Nghe An: Facilities expect OCOP support policy

Nam Dan district is one of the localities with many specialties.OCOP productsIn 2019, the district had 7 products achieving OCOP from 3 to 4 stars, in 2020, the district continued to have 16 more products certified by the Provincial People's Committee as OCOP. However, the output of OCOP products is still a difficult problem.

While products that have long-standing brands and reputations such as Nam Dan soy sauce, pork roll, lotus seed… have a relatively stable consumer market, it is very difficult to find a unit to purchase the remaining products.

Therefore, trade promotion and connection between production households and businesses, supermarket systems and retail systems are extremely important, not only helping to stabilize people's income, increase the value of OCOP products, but also helping to promote the image of the locality.

Nam Anh Soy Sauce is a famous product, achieving 4 OCOP stars in Nam Dan district. Photo courtesy of Quang An

In fact, in recent years, Nam Dan district has promoted trade promotion activities for local specialties. We regularly direct and encourage cooperatives and production households to display their products at famous tourist attractions in the district such as Kim Lien Relic Site, Hoang Thi Loan Tomb, Dai Tue Pagoda, etc. to let visitors from near and far know about them.

At the same time, at supply-demand fairs across the country, we support and create conditions for households to come and display OCOP products, on average, they will display more than 20 times each year. This method has created a positive effect when the district's products are increasingly widely known.

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Besides the problem of raw materials, factories, etc., the cost of registering and designing a trademark is also very costly in terms of effort and money.

For example, Dai Hue Agricultural Cooperative, Nam Anh Commune (Nam Dan), spends an average of 10 million VND per month on packaging and labels to sell to the market, while the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted and goods have stagnated. After the cooperative's products achievedOCOP certification, Cooperatives have access to new markets and new purchasing units, requiring changes in packaging and branding.

For new start-up units like cooperatives, this is very difficult. Therefore, we hope that the province will support the cost of trademark registration as well as advise, consult, and design for us labels that are both beautiful and full of information to promote local OCOP products in the market.

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During the production and business process, we have some recommendations to our superiors as follows: Regarding support policies, we should assign a main unit to support and the criteria should be clear and not go through many steps, otherwise businesses and cooperatives will not want to receive support because the procedures are too complicated, which is the current situation.

Some policies have been issued but not yet applied, the province has made decisions but cannot implement them. For example, businesses opening clean agricultural products stores will be supported with rent for 2 years with an amount of 2 million VND/month, but it has not been applied, the procedures are very difficult, or like credit support, many policies have been issued but cannot be accessed.

Another recommendation is that consumers currently know very little about OCOP. Therefore, communication about OCOP is very important. This should have a systematic, long-term strategy so that it can gradually influence consumers' psychology so that they prioritize buying Vietnamese and local products.

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Con Cuong currently has 3 villages doing community tourism.homestayWith a total of nearly 100 participating households, there are 2 community tourism spots recognized as 4-star OCOP products (program "One Commune One Product"), which are Khe Ran village community tourism spot, Bong Khe commune and Nua village community tourism spot, Yen Khe commune... Currently, these tourist spots have been exploited, attracting many tourists, creating jobs and increasing income for rural people.

As people working in tourism in remote areas, wishing to contribute to the construction of our homeland, I personally hope that the authorities at all levels will create more favorable conditions to support us, so that Nua village community tourism can develop more services such as: souvenir stalls to serve tourists, connecting domestic and international tours to the village, promoting this new tourism model more to create more livelihoods for ethnic minorities living near the forest.