry Vietnamese brands, be protected and promoted with appropriate policies. Each product needs to have its own story, associated with culture, history, ensuring food hygiene and safety, applying science and technology, and digital transformation," the Deputy Prime Minister wished and stated "OCOP must be implemented continuously and increasingly improved. The ultimate goal is to build thousands of unique, different, internationally-standardized Vietnamese products and conquer the global market."
Minh Khoi
Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/phat-trien-ocop-thanh-thuong-hieu-viet-nam-dat-chuan-quoc-te-tren-thi-truong-toan-cau-102250704140916327.htm
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