Concerns about output of craft village products

(Baonghean) - In addition to difficulties in capital and lack of production materials... craft villages in our province also have to face the lack of market information, product designs, and competitiveness; product promotion and brand building are still weak and the cultural identity factor in traditional craft village products is not given due importance, which has affected the sustainable development of each craft village.

Currently, the whole province has 126 craft villages recognized by the Provincial People's Committee, and 285 villages with crafts recognized by the District People's Committees. Craft village activities are quite diverse, with many products being local strengths such as soy sauce, tapioca starch (Nam Dan), sticky rice wine (Nghi An), Van Phan fish sauce (Dien Chau), Thanh Luong blacksmithing (Thanh Chuong), incense (Quy Chau)... Craft villages have created jobs for about 40,000 workers with a stable income of over 10 million VND/person/year, contributing positively to the goal of hunger eradication, poverty reduction, shifting the economic structure of agriculture to small-scale industry, and contributing to building a new rural face. However, most of the products of craft villages are still monotonous in design, and the consumption market is not stable (lack of long-term production and processing contracts); Not yet combining the application of machinery and equipment, searching for markets, business partners... as well as not yet building a quality management system at the facility, so the economic value is low.

Product packaging at Duc Phong Company Limited. Photo: Quynh Lan

Ba Ba blacksmith village (Hamlet 5, Thanh Luong Commune, Thanh Chuong) was recognized by the Provincial People's Committee as a traditional craft village in 2011; currently, the craft village has 30 professional households and 40 seasonal households, with an average income of 6 - 10 million VND/2 workers/month. There was a time when many blacksmiths went out of business, the reason being that consumers were "overwhelmed" by the massive appearance of imported knives and scissors with beautiful designs and no rust... But after using them, consumers returned to the products of this blacksmith village because of their quality. In Thanh Luong, there is little land, so the blacksmiths of Ba Ba craft village are now almost always on fire all year round. However, finding a sustainable way for the craft village is still a difficult problem. Mr. Vo Trong Niem, in Hamlet 5, Thanh Luong Commune - who is considered the "artisan" of the village, specializes in producing chisels and cylindrical blocks for carpentry, products with his family's own engraved symbols are available throughout the South and the North, said: "The blacksmithing profession is only enough to make a living, it cannot grow rich, because the main products are agricultural tools, so it must follow the agricultural season, and must produce sparingly. On the other hand, the scale of production of small households, following orders from wholesalers, is often forced to lower prices. Except for a few skilled households producing high-quality products, most households in the village still stick to popular products, with limited designs and forms, lacking competitiveness, so they have not penetrated the high-end household goods market."

The soy sauce production profession in Nam Dan Town was recognized as a craft village in 2010. Currently, there are 30 households participating in professional soy sauce production, reaching tens of thousands of liters each year. In 2012, Nam Dan soy sauce of Sa Nam Cooperative was voted as a typical rural industrial product of the Northern region. However, the product does not have any consumption connection. Currently, households mainly take care of consumption, there is no source to collect products and promote them to the market. On the other hand, local people still have the habit of marketing products in the traditional way, displaying them on rudimentary homemade shelves on the sidewalk, soy sauce bottles covered with dust from the road, causing many customers who know or have been introduced to Nam Dan soy sauce specialties to intend to buy them for use or as gifts, but are hesitant about the quality of food hygiene and safety. Mr. Pham Hai Duong - Chairman of Sa Nam Cooperative said: “Nam Dan soy sauce products have been consumed in many provinces and cities across the country such as Hanoi, Dak Lak, Binh Duong, Dong Nai... but are still mainly consumed through ordering channels "familiar" and by local people sending relatives living there to sell on their behalf. The rest are sold at kiosks along the road in Nam Dan town and a small number at tourist attractions in the district. Currently, there is no business or company standing up as the main distribution channel for the product. Because Nam Dan soy sauce has not yet established collective brand protection, there are currently many private establishments in other localities producing soy sauce with fake labels as "Nam Dan soy sauce", confusing consumers and affecting the reputation as well as the economy of craft villages"...

