Tuong Duong focuses on developing OCOP products, increasing the value of local agricultural products

7 3-star OCOP products

Up to now, Tuong Duong district has 7OCOP productshave been recognized, are all typical products of production facilities, households, and cooperatives. OCOP products are gradually affirming their brand and have a certain position in the market, not only for consumers in the province but also reaching out to many other provinces and cities.

OCOP products of Tuong Duong district. Photo: TD

Among them, we must mention Tuong Duong beef jerky of Thao Hao Beef Jerky Production and Trading Cooperative. The facility's products have participated in many trade promotion fairs, promoting products in Ha Tinh, Da Nang, Thanh Hoa, Vinh City and have now signed a product consumption agreement with BigC Supermarket.

Ms. Tran Thi Thao - Head of the Cooperative said: Bo giang is a specialty of the highlands with its own delicious taste and is favored by people in the lowlands. On average, the Cooperative makes 3 tons of meat every day, and in the month before Tet, especially the last month of the year, it consumes about 1 ton. According to Ms. Thao, to make delicious bo giang, you must choose local cows, grade 1 beef. Each cow can only choose 1 ton of meat to make. In particular, in addition to the marinating step that requires a secret, the drying step is very important. The meat is tied with rope to dry in the gentle sun, put in the stove at night, and firewood is burned underneath for many hours to dry. This process lasts continuously for 5 days until the meat is dry and has a delicious taste, then stops.

In addition to producing beef jerky, Ms. Thao also makes pork jerky, smoked pork belly, and Chinese sausage. With products that have been recognized as 3-star OCOP, consumption is quite easy, and the selling price is stable: beef jerky 1,000,000 VND/kg, pork jerky 600,000 VND/kg, smoked pork belly 400,000 VND/kg, Chinese sausage 350,000 VND/kg.

Ms. Tran Thi Thao - Head of Thao Hao Beef Production and Trading Cooperative packages products. Photo: D.C.

Similarly, Ms. Tran Thi Phuong - Head of the Tuong Duong sticky rice wine cooperative said: With the long-standing profession of making fermented rice wine, we were supported by the district to participate in OCOP certification, carry out procedures, register packaging, barcodes, food safety and hygiene, organize trade promotion, promote and introduce products... After being granted the OCOP certificate, from being known only to local consumers, now through promotion channels, Tuong Duong sticky rice wine is present in many places.

According to Ms. Phuong, to maintain and promote the Tuong Duong sticky rice wine brand, the production process requires strictness from the selection of raw materials, ensuring food hygiene and safety... In particular, the secret to making yeast is very important, it is the factor that determines 70% of the success or failure of the finished product. The yeast used to ferment wine is Chinese herbal yeast, washed, fried until golden, ground into fine powder and mixed with rice flour according to a specific ratio and secret. Then, squeeze into balls, ferment for 5-7 days, observe that there are fluffy yeast fibers on the yeast balls, then dry them in the sun or smoke them on a wood stove, after 15 days it can be used. Along with that, the sticky rice used to ferment wine is also carefully selected, it is new sticky rice, has a characteristic aroma, contributing to creating a batch of sweet, delicious wine.

Supply - Demand Connection Forum

According to Mr. Lo Kham Kha - Head of the District's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development: In addition to the products that have achieved 3 stars, including Tuong Duong tomato wedges of the Phong Village Vegetable Production Cooperative (Thach Giam town); Khe Ngau sweet eggplant of the Khe Ngau Village Sweet Eggplant Production and Processing Cooperative, Xa Luong commune; Tuong Duong purple sticky rice wine of the Ha Phuong Clean Product Production, Trading and Processing Cooperative (Thach Giam town); Tuong Duong sausage and beef jerky of the Thao Hao Beef Jerky Production and Trading Cooperative (Thach Giam town); Tuong Duong dried bamboo shoots of the Phong Village Agricultural Product Production, Processing and Trading Cooperative, Tam Hop commune.

The district also developed additional products such as: Tuong Duong black chicken (Tam Hop), Tuong Duong purple sticky rice (Yen Na), super wine (Tam Dinh), fermented purple sticky rice wine (Thach Giam town), green squash (Luu Kien), sour bamboo shoots (Xa Luong), tamarind (Tam Thai); Khe Co community tourism (Tam Dinh)... Currently, the district is guiding facility owners to build profiles, consolidate production facilities, establish cooperatives and cooperative groups to participate in evaluating and classifying OCOP products in 2022.

It can be seen that after its establishment, the steering committee and the executive board of the district have proactively implemented the program effectively and have completed the set targets. The district People's Committee has focused on directing specialized departments, offices, and People's Committees of communes and towns to promote the expansion of production scale and build brands for potential products. At the same time, it has strengthened trade promotion and product consumption, and guided entities to build registration dossiers to participate in the evaluation and classification of OCOP products to enhance the value and create brands for key and typical products of the district.

OCOP products of Tuong Duong district are present at exhibitions and fairs. Photo: TD

Along with that, in the period of 2020-2021, the District People's Committee has allocated the source of new rural construction to support implementation in 2020, the district budget to support in 2021 (total cost of 558,115 million VND) to support the construction of dossiers, design of logos, stamps, labels, trademark registration at the Department of Intellectual Property, support the construction of dossiers to participate in the assessment and classification of OCOP products,...

However, in reality, the scale of the establishments is still mainly small, the products are still rudimentary, the production output is not much, mainly serving at certain times such as holidays and New Year; not producing regularly during the year. While machinery and equipment are still outdated, manual production is still the main thing. The prices of the manufactured products are unstable, because there are no labels, traceability stamps, most of them do not have a brand. In addition, most establishments do not realize the importance, so they have not proactively registered to participate in building OCOP products, promoting products on social networking systems, exhibitions; after the products achieve OCOP, they have not boldly invested in expanding the scale of production, investing in equipment, machinery, etc.

Identifying the OCOP Program as a new and suitable direction to encourage and support small and medium-sized production and business entities in rural areas, in the coming time, the district will continue to promote trade, promote creative start-up activities, form forums connecting supply and demand, contributing to poverty reduction, job creation, and social security in the area.

On the basis of continuing to implement the Project to implement the Program "One Commune One Product" in Tuong Duong district, period 2021-2025, the district registered through the Department of Industry and Trade to put OCOP products on the province's e-commerce platform, continue to support entities to promote products on e-commerce sites inside and outside the province, support facility owners to design logos, stamps, labels, register trademarks; annually organize district-level assessment and classification competitions to participate in provincial-level assessment and classification competitions...

Mr. Nguyen Huu Hien - Vice Chairman of Tuong Duong District People's Committee