JICA brings Thanh Chuong fermented rice, chicken, and Nghe An tea to new positions

Building a brand for Thanh Chuong hill chickens

Thanh Chuong is a mountainous district of Nghe An with rustic specialties such as pickled mustard greens, black canarium, hill chicken, etc. For many years, people in the Cat Ngan area, including 9 communes on the left bank along the Lam River, have turned pickled mustard greens into a commodity product.

Nhut Cat Ngan is made from clean agricultural products such as: young jackfruit, bamboo shoots, banana flowers, sour star fruit, black olive, eggplant, lemongrass peel, chili and tubers such as galangal, lemongrass, corn bran and some other spices.

The above ingredients are mainly from homegrown plants and garden leaves, processed according to traditional, handmade recipes to create delicious, attractive dishes.

In Cat Van commune, Thanh Chuong district, Mr. Pham Hoai Duc's family received support from JICA to implement production support according to the correct process, ensuring food hygiene to turn hometown food into goods through the project "Forum for marketing agricultural products in the province".

Mr. Pham Hoai Duc said: When JICA officers come to the house, they carefully research the origin of each ingredient, check each production stage, taste the product... then implement and guide how to build a brand and how to preserve the goods.

With the participation of JICA, households in Hamlet 5, Cat Van Commune have successfully built the Thanh Chuong pickled mustard brand with good quality, beautiful design, and longer preservation. The pickled mustard boxes also have full labels, production date, OCOP certification, and origin information. JICA has also connected and introduced pickled mustard products to restaurants, supermarkets, and some stores in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, etc.

Up to now, Thanh Chuong pickled products have become commodities, widely consumed, and recognized as 3-star OCOP. Besides pickled products, JICA has also supported Thanh Chuong district to successfully build a famous brand of delicious hill chicken, favored by markets inside and outside the province.

Continued support for market expansion

After the success of the pickled products, JICA continues to support the white garlic production model in Na Ngoi commune (Ky Son), marketing the market for Ky Son ginger products, Dien Phong hot pepper (Dien Chau). Mr. Nguyen Van Truong - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ky Son district said: The garlic planting project in Na Ngoi commune was built in 2017, 2018, interrupted by the Covid-19 epidemic and is now being re-implemented. The garlic planting process in the 10th Youth Volunteer Corps shows that garlic is well adapted to the terrain of Ky Son district, giving high quality. In 2024, JICA will continue to survey to continue implementing the project "Survey to verify sustainable business development with the private sector to develop the value chain for Sanuki garlic in Nghe An" in 2025. It is known that the value of Japanese white garlic on the market is currently very high, sometimes up to 100,000 VND/bulb. If the project is successful, it will open up many opportunities for Ky Son garlic.

In 2024, the JICA Project will also build 2 models: "Growing melons in greenhouses meeting VietGAP standards" for business household Nguyen Van Tuan in Dai Son commune, Do Luong district, with a scale of 1,200m², expected output of 12.6 tons/year and "Growing apples intercropped with papaya in the direction of high technology" and in Hung Dong commune, Vinh city, with a scale of 3,000m².

Production models have changed from being "a lot of nothing" to now being invested in packaging, labels, product traceability stamps, applying quality control and food safety processes such as VietGAP and having a presentation of origin. Since then, the products have completely changed in quality and are widely consumed.

In 2024, the JICA Project Management Board in Nghe An collected and shared information on enterprises, cooperatives, cooperative groups and individuals producing, processing and trading agricultural products, key agricultural products, especially products that have achieved OCOP of the province with domestic and international markets; Sharing information on 40 OCOP products exported to markets of countries such as Japan, Korea, and European countries. Through that, connecting Minh Ngoc Corp (Ho Chi Minh City) with Huong Son Handicraft Cooperative (Ky Son) about Ky Son ginger products; between Ameii Vietnam Joint Stock Company and Dien Phong Cooperative (Dien Chau) about hot chili products...

In 2024, the JICA Project opened 2 training courses for 80 trainees to improve their skills in promoting, promoting trade, connecting supply and demand and developing markets for agricultural products and OCOP products in Nghe An province; organized 8 conferences connecting supply and demand, trade promotion fairs, promoting typical agricultural products at many domestic fairs. Thereby, many products such as cassava starch, turmeric starch, medicinal products, veal sausage, soy sauce, lotus, fish sauce, etc. have been signed to be brought to many supermarkets and stores nationwide.

Talking about the effectiveness of the JICA Project through agricultural models in Nghe An, Mr. Nguyen Van De - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee highly appreciated the role and significance of cooperation support activities, a new model of operation that the whole country does not have, which is an important bridge in the cooperative relationship between Nghe An and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van De highly appreciated the marketing role of the project, which has contributed to promoting and introducing Nghe An's typical products, specialties, and OCOP products such as golden flower tea, soup, eel vermicelli, Shan Tuyet tea, Ky Son ginger essential oil, purple sticky rice wine (Tuong Duong), Dien Chau lotus peanuts, etc. at Japanese souvenir shops in Hanoi. At the same time, he also hoped that the forum would overcome its limitations, continue to have specific plans, continue to support connections, invite and guide Japanese partner businesses and other partners to survey and connect investments in Nghe An province.