Tay Giang develops OCOP products from medicinal herbs' strengths

(QNO) - From forest plants familiar to the Co Tu people such as Codonopsis pilosula, Morinda officinalis, Amomum, Găng... many cooperatives in Tay Giang have chosen the method of deep processing into OCOP products with strong local characteristics. However, to be recognized and organize large-scale production still poses many challenges in terms of lack of resources, output and infrastructure.

Tay Giang develops OCOP products from local agricultural products and medicinal herbs. Photo: HO QUAN

Attaching OCOP to raw material areas

Truong Son Green Agriculture and Pharmacy Cooperative (A Tieng commune) is currently one of the units that owns the most OCOP products in Tay Giang district, with typical product lines such as chicken stewed ginseng, ginseng extract (3-star OCOP in 2023), and dried ginseng (3-star OCOP in 2024). These product lines have been well received by the market during some peak times such as the recent Lunar New Year. By clearly identifying the strengths of the raw material area, this unit has gradually built a stable indigenous medicinal value chain.

Mr. Riáh Cường - Business Director of the Cooperative said that the most obvious competitive advantage of the unit is the initiative in the raw material area with 20 hectares of ginseng, 20 hectares of cardamom, 12 hectares of ginger and the participation of dozens of households in the consumption chain. In addition, the Cooperative has invested more than 2 billion VND to complete the processing line and production equipment. During the recent Tet holiday, to meet market demand, this unit produced nearly 1.5 tons of dried ginseng. However, some other products such as ginseng are not well received by the market, due to the product's characteristics being difficult to use and not suitable for consumer tastes.

The OCOP 3-star dried ginseng product of Truong Son Green Agriculture and Pharmacy Cooperative is highly appreciated by customers. Photo: PHAN VINH

Mr. Cuong shared: "Good products, good ideas, we are also improving packaging design, but to bring it into the large distribution system, connect with investors or supermarket channels is not easy. Currently, the cooperative has not signed a stable consumption contract with any partner. The biggest obstacle is the lack of specialized personnel, lack of investment resources for marketing and trade. We can do OCOP, but selling to the market is very difficult. We choose the direction of mastering the raw material area, using that as a foundation for long-term development".

[ VIDEO ] - Mr. Riah Cuong - Sales Director of Truong Son Green Agricultural and Pharmaceutical Cooperative shared about the difficulties in developing OCOP products:

Another unit that is also making efforts to maintain OCOP products is the Green Forest Ecological Agricultural Cooperative, clean vegetables, with products such as Tay Giang dried bamboo shoots, dried hawthorn, K7 red beans - all exploited from local raw materials.

Ms. Koor Thi Nghe - Director of the Cooperative said that highland conditions are still a major barrier in the journey of developing OCOP products for many entities in Tay Giang.

“In addition to the advantages of forest materials, we still lack many basic conditions to upgrade the production process, from warehouses, machinery, human resources to management skills, operating OCOP products according to the value chain. In particular, connecting to the market is still a big challenge. We have few opportunities to participate in fairs, lack conditions for trade promotion, and have difficulty accessing support policies, especially in remote areas like Tay Giang, where transportation is far away, so everything is much slower,” said Ms. Nghe.

Raise the bar but in the right direction

According to statistics from the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Tay Giang district, by the end of 2024, this locality had 15 OCOP products recognized, of which 3 products met 4-star standards. However, due to the fact that some products have expired their evaluation or the subject has not continued to maintain them, there are currently only 7 products still valid, mainly in the food, medicinal herbs and semi-processed agricultural products industries. In 2025, the district will continue to register 2 new products to participate in the provincial OCOP program, which are dried ginseng and K7 red beans.

Green Forest Ecological Agricultural Cooperative staff, clean vegetables package dried hawthorn products. Photo: HIEN THUY

According to Mr. Tran Van Ta - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Tay Giang district, the OCOP program has made an important contribution to the transformation of the agricultural economy and the construction of new rural areas. However, the subjects still face difficulties due to lack of capital, difficulty in accessing partners, limited resources, and remote terrain...

"Most of the OCOP subjects are small enterprises and young cooperatives, not capable of making deep new investments, and their products are still poor. What is lacking is a long-term strategy and production and business cooperation partners. From planning raw material areas to organizing value chain linkages, the state needs to accompany them," said Mr. Ta.

[VIDEO] - Mr. Tran Van Ta - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Tay Giang district shared about the development of local OCOP products:

It is known that in 2025, Tay Giang district will continue to support OCOP associated with raw material areas, invest in labeling systems, packaging, safety certification, traceability and promote trade promotion. The locality will also invest in a number of small-scale medicinal processing and preparation facilities so that cooperatives can exploit medicinal material sources well and link production with forest protection.

"For Tay Giang, OCOP is not simply an economic program, but is gradually becoming a new direction in production transformation, while contributing to preserving traditional knowledge and cultural specialties of the highlands. For OCOP to truly become a pillar of development in remote areas, it is still necessary to have more synchronous participation from the state, businesses and OCOP subjects in this land" - Mr. Ta said.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/tay-giang-phat-trien-san-pham-ocop-tu-the-manh-duoc-lieu-3156787.html