Not yet recognized as a craft village

VHO - Mr. Nguyen Ha Bac, Secretary of Lien Chieu District Party Committee (Da Nang) said that the locality has a plan to soon complete the procedures and planning to certify Nam O fish sauce craft village in the area in 2025.

This is an issue that has just been raised by public opinion at the end of the year, preparing to welcome the Lunar New Year, originating from the thoughts and aspirations of the people of Nam O village (Da Nang) after nearly 6 years, the fish sauce making village here was recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage.

Why is Nam O still not recognized as a " craft village" ?

Talking to Van Hoa , Mr. Nguyen Ha Bac explained that there have been opinions and notes on the activities of Nam O fish sauce making village in the past time, with the perspective of requiring the early certification of this village in the local socio-economic development investment planning, creating conditions for people in the village to promote the economic values ​​of production from the village.

Nam O villagers happily receive the certificate of Intangible Cultural Heritage

However, due to inadequate access, public opinion is making subjective assessments that are not in line with the process of managing and certifying craft villages.

Logically, many people believe that in order to complete the dossier to be recognized in the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage, the craft village must be recognized beforehand. But in fact, the positioning and planning of the craft village must ensure the requirements of management, appraisal and organization of full conditions, in order to be officially certified as a craft village.

In fact, on August 27, 2019, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued Decision No. 2974 recognizing the traditional craft of making Nam O fish sauce as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage. This is the result of more than 2 years of campaigning and implementing the heritage registration dossier that the locality has carried out, based on the history of developing the fish sauce making craft in Nam O village over the past many years.

The history of this village has been closely associated with fishing and fish sauce making for hundreds of years and the unique product characteristics and fish sauce making profession in this land have met the conditions for the Department of Culture to recognize the value of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Nam O people have passed down and developed the traditional fish sauce making profession for many years.

After being certified as a cultural heritage, the Nam O fish sauce craft village was recently included by the locality (Lien Chieu district) in the list of craft villages that need investment in preservation and development in the area. Accordingly, the relevant agencies and departments have planned to implement procedures and investment requirements to confirm the planning of the craft village.

The basic criteria for positioning this craft village include identifying typical products, having a certificate of protection, Nam O geographical indication for fish sauce products in the craft village, along with investigation and evaluation indicators of output, product quality, production scale... in the craft village and moving towards completing the planning areas for the craft village, such as concentrated production areas, product demonstration areas...

Mr. Nguyen Ha Bac shared that this implementation is not simple and takes a lot of time, basically requiring the consensus and cooperation of the local community, the actual operations of households trading and producing Nam O brand fish sauce in the craft village... Although a preliminary investigation showed that there are nearly 90 households in the village participating in the fish sauce business, the number of households producing according to the correct processes and standards is actually about 52 households and the production processes also have different adjustments.

Therefore, it was not until June 2024 that Da Nang completed and was granted a certificate of protection for the geographical indication "Nam O" for Nam O fish sauce products. A representative of the Intellectual Property Office said that it took 2 years to complete the process of registering the right to protect this geographical indication for the craft village.

Thus, it is clear that after the certification of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Nam O fish sauce village products must undergo investment demonstration and planning to achieve traditional craft village certification.

There is much work to do!

Responding to public questions about the progress of certification for Nam O fish sauce craft village, Mr. Nguyen Ha Bac affirmed that there is still much work to be done to determine planning and organize production in the craft village.

Besides production activities, Nam O village also maintains cultural activities and coastal rituals.

First of all, craft villages must now accurately count the number of households practicing the craft. Local authorities and management levels are doing this. With statistical bases, practical investigations, based on households producing through many generations, not simply counting through the number of households registered in craft villages and according to reports from local craft associations.

Second, the craft village currently does not have land to organize concentrated production, nor does it have a demonstration area to introduce the quintessence of fish sauce making. Villagers mainly organize production within the narrow space of their own families, which does not ensure food safety and hygiene criteria, production and processing environment, etc.

Mr. Nguyen Ha Bac said that through many meetings, the locality has a plan to choose a location for concentrated production of Nam O fish sauce in Hoa Khanh Nam industrial cluster and some other industrial cluster planning locations, to ensure an isolated environment and production area for large output...

The area for displaying and introducing craft village products was chosen right next to the village campus, adjacent to Nguyen Tat Thanh Street. The location for the demonstration area of ​​craft village quintessence, coordinating tourism activities... also chose the planned location of Trieu Thi Trinh Primary School in Nam O village campus, moving this school to a new location to ensure more spaciousness and comfort.

“We are actively promoting these planning and investment arrangements, and especially consulting, obtaining consensus and cooperation from Nam O people, in order to soon complete the criteria and requirements of the craft village planning work. We believe that in 2025, the implementation steps will be smooth, and Nam O fish sauce village will soon receive the traditional craft village certification, thereby truly creating good opportunities for people to produce, and honoring the craft village brand,” Mr. Nguyen Ha Bac emphasized.

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/van-hoa/van-chua-duoc-cong-nhan-lang-nghe-118130.html