Bustling highland market
The months before Lunar New Year are an opportunity for farmers as well as production and business establishments of agricultural products and OCOP products to promote and link up to consume their products. In mountainous areas, one of the effective consumption channels is to organize agricultural markets and green markets.
Effective agricultural product consumption channel
In mid-December 2024, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hang - the owner of a production and business establishment with more than 7 products recognized as meeting OCOP standards in Do Luong district - was busy with her schedule to participate in fairs.
“We have just completed a 3-day trip to promote our products at the Fair in Tan Lac town, Quy Chau district. Although the retail volume of products at the fair was not as much as the fair in Vinh city, we received quite a large number of wholesale orders. At the same time, participating in the fair also opened up many new and quite useful production ideas,” Ms. Nguyen Thi Hang shared.
At the Tan Lac market held at the end of December 2024, Ms. Luong Thi Hoa, her children and granddaughter from Ke Le village, Chau Hoi commune, came to the fair early. Ms. Hoa said that in Quy Chau district, there are very few markets, only held near Tet and not every year there is a market at a location near her house like this year.
So, knowing there was a fair, she went early to enjoy and buy familiar specialties of her hometown Quy Chau, and to buy products brought from other localities. And at Tan Lac market, she chose to buy home cosmetics made from rustic ingredients at booths from Anh Son, Do Luong, Ky Son districts such as herbal shampoo, organic soap, leaf teas and facial cleansers to beautify the skin...
“Every day, I see a lot of products sold in the market and stores, but I don’t know their origin. Buying products at fairs organized by the State is much more reassuring,” Ms. Hoa added.
Tan Lac market takes place in the last days of December 2024. This is an activity organized by the Provincial Cooperative Union in coordination with the District People's Committee. The scale of the market has 25 booths from production and business establishments of Quy Chau district and other districts, cities and towns in the province; with over 100 typical and unique products, valuable OCOP branded products of localities.
Not only in Quy Chau district, most of the highland districts organize markets at the end of the year to stimulate consumption. For example, in Ky Son district, there is Nam Can border market, Xop Tu market (My Ly). Tuong Duong district has Nga My market, Nhon Mai market. In Con Cuong district, there are 2 markets that have been operating for many years, becoming a traditional feature every time Tet comes and Spring comes. Those are Muong Qua market in Mon Son commune and Muong Chon market in Binh Chuan commune.
Muong Chon market is held in Binh Chuan commune, where the communes on the left bank of Lam river of Con Cuong district meet with some communes of Quy Hop and Tuong Duong districts. Therefore, every time the market takes place, the number of participants is especially large, along with a large number of goods and agricultural products brought and consumed.
Mr. Nguyen Ba Chau - Chairman of the Provincial Cooperative Union said that the market is an activity organized by the Provincial Cooperative Union in coordination with localities to support people to connect and consume agricultural products, especially OCOP standard products to serve the Tet market. The local markets are also activities to benefit from the Campaign "Vietnamese people prioritize using Vietnamese goods", promote trade, connect supply and demand in the collective economic sector, cooperative economy and contribute to building new rural areas in many districts, cities and towns.
Promoting tourism and services through fairs
Fairs and market activities in highland localities not only promote market connections and agricultural product consumption, but through actual activities, they also have the effect of promoting tourism, services and promoting regional cultural identity. For example, at the recent Nam Can border markets (Ky Son), in addition to wholesale agricultural products and culinary services with cultural colors of Vietnam and Laos, there are also performances of brocade weaving and traditional cake making.
Ms. Vu Y Khan in Truong Son village, Nam Can commune has been selling agricultural products and brocades at Nam Can border market for many years. According to her, recently the market has had many new activities: The authorities of both sides have organized more activities to experience traditional embroidery and sticky rice pounding of Mong people, and brocade weaving of Thai people, bringing a lot of excitement to people and tourists. Thanks to these additional activities, the number of visitors to the market has increased, helping traders and farmers consume more agricultural products.
Combining the promotion of agricultural products at fairs and markets with traditional cultural experiences is the orientation in economic development associated with community tourism in Ky Son district. Especially at community tourism spots on the route of Huoi Tu, My Ly, Muong Long, Nam Can... that the district's Tourism Development Project has been deployed since 2022.
Typical agricultural products and OCOP products are also introduced and consumed at community tourism spots, creating highlights for tourists when coming to Ky Son district. In 2024, Ky Son district had more than 3,600 tourists coming in and out of the area, bringing in revenue of more than 2.1 billion VND from food and beverage services, accommodation and shopping for products, mainly agricultural products and handicrafts of local people.
In Plan No. 271/KH-UBND of the Provincial People's Committee in 2024 to implement Directive 08/CT-TTg of the Prime Minister on comprehensive, rapid and sustainable tourism development, it also clearly stated the requirement for localities, agencies and relevant units to proactively and strongly innovate the content and methods of tourism promotion and advertising; focus on developing and exploiting customer market segments according to specialized products in which Nghe An has strengths. In particular, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is specifically assigned to integrate tourism development contents into the Plan to implement the "National Target Program on New Rural Development and OCOP Program" of the province.
And now, many highland localities are encouraging the development of fairs and green markets; thereby stimulating production and consumption, and supporting the development of tourism and services, especially during the Tet and Spring seasons.