After five years of implementing the One Commune One Product (OCOP) Programme, Bac Giang now has 253 starred products, among the top localities with many recognized products. However, for many reasons, some owners do not care about keeping and upgrading their products.
Many products downgraded
Since the end of 2018, Bac Giang has officially implemented the OCOP programme. Thanks to promoting the dissemination of purpose and meaning, and delivering timely guidance and support, the province has attracted more and more participants. In the first year of organizing evaluation and classification (2019), the whole province had 46 products recognized, of which 15 were 4-star products and the rest were 3-star.
The canned longan product of Vifoco Import-Export JSC is selected for national 5-star OCOP evaluation and classification
The province now has 253 products obtaining 3 stars or higher, naming itself in the top provinces and cities with many recognized products. However, despite the large total number, the number of 4-star products is small (currently 31 products) and there are no 5-star products.
In particular, many products have been downgraded or lost stars because they were not summited for evaluation and re-classification. Therefore, although its programme implementation results have always exceeded the set targets, the province did not record any breakthroughs in the total number of products.
Aiming for national 5-star products
According to statistics, in the 2019-2022 period, from the fund of the national target programme on building new rural areas, the province spent more than 11 billion VND (455,200 USD) to support the implementation of the OCOP programme. The sale of the starred products increases by 15% compared to normal ones. The average revenue of 4-star products reaches 4.3 billion VND per product per year, and 3-star products 2.8 billion VND.
The fresh straw mushroom of Nguyen Van Trinh’s household is recognized as a 3-star OCOP product
At the mushroom production facility of Nguyen Van Trinh’s family in Tay village, Tien Luc commune, Lang Giang province, since its straw mushroom was recognized as 3-star OCOP product in 2021, the sale has been favorable, with many businesses committing to purchasing the product. To improve the product’s ranking, early this year, Trinh invested 1.5 billion VND (62,070 USD) to buy two ovens to dry straw mushrooms and is planning to install a line to process vegetarian foods from straw mushroom.
At a number of conferences organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the provincial People’s Committee, many individuals and organizations wondered that despite many advantages and much attention, Bac Giang does not have any products recognized as 5-star OCOP products. This is the “silence” of the programme.
To fix this limitation, since the beginning of the year, the province’s specialized agencies have coordinated with localities to review and select two potential products for the status, including Bac Giang lychee (4-star) and Bac Giang longan (3-star) of Vifoco Import-Export JSC based in Bac Giang city. These are two deeply processed products that have initially approached the international market.
To “support” this work, from the state budget, this year, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development provided 300 million VND (12,400 USD) for businesses to invest in machinery and labels, hire consultants and complete documents.
As the owner, Vifoco Import-Export JSC signed contracts with the lychee and longan material areas meeting GlobalGAP and VietGAP standards, and invested 770 million VND (31,860 USD) to install automatic liquid filling and can seaming lines.
Nguyen Xuan Viet, Chairman and CEO of the company said: “Our goal is to create different products, bearing the own brand of Bac Giang. Along with improving product quality and design, we have a roadmap to bring these two products to more international markets, first of all Thailand and some Southeast Asian countries.”
