LaunchPad for Digital Transformation-driven OCOP Products

Strengthening digital transformation and promoting the circular economy is the goal put forth by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in the One Commune One Product (OCOP) Program in 2021 - 2025. However, to keep the program in the right direction and orbit and bring real benefits to people, it requires efforts of all levels of government and people.

According to MARD Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam, the OCOP program should be linked to the circular economy in rural areas in the coming time to ensure efficiency and sustainability of six contents: Managing sustainable resources and conserving biodiversity; developing a sustainable food program; rationally improving small and medium processing capacity for each locality; ensuring the organic agriculture development program; conserving and developing rural industries in association with input supply sources; and developing community tourism. In addition, it is necessary to build socialized local innovation centers to boost the OCOP Program.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Tien, Chief of National Coordinating Office for New Rural Development, said, on digital transformation platforms, we help customers exchange, share and sell OCOP products; strengthen product inspection towards a unified criterion of the international market and the domestic market; and apply digital technology to inspect input supply sources and apply common standards.

To bring OCOP products to e-commerce platforms, the Ministry of Information and Communications is committed to accompanying farmers, cooperatives and businesses in expanding sales channels on digital platforms.

Ms. Nguyen Vu Hong Thanh, Head of Group 1034 of the Ministry of Information and Communications, said that the ministry is working with Vietnam Post Corporation and Viettel Post Corporation to deploy many positive activities.

Lam Dong province currently has 60,288 ha of high-tech arable land out of a total of more than 300,000 ha of cultivated land. Notably, 100% of OCOP products meet food safety and hygiene standards, quality standards and regulations. Many have beautiful designs and environment-friendly packages. Many models have synchronously applied effective IoT (internet of things) technology solutions and earned more than VND3 billion per hectare a year. According to the Lam Dong Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the province will focus on supporting entities to achieve national and international certifications for OCOP products in the coming time, such as VietGAP, GlobalGAP and HACCP. It will scale up and apply management systems, models and tools to improve quality and productivity such as ISO 9001-2008, ISO 22000 and ISO 14001 and support intellectual property and geographical indications.

Bac Kan province started implementing the OCOP Program quite late but it managed to obtain a lot of successes by applying digital transformation in promoting OCOP products. Currently, the province has hundreds of OCOP products put up for sale on electronic exchanges like Shopee, Lazada, Sendo, Tiki and Voso. In addition, Bac Kan vermicelli made by Tai Hoan Cooperative is exported to the Czech Republic. According to the survey into 30 outperforming participants in the OCOP program launched by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the strong application of digital transformation has helped increase 73% in revenue.

“The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has actively built an OCOP consultant network, with a focus placed on training and capacity building for the OCOP consultants. Investment in technical infrastructure and digital transformation has been considered a launching pad for OCOP products in the next five years," Mr. Tien said.

By Do Ngoc, Vietnam Business Forum