OCOP implementation should be seriously taken into account

On the morning of March 23, in Hanoi, the Central Steering Committee of the National Target Program on New Rural Construction cooperated with the Hanoi People's Committee to hold a national conference to review the program “One Commune, One Product” (OCOP) for the period of 2018-2020.

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has emphasized the OCOP implementation should be taken thoroughly in assessing and recognizing the products. That may negatively affect the branding of OCOP products.

Long term program

Deputy Prime Minister assessed that, after nearly 10 years of simultaneous nationwide implementation, the National Target Program on new rural development has achieved many important results. OCOP program has contributed to those successes based on the strengths and advantages of the indigenous products.

Mr. Dung said that by the end of 2018, less than 30% of central provinces and cities have implemented the program and currently 63/63 provinces have implemented the OCOP program. He also indicated that in the future, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) will coordinate with other ministries and sectors in completing the Government’s dossiers to submit to the National Assembly for approving the investment in the program for 2021-2025.

Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that it is necessary to define the OCOP program as the key long–term program in the rural economic development program and it should be prioritized in rural economic development strategy.

He also proposed that 6 product groups should be invested, with special attention to indigenous products that will help to improve the economy and the local tourism. During the implementation, the OCOP program should be implemented thoroughly  to comply with the law and the demands of the global, regional and domestic market as well as promoting the advantages and potentials of localities.

Overcome the limitations

The OCOP program revealed a number of shortcomings and limitations. For instance, the localities’ initiative is still limited. Some localities seem to run after achievements, especially not relying on the advantages and strengths of their special products; not paying enough attention to solutions for practical support OCOP entities, especially improving capacity in organizing, managing, processing and trading products; or only interested in designing, packaging, but not the quality factors associated with consumer demand.

Trade promotion activities are fragmented, lack synchronization, have not created outstanding and unique highlights to create images and change consumers' perception of OCOP products, OCOP Vietnam brand. The capacity of OCOP economic organizations is still modest, the management and development of the value chain associated with the local raw material areas of OCOP products are facing difficulties.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the XIII Congress of the Party has set out the task of implementing strategic breakthroughs to create an environment to mobilize resources for development investment, production, and business, to improve the quality of economy, in which the relationship between growth and development, between economic development and social progress and equity.

The promotion of the OCOP program plays an important role in rural economy and rural development , the nucleus to promote products with high quality, large volume and high added value. Thereby, promoting the significant development of the rural economy, the lives of people in rural areas will be improved.

Nearly 4,500 OCOP products received 3-star recognition

Currently, 59 localities have assessed and classified their products, of which 57 localities have officially recognized the results. In particular, according to statistics of the Central New Rural Coordination Office, there are 4,469/6,210 (accounting for 72%) of the products participating in the program are recognized to have achieved 3 stars or more (1.86 times higher than the target of the period 2018 - 2020). National OCOP Council is organizing evaluation and rating for 43 potential 5-star OCOP products registered by localities.

The localities have organized 66 fairs on OCOP products (at provincial and district levels) with over 10,000 stalls; 1,016 contracts, memoranda of cooperation between OCOP entities and commercial units have been signed, in which, 354 products have been stably distributed in supermarkets and some local supermarkets.

OCOP products are from cooperatives (38.3%), enterprises (27.5%), manufacturers (31.5%) and a few are from cooperative groups. These institutions also contributed up to 16.5% of the total capital of 22,845 billion VND to implement the OCOP program.

After being recognized, OCOP products have added value, contributing to increase production scale and revenue. The assessment results showed that 60.7% of OCOP subjects achieving 3 stars or more having an average increase of 17.6%/year in revenue; The selling prices of products after being officially recognized increased by 12.2% on average.

Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong commented: “After 3 years, we review this program, the point to be proud of is that all the goals have been archived. First of all, we have created a breakthrough in awareness of production, rural economy to the whole political system to the people”.

He said that many OCOP-stared products have outstanding quality. The number of products with 3 or more star standards reaching nearly 4,500 indicates the success of the program in phase 1.