The "star upgrading" associated with connecting the consumption of existing 3-star OCOP products in Loc Ha (Ha Tinh) is very necessary, but is currently facing many difficulties.
Tam Anh sesame cake of Tam Anh Bakery (Thong Nhat village, Ich Hau commune) is a product that meets 3-star OCOP standards in 2020. This is a product that is considered promising with good quality, beautiful design, ensuring food safety, and is highly appreciated by consumers.
However, this production facility is still leaving open the possibility of building 4-star standard products. The main reason is due to limitations in resources, production space, connection to consumer markets...
Workers at Tam Anh Bakery (Ich Hau) are producing sesame cakes that meet 3-star OCOP standards.
Mr. Phan Van Do - Owner of Tam Anh Bakery shared: "To have a 4-star OCOP product, we have to invest about 800 - 900 million VND more (currently invested nearly 2 billion VND) to purchase machinery, increase automation, reduce labor, and reduce production costs.
We also need to expand our production and business premises from the current 400 m2 to over 3,000 m2 and train 10-15 skilled workers on site. However, resources are very limited so it is difficult to implement. Therefore, the facility really wants to be given maximum conditions in terms of premises, access to credit sources, and support in connecting to the market."
Workers at Ly Uy peanut oil production facility (Thach My) bottle the product after distillation.
Currently, most of the production facilities with products that have met the 3-star OCOP standard in Loc Ha are not interested in "upgrading the star" because there are many problems. Many facility owners reflect that although they really want to spread their brand, increase competitiveness, and develop 4-star or even 5-star products, some products are not yet promoted, connected, and linked for consumption as expected.
In addition, to "upgrade the star", each product must invest 400 - 800 million VND to improve the production line in a specialized direction, create a breakthrough in product quality, improve the design in a unique direction... while the resources of the facilities are still limited.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Trung (owner of Ngoc Diep squid facility in Hoa Thanh village, Thach Kim commune) shared: “The development of products towards 4-star OCOP standards and increasing consumption capacity is facing difficulties due to the shortage of raw materials (fresh, high-quality squid), not enough to meet production requirements. On the other hand, to expand production and improve product quality, we need more investment resources, but currently there are no preferential loan policies, and access to credit channels is difficult.”
Booth displaying Ngoc Diep dried squid products and OCOP products of Loc Ha district at fairs.
Up to now, Loc Ha has 11 products that meet 3-star standards (40% of which can be developed into 4-star standards) and all have enjoyed provincial and district policies on building brand identity, packaging printing, training, trade promotion... However, currently there are no products that meet 4-star standards, some products after meeting standards have not really developed, have not increased production value, and have limited output.
The reason for the difficulties and the lack of interest of people in "upgrading the star" is determined to be due to the complicated developments of the COVID-19 epidemic a few years ago, most products encountered difficulties in trading, promoting and consuming products. Many establishments, when meeting the standards, were not active in promoting their image, conducting trade promotions, and had not diversified their sales. The products that had met the standards were not different or outstanding compared to similar products on the market...
The functional departments and branches guide the production facility of Thanh Tuan Sim Sticky Rice Wine (Hong Loc) to label products that meet 3-star OCOP standards and promote the brand.
To "raise the stars" of OCOP products associated with expanding the market and product consumption, in addition to increasing propaganda, encouragement and motivation, Loc Ha district will increase companionship and support for production establishments in promoting and advertising products, participating in fairs, building display booths, proposing credit institutions to support interest rates...
In particular, Loc Ha district is prioritizing the allocation of resources to implement the support level for 5-star OCOP products (50 million VND/product), 4-star (40 million VND/product), 3-star (30 million VND/product) and support for land rental, store rental, construction, and purchase of OCOP product display equipment (30 million VND/store/year) from 2021 to 2025...
The Council for Evaluation, Scoring and Classification of OCOP Products of Loc Ha district will score and decide to recognize 2 products as meeting 3-star standards in May 2023.
Mr. Phan Ba Ninh - an officer of the Office of New Rural Development in Loc Ha district informed: To improve the quality of OCOP products, aiming to achieve 4-star and 5-star standards associated with production development and product consumption, we will continue to support management training, marketing skills training, improve sales capacity and encourage establishments to proactively participate in training courses, introduce and promote their products.
Functional departments, branches and local authorities will also continue to encourage and accompany production facilities to overcome difficulties, continue to improve product quality, expand production and proactively seek partners for consumption cooperation."
Tien Phuc
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