Products from Gia Lam district are highly regarded for their design and creativity

According to the Gia Lam Economic Department, the district currently has 119 recognized OCOP products, including 5 five-star products, 85 four-star products and 29 three-star products. Phu Dong Green Park Tourism was certified as a 4-star OCOP product. The OCOP-certified products are representative of the craft villages in the district, such as Bat Trang and Kim Lan pottery villages, Kieu Ky decoration inlaying village and Van Duc vegetable village.

Keeping evaluation criteria

To maintain the evaluation and classification standards and further enhance the quality and competitiveness of the OCOP products, Gia Lam district has regularly inspected and monitored the production activities of the local enterprises. Besides food and medicinal herbs, the district has also coordinated with relevant units and communes to survey, evaluate and identify six other product groups that are eligible for participating in the OCOP Program, said Mr. Nguyen Tien Hoang, Director of the Gia Lam Economic Department. The district has focused on developing traditional products that are locally advantageous, such as pottery from Bat Trang and Kim Lan villages, gold lamination from Kieu Ky village, herbal medicine from Ninh Hiep village and organic agricultural products from Van Duc and Dang Xa villages.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Hong, Vice Chairman of Gia Lam People’s Committee, emphasized that building and developing OCOP sales points and showrooms is crucial to motivate the producers to improve their product quality, create new products and diversify their product range to suit different consumer preferences. The district will organize at least one field trip per year for officials, farmers, businesses and cooperatives to visit other districts, provinces and cities where the OCOP Program has been successful. The district will also continue to direct relevant units to review and establish more sales points to introduce other OCOP products linked to tourist destinations in the craft villages, showcasing the typical products of the locality to visitors from around the world, forming production-consumption linkages and increasing incomes for the people in the craft villages.

The OCOP Program has been a key factor in the district’s achievements. Since the beginning, the district leaders have directed relevant bodies to provide policy guidance and support for the development of agricultural and non-agricultural products, services and tourism in the communes and towns. The district has also encouraged the producers to actively participate in the OCOP Program by helping them to select and develop OCOP products based on standardizing their existing products. The OCOP Program has had a positive impact on the new rural development programs in Gia Lam district. The OCOP products have not only contributed to the effective implementation of the economic and production criteria in the national model rural development standards, but also promoted the growth of enterprises, cooperatives, households and craft villages, facilitating economic restructuring and improving incomes and livelihoods for rural residents.

Improving the quality of certified products

To ensure the success of the OCOP Program in 2021-2025, Gia Lam district will continue to support and advise upgrading the certified OCOP products. The Gia Lam Economic Department has proposed to the District People’s Committee to display OCOP products and craft villages at major events such as Bat Trang Tourism Week and Giong Festival at Phu Dong Temple. The district has also collaborated with Duong Xa Commune People’s Committee and nine OCOP producers to organize OCOP booths at Nguyen Phi Y Lan Temple in Duong Xa commune.

By tapping into its existing potential strengths and building on its initial achievements, the district will require all levels of government, sectors, localities and producers to work together to implement the OCOP Program successfully. This will be an important basis for enhancing agricultural production and investment, developing agricultural processing, connecting product consumption markets along the value chains, improving life quality, increasing incomes for people, transforming agriculture and rural areas. This will also be a solid foundation for sustainable new countryside construction.

Mr. Nguyen Van Chi, Deputy Chairman of the Hanoi Coordination Office for New Rural Development, said: The OCOP Program provides comprehensive support solutions for economic organizations in rural areas, focusing on three main aspects: Standardizing and developing products that have local advantages; fostering innovations to create products that meet the market demands (such as food safety, packaging, labeling and convenience) and have unique and outstanding features (especially quality and traditional culture); and improving the capacity of economic actors (in terms of administration, production and marketing), especially aiming to build the OCOP value chain led by cooperatives and small and medium enterprises. Therefore, he said, Gia Lam’s plans to build and develop OCOP sales points and showrooms are very important to motivate economic entities to enhance the quality of OCOP-based products, create new products and diversify their product range to suit different consumer preferences.