OCOP program for 2021-2025 period creates a new impetus for the rural economy

One Commune One Product (OCOP) is a key program for rural economic development towards promoting internal resources and adding value. OCOP is also an important solution and task in the effective and sustainable implementation of National Target Program on New Rural Development for the 2021-2025 period.

Agricultural products of Phu Giao district obtain OCOP certification from 3 stars to 4 stars.

To increase product value

The OCOP program has unlocked the potential and strengths of each locality in specialty products, rural industries, and combined with advantages in production conditions, raw material areas and traditional culture to increase product value.

Over three years from 2018 to 2020, the whole country has more than 145 OCOP products that have effectively exploited local raw materials, associated with geographical indications. After being recognized, OCOP products have added values, helped the owner to increase production scale and revenue. Evaluation results of localities show that 60.7% OCOP owners with 3 stars or more have an average revenue increase of 17.6%/year; selling price of their products after being officially recognized averagely increases by 12.2%. In particular, the products proposed to be assessed and classified at the national level all have grown in revenue by 20-40%.

Binh Duong Province directed to intensify information and communication to all levels, sectors, and people in the province about the OCOP Program, considering OCOP an important economic development program of the community, especially for rural areas. The Provincial People's Committee directed competent branches and localities to support and create favourable conditions for participants of the program to strengthen, upgrade, standardize and improve OCOP product quality to meet the requirements.

As a result, in 2021, the Provincial People's Committee recognized 28 OCOP products; in which, 20 products achieved 3 stars and 8 products achieved 4 stars. OCOP products must meet food safety and quality standards and regulations; have diverse and environmentally friendly designs and packaging in accordance with the requirements of the market. Some large enterprises and supermarkets have placed orders, prioritized OCOP products for their distribution system, which have stable consumption channels.

To stimulate the rural economy

The objective of this program is to develop OCOP products in order to unlock the potential and advantages of rural areas, improve people's income, and contribute to the restructuring of agricultural sector in association with the development of handicrafts, industries, services and rural tourism; to facilitate sustainable rural economic growth by increasing the application of digital transformation and circular economy, preserving cultural values, managing resources, conserving biodiversity, landscapes and rural environment, contributing to building new rural areas effectively and sustainably.

To implement the five-year socio-economic development plan 2021-2025 on continuing to build "comprehensive, advanced and sustainable" new rural areas, one of the important contents for sustainable development of the rural economy is enhancing the OCOP Program in association with branding, creating favourable conditions for product consumption.

Le Thanh Tam, Deputy Director of Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the OCOP program is a program aimed at each commune, which will create at least one or more key products with comparative advantages, develop branding, linking to expand production and consumption of the products.

This is considered a stimulus for a thriving economy in rural areas, and at the same time contributes to building the province's new rural areas effectively and sustainably.

In 2021-2025 period, this program will continue to be the key solution to promote rural economic development in a sustainable way, effectively and synchronously.

Specifically, the program will implement mechanisms, policies and solutions to improve product quality, capacity to organize production, processing, and trade according to the OCOP product value chain; prioritize the development of products with local advantages, arouse the potential, creativity and pride of the population, heighten value of the community in developing OCOP products associated with the construction of new rural areas, especially developing the community-based tourism in rural areas.

Besides, the program also perfects products according to standards, technical regulations, packaging, labels associated with traceability, local brands, and trademarks; increase the application of digital technology in product management to step by step promote the OCOP brands of Binh Duong in the domestic market and export markets...

The subjects of the OCOP Program are cooperatives, cooperative groups, small and medium-sized enterprises, farms, and households that have business registration. For the group of community-based tourism products and services, eco-tourism and tourist attractions, the subjects include the above subjects and unions/associations, operating centres, or equivalent organizations.

Products are classified into 6 groups, including: Group of food, group of beverages, group of medicinal herbs and products from medicinal herbs, group of handicrafts, group of ornamental animals, group of community tourism services, ecotourism, and tourist attractions.

Some tasks of the program are to organize production in association with the development of specific raw material areas; standardize processes, and develop OCOP products along the value chain, in line with the advantages of production conditions and market requirements; improve the capacity and operational efficiency of OCOP entities; advertising, trade promotion, connecting supply - demand; improve the capacity of the program implementation support system; enhance digital transformation.

Reported by T.Phuong, P.Hau - Translated by Ngoc Huynh

• Trade fair on northern rural industrial products opens (17/05)
• Training on tax management for non-agricultural land use held (17/05)
• Pandora Group breaks ground on its $150 million jewelry factory in Binh Duong (17/05)
• Market connection for OCOP products and typical rural industries of the province (17/05)
• Relocation of southern businesses to the north: Resolve worries, support business development (17/05)
• Central bank asks for close supervision of gold market (16/05)
• Ensuring feasibility, consensus in removing some enterprises, converting their functions (16/05)
• Many problems in social housing development need to be resolved (16/05)