OCOP Program: 'Midwife' for typical rural products of Nghe An

HUGE UNREALIZED POTENTIAL

Countries around the world have many solutions and support policies to overcome difficulties in developing typical rural products, typically the "One Village One Product" (OVOP) movement of Japan since the late 1970s; "One Community One Product" (OTOP) program of Thailand since 2000. In Vietnam, the "One Village One Craft" project was also implemented in the period 2005 - 2017.

International visitors visit Thanh Chuong tea hill. Photo: PV

Quang Ninh is the first province to implement the "One Commune One Product" (OCOP) Program based on experiences learned from international OVOP and product practices in the community and has achieved important results after more than 4 years of implementation.

From the results of Quang Ninh, on May 7, 2018, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 490/QD-TTg approving the "One Commune One Product" Program for the period 2018 - 2020.

What is the OCOP program? It is a program to develop the rural economy in the direction of developing internal resources and increasing value. This is considered a solution and task in implementing the National Target Program on New Rural Development.

Community tourism will be a typical product of Nghe An countryside supported by OCOP. Photo: document

The focus of OCOP is to develop advantageous agricultural, non-agricultural, and service products in each locality according to the value chain, carried out by private economic sectors (enterprises, production households) and collective economies to help those products reach consumers more widely, have more sustainable vitality, and have higher incomes for producers.

In Nghe An, many local agricultural products with advantages can be mentioned such as: soy sauce, lotus, Nam Dan tapioca starch, Thanh Chuong pickled cucumber, Thanh Chuong canarium, Vinh orange, Quang Tien pink grapefruit, Yen Thanh hill chicken, Cua Lo mackerel, Dien Chau shrimp, one-sun-dried squid, Van Phan fish sauce, gay tea, green tea, brocade, Khe Ran community tourism, Nghi Phong rattan and bamboo weaving, tea... However, it is easy to see that these products are being produced in raw form and consumed domestically, not many products are consumed strongly both domestically and internationally.

Yellow flower tea - a precious product of Que Phong district. Photo: Lam Tung

Nghe An has just started implementing the OCOP Program. The purpose of OCOP is that products have standardized production processes, promoting traditional values ​​and local characteristics associated with each product. As its name suggests, OCOP focuses on small products, helping disadvantaged communes, remote areas, creating jobs and sustainable income for people.

From 2008 to 2019, Nghe An province recognized 104 more craft villages, bringing the total number of craft villages to 158 by the end of 2019; including the following 10 craft groups: 46 villages of rattan and bamboo weaving; 29 villages of food processing; 10 villages of broom, sedge mat, and do paper production; 23 villages of civil carpentry and fine arts, boat and drum building; 10 villages of seafood processing; 18 villages of silkworm, crocheting, and brocade weaving; 12 villages of incense splitting and incense production; 3 villages of brick and tile production; 1 village of mechanics; 7 villages of ornamental plant growing. The income of rural craft villages reaches 50 million VND/year.

Traditional fish sauce village in Dien Chau. Photo (Hai Vuong - Nguyen Thanh - Nguyen Book)

The project “One Commune One Product” in Nghe An will have great significance in the socio-economic development of rural areas, aiming to promote self-reliance and creativity of the community, exploit more effectively the potential and strengths of each locality, develop local products and specialties including agricultural, forestry, seafood, advantageous tourism products... to change production practices, create new directions in production and trading of traditional products, thereby giving people more jobs and stable income.

Mr. Hoang Nghia Hieu - Chief of the Provincial New Rural Area Coordination Office, Director of the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development

6 STEPS TO STANDARDIZE THE OCOP PROCESS

The OCOP program standardizes each commune's products according to a 6-step cycle based on the principle of "People know, people discuss, people do, people benefit". Including: Propagating and guiding about OCOP; Receiving registration of product ideas; Receiving production and business plans and projects; Deploying plans and projects; Evaluating and ranking products and finally promoting trade.

The OCOP program standardizes each commune's products according to a 6-step cycle. Graphics: Lam Tung

The process of proposing needs from the bottom up, according to the needs and capabilities of production households, cooperatives and small and medium enterprises. Based on the approved provincial project, communes receive product registration, submit to the district level, the district level selects and directs support.

How to do OCOP in Dien Chau, according to Mr. Le The Hieu - Head of the District's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: Currently, the district has established a Steering Committee, a Working Group to support products, notify cooperatives and communes to count typical products, select some products such as: Nho Lam wet cake, Van Phan fish sauce, Huynh Duong vermicelli (Dien Quang), Dien Ngoc shrimp, Dien Chau peanuts, Phu Dien chicken to submit to superiors to implement the OCOP Program. The district also realized that shrimp and fish sauce products can strongly stimulate demand, and the remaining products should be able to develop strongly in the country.

Thus, it can be seen that a step forward in the production of products from the base is from the bottom up registration and from the top down scrutiny after considering the opportunity to enter the market, this allows products not to appear indiscriminately on the market, supporting products that are competitive in the domestic and international markets, contributing to the development of the rural economy in the direction of endogenous development and value addition.

Agricultural products processed from oranges of Con Cuong district supported by JICA. Photo: Document

The goal of OCOP Nghe An, according to Mr. Le Van Luong - Head of the Provincial Department of Rural Development, is to build a synchronous management and operation system for the OCOP Program from the province to districts and communes. Issue and apply synchronous policies to effectively implement the OCOP Program in the province. Standardize at least 50% of existing products (equivalent to about 90 products), focusing on key, typical and potential products of the province.

Accordingly, Nghe An will develop 2-3 community eco-tourism villages, combining the preservation of cultural values ​​to create tourism products and services participating in the OCOP Program; Develop at least 3 products reaching 5-star rating (can be exported). Strengthen and perfect 100% of enterprises and cooperatives participating in the OCOP Program. Develop at least 20 new economic organizations to participate in the OCOP Program (priority given to cooperatives and joint stock companies).

Thanh Chuong black plum needs to be restored and expanded to increase raw materials. Photo courtesy of Lam Tung - Huy Thu

In addition, training is also provided to improve the quality of human resources for 100% of the State management staff in the OCOP system (province, district, commune) and leaders of enterprises, cooperatives, and production households registered to participate in the OCOP Program. Improving distribution and marketing skills for human resources participating in the OCOP product promotion and advertising system.

Nghe An currently has 182 advantageous agricultural products (in forestry, aquaculture, cultivation, livestock, services), belonging to 6 product groups, including: Food group with 121 products; Beverage group with 15 products; Herbal group with 13 products; Fabric and garment group with 11 products; Souvenir - interior - decoration group with 16 products; Rural tourism service group with 6 products. However, only 49 products have registered and announced quality standards, accounting for 26.9% of the total number of existing products; There are 32 products with registered intellectual property protection, accounting for 17.6% of the total number of existing products.

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