The six-day event themed “Connection for mutual development” attracts 350 display booths of 32 provinces and cities featuring local products of localities in the region. It is jointly held by Dong Thap Provincial People's Committee and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

According to Huynh Minh Tuan, Vice Chairman of Dong Thap Provincial People's Committee, the forum aims to gather provinces and cities together and promote the OCOP products of the Mekong Delta region. It also helps localities strengthen cooperation, trade and production ability, and sustainable development.

The highlight of this event is the exhibition spaces of OCOP products of Dong Thap, Mekong Delta and other northern provinces that feature award-winning products at contests like "Typical OCOP products in the Mekong Delta in 2022", in addition to food stalls, commercial product booths and art performances. Seminars and conferences connecting OCOP products consumption will also be held within the framework of the forum.

“The Mekong Delta region was ranked third in the country in terms of OCOP products in 2021, according to an assessment of the MARD. Particularly, Dong Thap and Soc Trang are among 10 provinces and cities with the highest number of OCOP products in the country,” Tuan said.

“Many OCOP producers have effectively applied digital transformation solutions to production and business activities such as traceability in agricultural production while widely introducing Dong Thap OCOP agricultural products and specialties on e-commerce channels,” he added.

Dong Thap Province, in particular, has set up shops to introduce local OCOP products and specialties in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Phu Quoc District in Kien Giang Province. The locality has also encouraged the establishment of booths selling OCOP products in local tourist attractions and chosen OCOP products as gifts during Tet (Lunar New Year) Festival and holidays.

According to the Central Coordination Office on New Rural Development, the One Commune, One Products (OCOP) program has been implemented synchronously and widely in 63 provinces and cities nationwide.

By now, the whole country has over 7,400 OCOP products rated at least at 3-star standards from over 4,000 producers, of which cooperatives account for more than 38%, enterprises nearly 26%, production establishments and business households more than 33% and the rest are cooperative groups.

Ngo Truong Son, Chief of the Central Coordination Office on New Rural Development (MARD), said that the Mekong Delta region ranked third in the country in terms of OCOP products with more than 1,270 products rated at 3-star standard and over. OCOP products have gradually exploited and promoted local specialty, cultural and traditional values.

In terms of community-based tourism products and services, localities have relied on their advantages to develop tourism services associated with OCOP products, typically Yen Bai, Hoa Binh, Ha Giang, Dong Thap and Kien Giang Provinces.

The program has aroused the potentials and strengths of specialty products and industries of each locality, gradually converting small-scale production towards closed value chain link associated with the role of cooperatives and enterprises. At the same time, it helps to create jobs for rural workers.

According to the MARD, in the 2021-2025 period, the ministry will continue to develop OCOP products with a value chain approach, in accordance with local advantages and conditions; build OCOP product management and monitoring systems and promote trade promotion activities for OCOP products. It will also support the application of science and technology in preliminary processing and develop typical agricultural raw material regions.

The OCOP was initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2008, based on Japan’s “One Village, One Product” and Thailand’s “One Town, One Product” programs. It is an economic development program for rural areas and forms part of the national target program on new-style rural area building.

"Developing OCOP products to arouse potentials and advantages in rural areas to increase people's incomes, contribute to further restructuring the agricultural sector in association with the development of handicrafts, industries, rural tourism and services. It will also promote sustainable rural economy on the basis of increasing the application of digital transformation and circular economy while preserving cultural values, managing resources, preserving biodiversity, rural landscape and environment, contributing to the constructing new rural areas effectively and sustainably in localities,” said Ngo Truong Son, Chief of the Central Coordination Office on New Rural Development.

Translated by Phuong Ha