Hanoi boosts sale of rural products

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - With many craft villages and a huge amount of products qualified for the One Commune One Product (OCOP) programme, Hanoi has many strengths in rural economic development.

To increase the products' value and boost exports, the city will adopt a number of solutions to facilitate sales of OCOP and craft products.

According to Nguyen Van Chi, head of Hanoi's Rural Development Division under the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the city has more than 1,300 craft villages, 5,000 agricultural products tagged with QR codes and 1,054 OCOP products.

The products are diverse in design and type and are of good quality. Many of them have been exported to large markets such as the US, Japan, the EU and Russia, namely garment and ceramic products, textile and embroidery and wooden furniture.

“Hanoi has focused on connecting with provinces and cities across the country and building product value chains to promote trade to enhance the products’ value and promote exports,” Chi said.

Nguyen Thi Kim Loan, Vice Chairman of the Thach That District People’s Committee, said the district plans to set up cooperatives to act as focal points for cooperation with firms in the sale of products because domestic and foreign enterprises can’t sign contracts with each household.

In addition, coordination from businesses and distributors was essential to provide information on consumption trends to help locals produce handicraft and OCOP products that meet market demands, she said.

Nguyen Trung Thanh, an artisan from Bat Trang ceramics village in Gia Lam district, said besides quality and design, it was necessary to show the cultural value contained in each product to satisfy the demand of foreign customers.

Tran Thi Phuong Lan, Acting Director of Hanoi’s Department of Industry and Trade, said together with craft and OCOP product development, the city focused on trade promotion activities.

Last year, Hanoi held four events to promote the trade of OCOP products associated with the culture of regions across the country. The events attracted large numbers of foreigners who live and work in Hanoi.

In the future, the department would continue to support businesses, co-operatives and households to promote products consumption through fairs, conferences and trade connection activities, Lan said.

She also said on April 28, the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade in collaboration with the Department of E-Commerce and Digital Economy under the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Amazon Global Selling held a seminar on exporting Vietnamese goods to the world with Amazon.

Facilitating Vietnam’s development of cross-border e-commerce were among issues discussed at the seminar.

“Given the complex development of the COVID-19 pandemic, cross-border commerce is becoming an indispensable tool for enterprises to expand their business and export handicraft and OCOP products,” Lan said.

Deputy Director of the Hanoi Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Centre Nguyen Thi Mai Anh, said this year the centre would work with five districts in the city to train producers about trade promotion for OCOP products, equipping them with more skills in marketing and selling products at home and abroad.

Nguyen Ngoc Son, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the city recently issued a plan on rural development in 2021.

Under the plan, the city would assist 10 craft villages in building and registering collective trademarks and provide financial support for 5-10 rural development projects.

Special attention would be paid to strengthening links for product consumption, he said.

Hanoi aims to evaluate and classify at least 2,000 OCOP products by 2025. To obtain the goal, the city needs to boost information dissemination and urge broader participation.

In accordance with Plan No 42 on the development of OCOP showrooms associated with craft village tourism in Hanoi this year, the city will set up 30-40 new showrooms displaying and selling OCOP products. Each district and town will have at least two OCOP showrooms.

The municipal People’s Committee will ask agencies and localities to inspect and supervise the operation of OCOP showrooms and organise promotional programs to enhance the consumption of quality products, including those from cities and provinces nationwide.

The city so far has 630 OCOP products with a three-star rating and above, exceeding the target of having at least 500 OCOP products./.