Building brand of craft village products

(Baonghean) - Developing traditional craft villages is a good condition for tourism development. In the overall tourism development of Nghe An, connecting scenic spots, cultural and historical relics and traditional craft village tourism will contribute to making tourism products richer and more attractive...

We followed Highway 46 following the attractive invitation of the folk song "Who comes back to eat Thanh Chuong pickled mustard/ Stop and taste Nam Dan soy sauce". No one knows since when, the sweet, golden color of that simple dipping sauce has been attached to this land, creating cultural values ​​and irresistible appeal. After many efforts to affirm, in 2009, the traditional soy sauce craft village of Nam Dan was recognized by the People's Committee of Nghe An province, attracting about 250 households to directly produce, creating jobs for more than 500 workers in the whole district. The average revenue is about 22.5 billion VND per year.

Present at Mr. Pham Hai Duong's production facility in Phan Boi Chau block, Nam Dan town - one of the largest soy sauce production places in the craft village. Mr. Duong is also the village's manager, the 4th generationin the family has the tradition of making soy sauce according to the right manual method. With his dynamism, his family's soy sauce bottles have reached out to the market outside the province such as Ho Chi Minh City, Dak Lak, Hanoi... In 2013, Mr. Duong's family's facility sold 25,000 liters of soy sauce to the market, bringing in an average profit of more than 150 million VND. “The facility’s soy sauce products are mainly distributed through agents, the largest of which are agents in Kim Lien (Nam Dan), Vinh City, and consumption peaks during the summer tourist season. In 2013, a group of Singaporean tourists visiting Uncle Ho’s hometown tried Nam Dan soy sauce and they really liked it. After returning home, through a transportation company in Hanoi, those special guests signed a contract with the craft village to export 700 liters of soy sauce to the “lion island,” Mr. Duong excitedly shared. However, through discussions with the craft village’s households and representatives of the Nam Dan Industry and Trade Department, if Nam Dan soy sauce is to truly develop strongly, it needs a collective brand.

Nghe An - a land of talented people not only attracts tourists with historical and cultural relics, fertile lands rich in tradition, but also with traditional craft village tourism products.

At the Vo Kim fish sauce production facility in Nghi Hai ward, workers are meticulously filtering drops of fragrant, salty fish sauce with the taste of the sea into bottles. Vo Kim is a famous fish sauce product far and wide and has a certain place in the hearts of tourists when they come to Cua Lo. Mr. Hoang Van Vo, the owner of the facility, shared: "During the tourist season, many tourists take the tram to buy products right at the facility. During the rest of the year, tourists in Hanoi and other localities who have used the facility's fish sauce products call to order and we will send the products to their homes." Not only the Vo Kim facility, the joy when the products are well received by the market also comes to many villagers when at the end of 2013, the Hai Giang I fish sauce brand was granted an exclusive industrial design patent. Mr. Hoang Duc Thuong - Head of the craft village excitedly said: "The Hai Giang I block Party cell has issued a resolution emphasizing that households doing the craft must have the responsibility to supervise and help each other develop together. At the same time, it is strictly forbidden to use chemicals to produce fish sauce, and must ensure that the fish sauce is distilled from the natural fish ripening process."

In addition to the above products, traditional craft villages in Nghe An have also affirmed many attractive tourism products for tourists such as brocade of the Thai ethnic group in Hoa Tien (Chau Tien, Quy Chau), Quynh Di fish sauce (Quynh Luu) ... The above results also demonstrate the strong vitality and practical effectiveness when Resolution 06 of the Provincial Party Committee, term XVII, on "Developing industry, small-scale industry and building craft villages in the period 2011-2020" comes into life. The resolution directs that in Nghe An province, we strive to increase the production value of rural small-scale industry to over 3,500 billion VND, of which the export turnover reaches 18 million USD, building a total of 150 craft villages by 2015 and 180-200 villages by the end of 2020. Implementing the resolution, Nghe An province has had many support and incentive policies to meet the development needs of craft villages. Therefore, according to statistics of Nghe An Province Cooperative Union, by the end of 2013, the whole province had 126 craft villages, production value reached 3,000 billion VND, of which export reached 16 million USD.

According to the assessment of comrade Tran Van Huy - Head of Policy Consulting Department of Nghe An Cooperative Alliance, although craft villages in the province have developed strongly, the products of craft villages aimed at tourism in Nghe An are still poor, there are no typical products. The main reason is still due to the quality, design and especially the promotion of the products are still limited.

Discussing this issue, Mr. Tran Dinh Huong - Chairman of Nghe An Cooperative Union affirmed: “Developing craft villages associated with tourism is a right direction. However, to achieve high efficiency, first of all, the province needs to have a close coordination mechanism between the Cooperative Union, the Department of Industry and Trade, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, related sectors and especially local authorities to make the development of craft villages associated with tourism, becoming a content in the tourism development strategy. At the same time, attach investment policies, preserve and develop industries with the work of building brands, promoting and consuming products. In the tours, it is also necessary to build destinations that are traditional craft villages and bring craft village products to tourist attractions to introduce to tourists”.

Thanh Duy