Dong Nai awakens the potential of local specialities

Dong Nai has the largest fruit tree area in the Southeast region with more than 70 thousand ha, in many areas, fruit trees such as durian, mangosteen, rambutan, avocado, jackfruit, and guava... have become famous specialities.

In recent years, Dong Nai has focused on supporting the building of agricultural product brands not only in the domestic market but also towards export. Along with the OCOP program, many local agricultural and speciality product brands have been recognized by the market. Consequently, Dong Nai has exported many fruits such as bananas, durian, jackfruit, and mango... so the output is favourable and the selling price is high.

In Dinh Quan district, mango trees have long been closely associated with people's lives, becoming one of the key crops that bring high economic value to farmers. To further enhance the economic value of mango trees, Phu Loc Thanh Production - Trading Company Limited (Phu Loc Thanh) has developed a dried mango product.

With ingredients selected from the freshest local mangoes, thanks to the application of advanced technology, Phu Loc Thanh's dried mango products retain the inherent flavour and nutrients in mango. The company is able to create dried mango pieces that are soft, chewy, sweet, and fragrant with a characteristic mango flavour, and eye-catching yellow colour, appealing from the sight to the taste buds of the enjoyer. In 2021, Phu Loc Thanh dried mango product achieved a 3-star OCOP product and was recently promoted to a 4-star OCOP.

Currently, the Company's dried mango products receive positive feedback from customers, especially in markets such as China, and Russia... and are very popular. This has motivated the Company to continue improving product quality, creating diverse, high-value and deeply processed products from local raw materials.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dong Nai province, the highlight of the OCOP program in Dong Nai province is product development. Entities always focus on applying new scientific and technical advances, forming branded products along the value chain based on the advantages of local raw materials.

Currently, the whole province has 110 OCOP products achieving 3 stars or higher, including 36 4-star products and 1 potential 5-star product. 99% of OCOP products have registered trademark protection.

“After 4 years of implementation, the OCOP program in Dong Nai has stimulated the start-up movement for many cooperatives and farmers. Not only supporting production and processing, but the province's agricultural sector is also very interested in supporting cooperatives and farmers to expand consumption and export markets for OCOP-certified agricultural products", Mr Nguyen Van Thang, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dong Nai province shared.

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According to Mr Vo Van Phi, Vice Chairman of Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee, recently, to support OCOP products, localities in the province have developed their own policies to submit to the Provincial People's Council for approval. At the provincial level, there are currently many integrated support policies for OCOP products.

Dong Nai province's goal is that by 2025, the whole province will have at least 144 OCOP products recognized as meeting 3-star standards or higher, at least 40% of OCOP entities are cooperatives and 30% of entities are small and medium enterprises. In particular, at least 30% of OCOP entities will have built a value chain towards a circular economy associated with stable raw material areas. 

"As the number of products grows more, localities and functional units need to strengthen the management of OCOP product quality as well as promote propaganda about OCOP products. Localities must promote creativity, improve people's production and business capacity, build links for sustainable community economic development, and contribute to the implementation of the third content of the new rural construction program, which is organizing product consumption for farmers", Mr. Vo Van Phi suggested.