Ben Tre Province’s OCOP products are displayed in a booth in Tu Sơn Supermarket in An Giang Province’s Chau Doc City. (Photo: VNA/VNS) Underthe programme begun three years ago, OCOP products are commercial products andservices, including food, beverages, handicrafts and rural tourismservices. OCOP products are classified under a five-star system.
InCan Tho, the municipal People’s Committee recognised 21 OCOP products in 2021.
LeVan Tinh, deputy head of the city’s Coordination Office for New-style RuralArea Building Programme, said the city had recognised 41 OCOP products sofar.
Theyinclude 21 four-star OCOP products and 16 three–star ones. The products belongto production establishments, households, cooperatives and companies.
TheOCOP products include fish paste products of Pham Nghia Food Company, RongVang purple rice of Duy Duc Hung Company, two tea products – one from red beanand brown rice and another made from five kinds of bean – of Thuan HoaProduction Establishment.
Thedelta’s provinces have recognised many OCOP products in 2021 andaim to develop more OCOP products.
CaMau province recognised 18 OCOP products in 2021. They are three kinds of fishsauce products, Tu Tam biological rice, Minh Duy fermented bulrush, Minh Quandried soft banana, crocodile leather men’s shoes, crocodile leather men’spurses, and crocodile leather waist belts and other products.
Theprovince has a total of 51 OCOP products, ranging from two to three-starlevels.
Thedelta, which is the country’s largest rice, fruit and seafood producer, has 375OCOP products, accounting for 17.3 per cent of the country’s total OCOPproducts.
The OCOPproduct programme has helped the delta’s provinces and Can Tho to enhance thecompetitiveness of their products and increase income for the producers,according to local authorities.
Thedelta has many OCOP products with high quality, but their sales still facedifficulties because of the lack of linkages among OCOP product producers andsellers, and the lack of promotion activities for the OCOP products.
Accordingto Le Trung Hieu, Director of An Giang province’s Investment and TradePromotion Centre, most OCOP products are made in villages by farmers and theydo not have high awareness about promoting and marketing their products.
Inaddition, many localities have not paid proper attention to promoting OCOPproducts.
Theimpact of the COVID-19 pandemic has also affected trade promotion activities ofOCOP products.
Tohelp OCOP producers promote the sale of their products, local authorities inthe delta have supported them to design packages and labels for OCOP products.
PhamThanh Hai, Deputy Director of Bac Lieu province’s Department of Agriculture andRural Development, said many agricultural products and products of handicraftvillages had been developed into OCOP products, contributing to economicefficiency and income for people.
However,the programme has not met the province’s potential and advantages since somelocalities do not pay proper attention to the programme, according to Hải.
Manyhouseholds, co-operatives and companies are reluctant toparticipate because they are afraid of spending too much timeon procedures needed to recognise OCOP products.
Theprovince will boost advocacy activities to enhance the awareness of localauthorities about the programme, improve the quality of evaluating OCOPproducts, and reform administrative procedures on recognising them.
Promotions
Toboost the sales of OCOP products, the delta’s provinces and Can Tho city arestrengthening trade promotion activities for the products via showrooms, tradefairs and exhibitions.
Theyhave promoted the registering of OCOP products for sale on e-commerceplatforms and linked up with supermarkets to sell the products.
AnGiang province has linked up with Co.opmart, Bach Hoa Xanh and othersupermarkets to sell OCOP products.
Theprovince in cooperation with the delta’s Dong Thap and Ben Tre provinces and CanTho has developed a system for showcasing OCOP products of the fourlocalities.
AnGiang plans to establish a OCOP product site in combination with offeringtourism services in 2022.
Italso plans to choose one or two OCOP products to promote abroad and export in2022.
NguyenSi Lam, Director of An Giang province’s Department of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment, said: “The OCOP product programme is one of the most importantsolutions for restructuring agricultural production and rural areas incombination with the province’s inner strengths, natural conditions and localcultures.”
"Ithas contributed an important role in implementing the National Target Programmeon Building New-Style Rural Area," he said./.
VNA
