Quang Ninh advised to make OCOP programme local brand

Friday, June 7, 2019  15:46

A store selling Quang Ninh's One Commune-One Product (OCOP) programme (Photo: VNA)

Quang Ninh (VNA) – Quang Ninh should early issue policies to make the One Commune-One Product (OCOP) programme a brand of the province, and turn the OCOP fair into a tourism product, the provincial committee for new-style rural area building proposed at a conference on June 5. 

The event was held to review the 10-year implementation of the “Vietnamese use Vietnamese goods” campaign, under which the OCOP programme was an important part.

Quang Ninh was the first locality in the country to implement the OCOP programme in 2013, and local OCOP products have been gaining popularity recently. 

The northeastern coastal province has mobilized more than 500 billion VND to support the development of products under the programme. By now 140 organisations have been involved in the OCOP scheme, developing 351 products, with 138 of them winning high-quality rating. 

The OCOP programme has contributed to increasing the prestige of made-by-Vietnam goods in general and Quang Ninh’s farm products in particular. It also helped change local production practice towards commercial scale while facilitating market management. 

Looking back at a decade implementing the “Vietnamese use Vietnamese goods” campaign in Quang Ninh, provincial officials pointed to remarkable changes in local consumers’ habit towards buying more Vietnamese goods and giving priority to high-quality Vietnamese goods when making purchase decisions. 

In the past 10 years, Quang Ninh has organized nearly 200 trade fairs, exhibitions and other trade events featuring Vietnamese goods in general and OCOP products in particular. 

Nguyen Van Huong, head of the province’s steering committee for the “Vietnamese use Vietnamese goods” campaign, said the provincial administration has assisted with the marketing and distribution of OCOP products to shopping malls, supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants and hotels, as well as with the opening of 29 OCOP shops and showrooms in the province. 

However, delegates remarked that packaging and price remain the weak points of Vietnamese goods. 

Deputy director of Quang Ninh’s Department of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thi Hien said as the province borders China, it is easy for Chinese goods to enter the domestic market. She urged measures to tighten the control of cross-border trade. 

The OCOP was initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2008, following the model of Japan’s “One Village, One Product” (OVOP) drive and Thailand’s “One Town, One Product” (OTOP). It is an economic development programme for rural areas focusing on increasing internal power and values, contributing to the implementation of the National Target Programme on New Rural Development for 2016-2020. 

The classifications of goods and services defined in the programme include food (fresh and processed farm produce); beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinking); medicinal herbs (products made from herbal plants); fabric and textiles (products made from cotton and yarn); souvenirs, furniture, and decorations (products made from wood, fibres, rattan, metal, and ceramics); and rural tourism services and sales (services for sightseeing, tourism, study, and research). 

The overall objective of the programme is to develop stable and sustainable forms of production for organisations and businesses (with priority given to developing cooperatives and small- and medium-sized enterprises), towards producing traditional products and improving services with high competitiveness on the domestic and international markets, thus promoting rural economy and national agriculture industrialisation and modernisation. 

As of late April, 60 out of 63 cities and provinces nationwide have built their OCOP frame programme at the provincial level, 30 of which have already completed the programme design and 28 others are collecting feedback before approval. Paticularly, Quang Ninh province has entered the second phase.

Concluding the first stage of the programme from 2013-2016, Quang Ninh developed 210 OCOP products. More than 180 economic establishments and households joined the programme.

 During the second stage, the province will strive to have 250 high-quality OCOP products by 2020, including at least 12 provincial-level products, six others qualified to join the national value chain, and one to two competitive enough in the global market.–VNA