On March 18, in Can Tho, a very notable event took place: the Consultation Workshop on perfecting legal policies to build Vietnamese agricultural product brands, chaired by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam.
It is worth noting that building an agricultural product brand is a big deal, having a huge and direct impact on export turnover and the rice pot of each person. In the context, up to 90% of Vietnam's agricultural products are still exported in raw form, with export prices lower than similar products from many other countries - according to information from Mr. Tran Cong Thang - Director of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agricultural and Rural Development.
In particular, up to 80% of agricultural export products have not yet built a brand, do not have their own logo or label, and have not fully participated in the global value chain.
And only 2/13 key national agricultural products have been registered for protection in Vietnam, including: Vietnam Rubber Certification Mark (owned by Vietnam Rubber Association) and Vietnam Rice (owned by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development).
The remaining products such as coffee, shrimp, tra fish... are still under construction.
Regarding the delay in building brands for agricultural products, in the past, we have had many painful lessons about Vietnamese agricultural product brands being taken away in foreign markets.
Typically, Phu Quoc fish sauce was used by companies in Thailand on their fish sauce products exported to the US, Australia and Europe; Phan Thiet fish sauce was registered in the US; Buon Ma Thuot coffee was registered in China; Dak Lak coffee was registered in France...
The most recent case was the ST25 rice of Labor Hero Ho Quang Cua being registered for exclusive protection by a foreign entity, the enterprise had to spend 4 years to handle it to protect itself. And Mr. Ho Quang Cua concluded, "It was a 4-year course full of hardship and expense."
Regarding the ST25 rice case, in yesterday's conference, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam surprised many people when he said, "I had to apologize to Labor Hero Ho Quang Cua for many shortcomings in my leadership work."
And not just apologizing or taking responsibility, Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam also showed his determination when he said that Vietnam currently has two things that "must start doing immediately, not waiting any longer because it has been too long".
The first thing is to build agricultural product brands to protect the value of their products; starting with standards, regulations, and traceability. The second thing is to build a value chain; from seed sources to products, through the national unit for product quality management, the Department of Intellectual Property, etc.
Hopefully, after this conference, the story of building a brand for Vietnamese agricultural products will enter a new chapter. So that from now on, there will be no more words of “I had to apologize to Labor Hero Ho Quang Cua” or “bloody lessons”!
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