The conference organized by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ninh Binh province to deploy the One Commune One Product (OCOP) program

Despite having no strengths in large-scale commercial production, Ninh Binh agriculture has a diversity of products grown in five ecological economic subregions: Semi-mountainous subregion, lowland subregion, suburban subregion, plain subregion and coastal subregion. Each subregion will focus on investing and developing key high-tech, organic products.

In the first six months of 2024, agricultural production growth was 3.3% year on year (with aquaculture expanded by over 6%) and the production value was over VND150 million per hectare of cultivated land. The agricultural structure is stable (accounting for about 10%) in the economy. The average income in rural areas was VND61.26 million in 2023 (compared to the overall average of VND63.99 million in the province).

In particular, the National Target Program on New Rural Development has been seriously carried out in a drastic, systematic and creative manner. Up to now, all 119 communes have been accredited to meet new rural development standards, 50 out of 119 communes have been certified to satisfy advanced new rural development standards, eight communes have recognized to achieve model new rural development standards, all eight districts and cities have completed their new rural development goals, and Yen Khanh district was certified to meet the advanced new rural development standards by by the Prime Minister. Ninh Binh will complete the dossiers regarding the completion of new rural development tasks by the end of the year as planned.

The intensive development of OCOP products aimed to deeply join high value-added value chains associated with heritage safeguard and environmental protection has been emphasized. In 2023 alone, the province developed 70 more OCOP products, an increase of 28 products from 2022. At present, Ninh Binh has 181 recognized OCOP products, including 101 3-star products and 70 4-star products. The rural agricultural infrastructure system continues to be renovated, upgraded and invested synchronously to support local rural agricultural development.

Mr. Vu Nam Tien, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ninh Binh province, said: Ninh Binh will focus on developing comprehensive and sustainable agriculture and organic agriculture with key products based on ecological subregions, including tourism. The province will build and carry out value chain linking projects and strongly develop high-tech agriculture.

To complete the above tasks, the department will continue to advise the Provincial People's Committee to provide strong guidance on solutions for improving the quality of new rural development criteria, especially those directly relating to the quality of people's lives. It will also direct 15 communes to register for advanced new rural development standards, five communes to register for model new rural development standards and Yen Mo district to apply for advanced new rural development standards so as to accelerate progress and achieve planned targets for 2024.

In addition, the department will synchronously implement solutions to improve the investment environment, attract businesses to invest in agriculture and rural areas, speed up administrative reform, and enhance public and business satisfaction with the service of administrative agencies. It will guide localities to effectively implement the project of rearranging administrative units as well as reviewing, evaluating and recognizing the level of new rural development standards.

The department will step up communication and training to improve the capacity of officials in charge of new rural development, urge relevant units and sectors to work together to complete the dossier on the recognized completion of the province's new rural development to meet the given roadmap.