Soc Trang: Processing technology greatly elevates OCOP products

Bird’s Nest is a product that accounts for a large quantity in the OCOP product list of many provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region, including Soc Trang. Thanks to boldly applying scientific and technical advances in all stages of production, Quoc Tin Bird’s Nest Company Limited in Ward 1, Vinh Chau Town (Soc Trang) has built a new, quite complete and different technical process for the product, the highlight is the packaging and labels…

Thanks to synchronous investment in the production process, Quoc Tin bird’s nest is in the group of OCOP products with the best consumption in the Soc Trang province market. In addition, the product has been distributed at Coopmart supermarket chains in some neighbouring provinces and cities.

Mr. Tran Quoc Thanh, Director of Quoc Tin Bird’s Nest Co., Ltd. assessed that to create competitiveness for OCOP products, ensuring quality and improving product design is the decisive factor. In fact, at this business, in the early stages of product development, the drying method was mainly by heat, causing the nutritional content of the bird’s nest to be reduced. With support from Soc Trang Provincial Agricultural Extension Center, the business has converted technology to cold dryer and freeze dryer equipment. Thanks to that, the bird’s nest is more beautiful, and shiny, and retains maximum nutritional content.

Currently, Mr. Thanh’s bird’s nest products are available at 13 Coopmart supermarket chains nationwide. With the main raw material source being raw bird’s nests harvested from family farming areas, the business has launched a variety of products processed from bird’s nests. At the same time, the business builds a joint plan to expand consumption markets both domestically and internationally.

Vinh Chau purple onion – typical agricultural products of Soc Trang province have now been approached by businesses, investing in modern machinery and equipment to diversify products. Techpal Soc Trang Co., Ltd. has supported cooperatives and farmers in applying modern machinery and equipment with different functions to process products from purple onions. This business owns product lines such as mesh bag onions, dried onion slices, powdered onions, black onions and onion capsules. Each product has different production technology, from sorting, peeling, washing onions, slicing, and drying…, which helps significantly replace labour and increase output, quality, and product design.

After nearly 4 years of implementation, the National Program “One Commune One Product” (OCOP) in Soc Trang province has attracted strong participation and response from enterprises, production facilities, and business households. In the early stages, production steps were mainly carried out by manual methods. To date, many OCOP entities have invested in improvements and promoted the application of science and technology in production and processing processes. Thereby, increasing the competitiveness of products.

The process of perfecting and consolidating OCOP products is unique to each locality. Furthermore, OCOP product owners are also interested in developing growing areas according to production processes that ensure food safety and hygiene. To date, the entire Soc Trang province has 206 OCOP products. However, products rated with 4 stars and 5 stars are still limited.

According to Ms. Phuong Ngoc Tuyet, Deputy Director of the Rural Development Department of Soc Trang province: OCOP product owners need to invest more in machinery and technological equipment in the product processing process. The Department will coordinate with relevant agencies to support subjects to improve technology and participate in HACCP, and ISO certification… This is the basis for entities to meet the conditions to participate in the re-recognition of OCOP products, as well as participate in upgrading products.

Encouragement and support policies will help OCOP entities proactively apply machinery and technology in production and processing to build effective brands and increase the added value of products.

On the afternoon of September 29, the Center for Agricultural Trade Promotion (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) coordinated with the Central New Rural Coordination Office, The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thua Thien Hue province organised a space to promote and connect OCOP products associated with regional tourism activities. This OCOP product promotion and connection space in Thua Thien Hue province has the participation of more than 40 units, businesses, and typical cooperatives from provinces including Thua Thien Hue, Khanh Hoa, Quang Nam, Bac Ninh, Lang Son, Thai Nguyen….