Thai Thuy: Developing OCOP products

Products of Vavi Agricultural Chemicals and Trade Service Cooperative (An Dinh village, Thuy Van commune) are known and trusted by many people.

Number of OCOP products increased

In 2000, after learning about the experience and techniques of growing mushrooms from some effective mushroom growing models in Dong Nai, Mr. Cao Huy Thuyet, Van Don village, Hong Dung commune, decided to invest in growing commercial mushrooms. He confided: I was the first mushroom grower in the commune. Realizing that my hometown had an excess of straw, I took advantage of this source of raw materials to produce mushrooms. At first, I only tried to make more than 100 bags of mushroom spawn, mainly for retail sale locally, and the economic efficiency was better than expected. The success of consecutive mushroom growing seasons created the premise for me to expand 5 mushroom growing areas with an area of over 1,000m2 ^. I mainly grow wood ear mushrooms, gray oyster mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, button mushrooms... which are easy to grow, easy to care for, and have quite high economic value. The products are mainly consumed in the markets of the Northwestern provinces and wholesale markets in Hanoi . Every year, I sell 30 tons of fresh mushrooms of all kinds at a price of 30,000 VND/kg. In addition, I also produce mushroom spawn to supply the market. In 2024, with the support of the locality and the authorities of Thai Thuy district, my mushroom products were certified and ranked as 3-star OCOP products. Being recognized as OCOP products not only affirms the quality of the products but also helps the facility expand its consumption market.

Also in 2024, Vavi Agricultural and Trade Service Cooperative (An Dinh village, Thuy Van commune) has a tea bag product of Solanum procumbens that meets the 3-star OCOP standard. Currently, the Cooperative is one of the typical cooperatives in building OCOP products in the locality. Previously, in 2023, the Cooperative had a product of perilla tea bags that was recognized as a 3-star OCOP product. Mr. Dao Huu Nghi, Director of the Cooperative, said: Perilla tea bags and Solanum procumbens tea bags recognized as 3-star OCOP are the driving force for the Cooperative to constantly upgrade and improve, aiming to provide the best quality products to consumers. Aiming for sustainable development, the Cooperative has cooperated with households in the commune to grow Solanum procumbens, Perilla, Basil, Lotus... to have a source of raw materials for production. At the same time, it signed contracts to grow raw materials with a number of households in the highland communes of Hoa Binh province to expand the medicinal plant area. Thanks to strict implementation of production processes and ensuring food safety, after 7 years of establishment, the cooperative now has more than 10 products such as herbal tea, shampoo, and bath soap, all of which are complete in terms of labeling, quality, and have codes, barcodes, and traceability stamps. Therefore, the products are known and trusted by many people.

According to statistics from the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Thai Thuy district, in 2024, in addition to mushrooms and tea bags of Solanum procumbens, the district has products of yellow sticky rice from Thuy Ninh commune, fragrant sticky rice from Thuy Duyen commune, Thuyen Quan sticky rice wine from Son Ha commune, and Diem Dien fish sauce of Diem Dien Trading Seafood Joint Stock Company that are evaluated and ranked as 3-star and 4-star OCOP products. Currently, the district has 44 products recognized as meeting 3-star and 4-star OCOP standards.

Support to upgrade OCOP products

Being recognized as meeting 3-star and 4-star OCOP standards helps Thai Thuy agricultural products gain a solid foothold in the market. To improve the level of OCOP products, localities have supported cooperatives and business households with concentrated production areas; promoted clean production models according to the value-added chain, applied advanced science and technology in production and business; and strictly implemented food safety regulations to improve product quality and production efficiency. Mr. Vu Huu Nam, Vice Chairman of Thuy Van Commune People's Committee, said: The commune has 4 3-star and 4-star OCOP products of Vavi Agricultural and Service Cooperative and Gotafarm Agricultural and Chemical Cooperative. In the past time, the commune has paid attention to supporting entities with OCOP products such as creating conditions for building raw material growing areas with an area of over 2 hectares; Coordinate with credit institutions to create conditions for OCOP entities to access preferential capital sources, thanks to which cooperatives have boldly invested in expanding scale and improving product quality.

Also supporting OCOP product owners with stable raw material sources, linking along the value chain to ensure supply to the market, Mr. Dinh Ba Luong, Chairman of the People's Committee of Son Ha commune shared: In 2024, the commune will have Thuyen Quan sticky rice wine products meeting 3-star OCOP standards. To overcome difficulties and support OCOP owners in developing raw material areas, the commune has directed cooperatives to plan a sticky rice production area with an area of about 100 hectares, ensuring 180 tons of sticky rice/year. In the raw material area, infrastructure is invested synchronously, including main traffic routes, intra-field traffic in the production area, and irrigation.

To improve and further develop OCOP products, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Thai Thuy district has guided and urged localities to promote propaganda and raise awareness of the OCOP program; coordinate training and guide subjects to prepare documents to participate in evaluating and ranking OCOP products; train OCOP subjects on digital transformation, innovation in production organization forms, management skills, sales marketing, packaging design skills, labeling and product designs; support businesses and cooperatives to promote and introduce OCOP products.