Developing Sustainable Natural Material Areas for Handicrafts

According to the Action Plan for implementing the strategy for import and export of goods by 2030, Hanoi city aims to have 6-10 groups of handicrafts exported directly to foreign markets. To realize this goal, in addition to product development and trade promotion, developing sustainable raw material areas is a decisive issue.

Traditional handicrafts of Hanoi

Lack of supply

To develop traditional handicraft products, not only in Hanoi city but also in provinces and cities across the country, the issue of raw material sources always plays a very important role. Especially when craft villages have built their brands and expanded their markets, the demand for handicraft products will increase, and the consumption of production materials will increase accordingly.

According to the latest survey data of the Center for Industrial Promotion and Industrial Development Consulting (Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade), on average, each year, Hanoi's bamboo and rattan craft villages consume about 6,800 tons of various raw materials, of which, on average, a business consumes about 50 tons of raw materials/month, a household consumes about 20 tons of raw materials/month; ceramic craft villages consume about 620,000 tons of raw materials, mainly clay and kaolin; lacquer craft villages about 4,000 tons; woodcraft villages about over 1,000,000m³ of wood. The above data shows that raw materials play an important role in the sustainable development of craft villages. Mr. Vuong Dinh Thanh, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Center for Industrial Promotion and Development Consulting, shared that in reality, the source of raw materials for handicraft production such as rattan, reed, bamboo, wood, sedge, kaolin, horn, etc. in Vietnam is currently in great shortage. Therefore, many enterprises, cooperatives, or handicraft villages have encountered difficulties in finding sources of raw materials. "The reason for the narrowing of raw material areas is due to the lack of land area planned for planting, while the number of products produced for domestic consumption and export demand is increasing. Wood materials in particular are the group that must be imported the most because enterprises producing wooden products for export are seriously lacking domestic raw materials," said Mr. Vuong Dinh Thanh.

It can be seen that the lack of supply of raw materials for production in craft villages in Hanoi has caused many traditional craft villages to depend on external sources of raw materials, which has made production households unable to be proactive. However, in recent years, some provinces and cities have been planning raw material areas. However, these plans have not yet identified specific raw material areas. The plans are only carried out for each province and each locality separately without linking the regional scale to maximize the advantages of regions across the country. Sharing this difficulty, artisan Nguyen Van Trung, who has been devoted to preserving and developing the Phu Vinh bamboo and rattan weaving craft (Phu Nghia commune, Chuong My district) for many years, said that the current raw material of bamboo and rattan in Hanoi only meets 20% of the market's demand for raw materials. Therefore, businesses have sought out raw material areas to organize purchasing, provide technical guidance on exploitation and processing, and preserve the supply of raw materials to ensure the production process.

Building a chain of raw material areas

To overcome difficulties in raw materials, in the coming time, Hanoi City will continue to encourage enterprises, cooperatives, and individuals to lease land and accumulate land to develop concentrated raw material areas. In addition, building a stable chain of links with raw material areas from provinces and cities across the country brings efficiency to both sides. The city also encourages enterprises to process bamboo and rattan products, and innovate technological lines to diversify processed products, especially products that are input materials of Hanoi craft villages from bamboo and rattan in the direction of granting product chain of custody certificates...

For the handicraft industry to develop sustainably and achieve the goals according to the Action Plan to implement the import-export strategy of goods until 2030 set by the city, in addition to product development, and trade promotion... the development of sustainable raw material areas is a decisive issue. Making recommendations on this, handicraft expert Vu Huy Thieu said that in the context of raw material sources for handicraft production in Vietnam, there is a serious shortage due to the narrowing of raw material areas, while the number of products produced for domestic consumption and export demand is increasing. Meanwhile, Laos has great potential in developing raw material areas due to its large, concentrated land fund, which is very convenient for large-scale agricultural and industrial production. Agreeing with the opinion of expert Vu Huy Thieu, Mr. Nguyen Van Chi - Head of the Hanoi Rural Development Department said: Hanoi always has a very high demand for raw materials. Therefore, the City is currently always interested in connecting raw material areas with provinces and cities across the country to deploy production. To overcome difficulties in supplying raw materials for developing craft villages, the State needs to improve policies on land and raw material areas such as encouraging enterprises, cooperatives, and individuals to lease land and accumulate land to develop concentrated raw material areas for production; orienting the development of concentrated and stable raw material areas to supply raw materials for craft villages; closely coordinating with State management agencies on craft village development in Hanoi to cooperate in supplying input materials for craft villages, creating a chain of links for product development and consumption... At the same time, investing in developing concentrated and stable raw material areas to supply raw materials for craft villages. Prioritizing the development of some key products such as rattan, bamboo, ceramics, embroidery, medicinal herbs... in localities with suitable natural conditions.

Source:  Vietnam Business Forum

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