The OCOP program was approved by the Prime Minister in Decision 490/2018, and since then, many cities and provinces have had their OCOP products.
At the MM Mega Market supermarket in Ho Chi Minh City’s Thu Duc City, many OCOP agricultural products of Le Gia Company in the Northern Province of Thanh Hoa, fragrant rice of the Mekong Delta Province of An Giang, tea, vermicelli, anchovy sauce, Thap Muoi lotus tea, dried switch, dried grapefruit peel from different regions have been displayed on the shelves for consumers to choose.
According to External Relations Manager of MM Mega Market Tran Kim Nga, products that meet OCOP standards are increasingly popular, so the supermarket decided to put them on sale in the entire system. In particular, in the upcoming Lunar New Year, the supermarket has a plan to sell unique OCOP specialties so that customers who do not return to their hometown to reunite with their families can enjoy their hometown specialties.
Not only in Ho Chi Minh City, many OCOP products are also popular in many provinces and cities; for instance, dragon fruit wine of Ham Duc dragon fruit cooperative in the South-Central Province of Binh Thuan has been known by many domestic and foreign tourists.
Ms. Le Nguyen, Director of Ham Duc Dragon Fruit Cooperative, said that the cooperative was established in 2016 with 17 members. At that time, the consumption of the cooperative's products was low. Therefore, Binh Thuan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has guided the cooperative to participate in the OCOP program.
In addition, the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development also helps the cooperative improve product quality according to regulations and make packaging and labels more attractive.
Moreover, when the product has met the OCOP standard, it has been displayed in many domestic and foreign trade promotion events. Since then, the cooperative can earn annual revenue of about VND2 billion and products have also been exported to many countries, said Ms. Le Nguyen.
In the Mekong Delta Province of Long An, moringa tea products of Vuon Nha Minh (My Garden) Company have also been known by many consumers when being recognized as meeting OCOP standards. Mr. Pham Ngoc Anh Tuan, Director of Nha Minh Garden Company, said that formerly the product was sold very slowly, but when it was recognized as OCOP, he was able to participate in many product promotion programs, moringa tea has become familiar to consumers. From this success, the company decided to expand the tea-growing areas to more than 5ha.
Thanks to the 5-star standard of the OCOP program, green tea and red tea products of Phin Ho tea processing cooperative in the mountainous northern province of Ha Giang, Tai Hoan vermicelli of Tai Hoan vermicelli cooperative in the mountainous northern province of Bac Kan has been introduced to consumers by many reputable e-commerce sites nationwide.
According to Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ho Chi Minh City Dinh Minh Hiep, typical products of the city such as pineapple fish and Can Gio mango are being added to the OCOP program.
As a large city, the city's agricultural products are not diverse and difficult to expand in quantity like many other provinces and cities, but the southern largest city has planned to associate the OCOP program with tourism development.
OCOP products will be introduced to visitors as one of the unique gifts of HCMC. It is even possible to coordinate with the city's tourism industry and travel agencies to convert production and cultivation areas of OCOP specialties into sightseeing destinations for tourists.
Mr. Nguyen Duc Tung, General Secretary of the Vietnam Digital Agriculture Association, analyzed that OCOP products are not only local products, but also they have regional characteristics. Therefore, if done well, it will not only help develop the local economy in terms of production and business but also help develop tourism.
According to the Central National Target Program Coordination Office on New Rural Development, in the coming time, OCOP products will not be online exhibited on e-commerce platforms or at supermarkets, commercial centers, but the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will build an e-commerce channel exclusively for OCOP with full databases, product information, contact addresses.
The trade channel is expected to help OCOP products increase their position in the domestic market, especially since more and more imported agricultural products have been put on stores in Vietnam.
According to many experts, localities with the same soil and climate should coordinate to form large production areas for high-quality products to reduce production costs.
