Yen Thanh (Nghe An) enhances the value of typical agricultural products

Increase the value of Yen Thanh oranges

Treeoranges from Doai communeThe golden heart has been attached to Dong Thanh land for more than ten years now. From small-scale planting in home gardens, the orange growing area here has now been expanded to over 130 hectares, with 78 households participating in production, of which 70 hectares are harvested, each year the output reaches 900 tons, bringing in an economic value of about 20 billion VND.

From the economic efficiency that orange trees bring,Dong Thanh communehas chosen orange trees as the local key product and encouraged orange growers to aim to build clean, quality products with high competitiveness in the market.

Xa Doai orange products in Dong Thanh commune. Photo: Thai Duong

Currently, orange trees are also considered the main product of many hill communes of Yen Thanh district, the intensive cultivation area has been expanded to nearly 300 hectares, each hectare brings in an income of 300 million VND/year.

To build a brand as well as gradually affirm the real value of Yen Thanh oranges, in recent years, orange growers have been aware of product quality to create a brand, accordingly, applying technical processes and investing in care play an important role.

Notably, in mid-October 2019, Yen Thanh district had 5 communes certified for registration by the Department of Intellectual Property.geographical indication of Vinh orangeincluding: Minh Thanh, Trung Thanh, Nam Thanh, Dong Thanh and Xuan Thanh. The expansion of the geographical indication of Vinh oranges is an opportunity for Yen Thanh district to continue to develop orange trees in a sustainable commodity direction.

Yen Thanh oranges grown in Dong Thanh commune have beautiful appearance and good quality. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Many products participate in the OCOP program

Along with Yen Thanh oranges, hill chickens have recently been one of the options that the district's agricultural sector has oriented to develop products to participate in the OCOP program. In fact, this model is being maintained and replicated by communes in the semi-mountainous area to affirm the brand, including Quang Thanh commune.

With a large natural land area, mainly hills and mountains, promoting the available potential of land and labor, in recent years, Quang Thanh has chosen hill chicken as the main product and has successfully built the VietGAP chicken brand associated with product consumption linkage for people.

From small-scale farming based on traditional experience, the locality has now formed a concentrated farming area on a commodity scale, applying biosafety farming methods. In addition, the commune has also established a chicken farming cooperative with 20 participating members, bringing the output to nearly 300 tons of clean chicken meat per year.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Tien - Chairman of Quang Thanh Commune People's Committee

For the people of My Thanh commune, honey has become a key product. Currently, the local government is completing the dossier to grant a certificate for the Trang Ke honey brand.

Taking advantage of the hilly commune, with large forest cover and rich variety of wild flowers, more than 160 households here have been engaged in beekeeping for honey for a long time. Up to now, the whole commune has had over 1,500 honey bee hives, supplying the market with 5 to 8 tons of honey each year. This is the main source of income for many households doing this job.

Harvesting rice in the fields of Xuan Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district. Photo: Xuan Hoang

With over 12,000 hectares of annual rice production, the district's agricultural sector has strengthened linkages along the value chain, creating large model fields producing high-quality commercial rice varieties.

Along with that, it is necessary to encourage cooperatives, companies and enterprises to research, select and produce products that are highly competitive in the market, contributing to the development of the rural economy in the direction of endogenous and added value. Among them, Vinh Hoa Science and Technology Company Limited - Vinh Thanh commune with Vinh Hoa herbal rice tea; herbal rice nutritional powder; herbal rice flakes... Especially the product "herbal rice tea"Extracted from rice plants and herbal purple rice grains, recognized as OCOP products, classified as 3-star products.

Straw mushroom products, one of the main products of Yen Thanh rice district. Photo: Thai Duong

Currently, the district has 18 key products, belonging to 6 product groups including food, beverages, herbs, souvenirs - interior - decoration, fabrics, garments and rural tourism services. Currently, 7 products have registered for quality declaration and intellectual property protection. The whole district currently has 11 organizations and more than 200 households producing local strengths.

Based on 18 existing key products, Yen Thanh district has selected typical products, planned a roadmap to build products participating in OCOP, striving to be ranked 3-4 stars, and moving towards 5 stars.

Based on 18 existing key products, Yen Thanh district has selected typical products, planned a roadmap to build products participating in OCOP, striving to be ranked 3-4 stars, and moving towards 5 stars.

Yen Thanh town achieves civilized urban status. Photo: Thai Duong

In addition, the district also produces many valuable specialty products such as wild duck, Duc Thanh black apple snail, Yen Thanh eel, Tan Thanh pineapple, Yen Thanh rice, Gam market wet cake - Xuan Thanh commune; Vinh Hoa square sticky rice cake - Hop Thanh commune, edible mushrooms and medicinal herbs...

Besides the positive signals, the implementation of the program "One commune one product" in Yen Thanh district is also facing certain difficulties when there are not many truly outstanding production models to replicate, the system of enterprises and cooperative economy is not yet strong, joint ventures are still limited, the role of supporting farmers in organizing production and product consumption is not well performed; production is on a scattered scale, laborers mostly work based on experience, passing on their profession, rarely go through training, the product consumption market is not stable; agricultural products and items have not been processed into many diverse products, mainly in raw form, without beautiful product packaging designs, the technology level is mainly manual...

Mr. Nguyen Van Duong - Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Committee