Na Chi Lang brand and the desire to reach far

Farmers become “online sellers”

Chi Lang, a place that once marked a glorious victory in the history of the nation, is now famous for a delicious product, Chi Lang custard apple. Dong Bang valley stretches for thousands of hectares of green custard apple hills. At harvest time, the custard apples are plump, thick-fleshed, small-seeded, sweet, and their fragrance spreads throughout the mountains and forests. Chi Lang custard apples have long been known as the “king of custard apples”.

With over 1,600 hectares of concentrated planting area and an annual output of 30,000-40,000 tons, custard apples have become the main source of income for thousands of farming households. In 2011, Chi Lang custard apples were granted a National Geographical Indication, contributing to affirming the brand value. However, the path for this fruit to be sustainably present on supermarket shelves, e-commerce platforms or in export shipments still faces many obstacles.

If in the past, custard apples were only sold in the mountain markets, now farmers have become “online sellers”, directly connecting with customers nationwide. A typical example is the story of Ms. Dang Thi Tho, a Chi Lang farmer and owner of the TikTok channel “Co Tho Grocery Store”. From the early days when she was still unfamiliar with smartphones, she persevered in learning every step of filming, editing, and speaking in front of the camera. Her livestreams, with a simple, honest country accent, were not only for selling products but also an opportunity to tell stories about her attachment to custard apples and her homeland. It was that sincerity that touched the hearts of customers, helping orders increase rapidly.

Na Chi Lang, the pride of Lang Son, is being strongly promoted commercially, going beyond the highland markets to reach supermarkets and international markets.

But to achieve that success, her journey was not easy. Mrs. Tho confided: “ In the past, when I sold custard apples, I carried them to the market, carried them by bicycle to each place but still could not sell them all. When I saw young people selling products over the phone, I gradually learned and practiced. At first, I was very confused, from holding the camera to responding to customer comments. Sometimes I went live for an hour without selling any orders, and was laughed at by acquaintances for "showing off". But I thought, I have a real product, I just persevere, customers will believe ."

Not only is it difficult to operate technology, Ms. Tho also faces many other challenges: high transportation costs, custard apples are easily crushed during delivery, many customers order but cancel. “ Once, a truck carrying a ton of custard apples was returned by a customer due to late delivery, I felt very sorry. But gradually, I found ways to package more carefully, learn more about preservation. I understand that e-commerce is not easy, but it is the way for our hometown's agricultural products to reach far and wide ,” Ms. Tho shared.

Now, each of her livestreams not only has hundreds of views but also closes many orders from North to South. Although she still has to compete with floating goods, according to Ms. Tho, it is the transparency and “real people, real work” that can maintain Na Chi Lang’s long-term reputation.

Accompanying policy creates the foundation for sustainable brand

Along with the efforts of the people, Lang Son province has issued many policies to develop agricultural products, in which Na Chi Lang is the main product. Lang Son province focuses on building concentrated growing areas, applying VietGAP, GlobalGAP, organic processes, ensuring quality and meeting export standards. At the same time, policies on traceability stamps, packaging support, labels, logistics are implemented synchronously, linking production with consumption, promoting consumption through supermarket systems, wholesale markets and e-commerce platforms.

Speaking to Cong Thuong Newspaper, Mr. Hoang Van Chieu, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Lang Son province said: “ We focus on developing concentrated custard apple growing areas, applying VietGAP, GlobalGAP, and organic processes to improve quality. At the same time, the province supports origin traceability stamps, training in processing and preservation techniques, and connecting consumption with supermarket systems and e-commerce platforms. The goal is to bring Chi Lang custard apples not only firmly in the domestic market, but also towards export .”

Chi Lang custard apple has been dubbed the "king of custard apples".

Lang Son's orientation is to develop agriculture in the direction of applying high technology, safety, organic, taking quality as a measure of competitiveness and closely linking production with product consumption. The province not only focuses on expanding the area of concentrated planting areas, but also aims to form a closed value chain from seeds, planting, harvesting, preliminary processing, preservation, processing and distribution.

To continue developing agricultural production models applying high technology, safety, organic, linking production with product consumption, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Lang Son province will promote the development of concentrated commodity production areas to facilitate technology application and create increasingly large-scale production areas.

In addition, to increase product value, according to Mr. Chieu, the Department will focus on directing the use of good quality seed sources, promoting producers to comply with technical processes to ensure food safety, promoting processing to create diverse, high-value products. In particular, in the coming time, the Department will continue to promote and introduce products, and expand sustainable consumption markets.

Today, Cu Chi Lang is not only a sweet fruit, but also a symbol of change. It is the effort of farmers who dare to change, of the government creating policies, of businesses and accompanying associations. When the links are connected, custard apples from Dong Bang valley will not only captivate diners, but also appear more and more in supermarkets, on e-commerce platforms, and reach the international market. Cu Chi Lang is not only an agricultural product, but also the aspiration of Lang Son to rise up in the flow of integration.

Source: https://moit.gov.vn/tin-tuc/xuc-tien-thuong-mai/thuong-hieu-na-chi-lang-va-khat-vong-vuon-xa.html

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