Although not yet recognized as a craft village, the cassava starch production profession in Nam Xuan commune (Nam Dan) has appeared for a decade now and is bringing a good income to nearly 30 households following the profession. Mr. Nguyen Huu Thuan - Head of the Agriculture Department of Nam Xuan commune said: Currently, the whole commune has 12 hectares of cassava growing on hilly land, semi-mountainous areas; each year harvests 160 - 200 tons of tubers, producing 35 - 40 tons of dry starch. With a wholesale price of 100,000 VND/kg, a retail price of 120,000 VND/kg, each crop, households also earn a net profit of 20 - 50 million VND. Before 2010, the cassava growing area of ​​the whole commune was 22 - 25 hectares, but in the past 3 years, the area has decreased to only nearly 12 hectares because the output market is unstable, there are years when there is too much unsold goods, so people switch to growing jasmine. One of the reasons for the unstable output is that people have not invested in beautiful packaging, but are still using plastic bags tied with rough rubber bands; they have not sought to connect with businesses to get stable consumption. In 2013, officials from the district's Department of Industry and Trade also surveyed production households to find a direction to build a collective brand for Nam Xuan cassava starch products, but so far there has been no movement...

The lack of sustainable output as in the above-mentioned craft villages illustrates a common reality in most craft villages today. In general, craft villagers in the province are heavily dependent on private traders and are often passive and confused when the market is difficult. In addition, in craft villages today, there is a surplus of unskilled labor, but a serious shortage of skilled labor. A part of the young generation is no longer interested in the traditional profession. Meanwhile, the development of human resources in craft villages such as vocational training, vocational training, production consulting, business in the field of rural industries... has not received due attention from local authorities. The shortage of skilled human resources has seriously affected the quality of products. Most traditional products require sophistication, especially in the current fiercely competitive market economy, many craft villages have not met the demand, leading to the gradual loss of traditional markets...

To improve the quality of craft village products, the Provincial People's Committee annually allocates funds for industrial promotion and trade promotion activities. Accordingly, the Industrial Promotion and Industrial Development Consulting Center will carry out activities such as propaganda, building craft villages; vocational training; developing consumer markets, building product brands; supporting equipment investment and transferring science and technology. One of the important steps to increase the consumption of rural industrial products is organizing brand promotion. Every year, the amount of funds allocated from the industrial promotion fund for this content is from 5 - 7%; supporting craft villages participating in fairs in the province, in the country and in the region from 50 - 100% of the rental fee for displaying products. In 2014, the Industrial Promotion Center advised the Provincial People's Committee to decide to support 51 projects, with a total budget of 3,342.7 million VND. The main focus is on supporting the construction of technical demonstration models, technology transfer; supporting the purchase of equipment and production tools to serve the development of craft villages and craft villages in difficult areas, underdeveloped small-scale industries... Regarding the content of supporting participation in domestic and international fairs and exhibitions for rural industrial establishments, in early 2014 there were positive changes, the project was approved to support 92.7 million VND for Duc Phong Company Limited, representing the bamboo and rattan industry to participate in the Ambiente International Fair in the Federal Republic of Germany.

The province's target by 2015 is to have 318 craft villages and 150 villages with crafts. In particular, the province focuses on maintaining and developing traditional craft villages, introducing new crafts; developing crafts according to the strengths of labor and resources in each locality. To achieve the above target, the Provincial People's Committee directs vocational training facilities to train 9,000 to 10,000 people in the small-scale industry sector each year, ensuring that by 2015, 60-80% of the labor force in craft villages will be trained, creating regular jobs for 35,000 to 40,000 workers. Prioritize the development of traditional crafts, crafts that exploit the potential of land, labor, and use local raw materials; Vocational training for rural workers should be closely linked to job creation, labor restructuring, and promoting hunger eradication and poverty reduction in rural areas. However, the most important issue is the output for craft village products, which seems to be a major concern without a satisfactory solution.

Ngoc Anh