Building and developing brands for agricultural products is one of the factors that determine the value of agricultural products, not only domestically but also in foreign markets. Therefore, it is necessary to strictly follow the production process so that the brand is always maintained and developed.

Branding enhances product value

According to the Head of the Hanoi Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development (Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) Nguyen Thi Thu Hang, up to now, the whole city has built more than 40 brands for agricultural products such as: "Dai Thanh late-ripening longan" (Quoc Oai district), "Boi Khe fragrant rice" (Thanh Oai district), "Van Nam banana" (Phuc Tho district), "Van Dinh duck" (Ung Hoa district), "Golden shrimp grapefruit" (Dan Phuong district)... Besides, there are also a number of products registered as collective trademarks, protected and available at supermarket systems and commercial centers inside and outside the city. Some products such as: Dong Phu organic rice (Chuong My district), Dai Thanh late-ripening longan (Quoc Oai district).

Agricultural products after being branded, products brought to the domestic and foreign markets all have a 15-20% increase in price compared to when they were not branded. Building a collective brand and trademark has brought high economic efficiency, besides helping cooperatives and farmers change production methods from traditional to closed chain, ensuring food safety, with clear origin, creating favorable conditions for functional sectors in monitoring the quality of agricultural products in the market from the root.

The product “Golden Shrimp Grapefruit” (Dan Phuong district) ensures quality and high economic value. Photo: Anh Ngoc

Director of the Golden Shrimp Pomelo Cooperative, Thuong Mo Commune (Dan Phuong District) Nguyen Quy Thanh said that currently, 100% of the agricultural land area in the commune has been converted to grow golden shrimp pomelo and other fruit trees, of which 152 hectares are used to grow pomelo. Thanks to the quality and branded products, the cooperative harvests 500-600 tons of pomelo each year, earning from 300 million VND to 2 billion VND/ha/year.

Director of the Tam Hung Agricultural Cooperative (Thanh Oai District) Do Van Kien said that the cooperative's "Boi Khe Fragrant Rice" product has a brand, so it has created prestige and trust for customers. Therefore, on average, the cooperative supplies the market with 15-20 tons of rice each month; on holidays and Tet, it can be up to 40 tons.

“Thanks to the efforts to promote the value of collective brands, the rice products of Tam Hung Agricultural Cooperative have affirmed their prestige and quality in the market, contributing to improving economic efficiency, income for people, protecting the environment; and adapting production to climate change,” added Mr. Do Van Kien.

Also thanks to the brand, some agricultural products such as “Dong Phu Organic Rice” (Chuong My district); “Thuy Lam Golden Sticky Rice” (Dong Anh district) or “Ba Vi Hill Chicken” always have a price 15% higher than before when there was no brand.

Strict compliance to keep the brand sustainable

The product brand comes from the quality of the product. To have quality, the production process must strictly follow the production process.

The Director of Thuy Lam Agricultural Cooperative said that in order to preserve the collective brand of Thuy Lam yellow sticky rice, the Cooperative has applied the improved rice cultivation system (SRI). With the SRI cultivation method, it has helped reduce the cost of seeds, minimize the use of fertilizers, reduce pests and especially contribute to improving the productivity and quality of rice. This will help maintain the collective brand of Thuy Lam yellow sticky rice.

Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, Director of Yen Anh Agricultural Products Production and Processing Cooperative (Ba Vi district) Pham Thi Tu Hau said that the cooperative is producing and processing clean agricultural products such as: corn, potatoes, cassava, coconut... All products of the unit are controlled in origin and have a brand. Of which, 3 products such as: Fried corn with butter, sweet potato cocoons, and baked cassava cake with coconut milk are recognized as meeting the One Commune One Product (OCOP) Program. This is to maintain the reputation of the cooperative and the brand of products produced by the cooperative.

To support branded agricultural products to expand their consumption markets, Director of Dong Phu Organic Agricultural Cooperative (Chuong My District) Trinh Thi Nguyet said that production units should promote propaganda and raise people's awareness of safe production to protect brands and collective trademarks. Functional sectors support cooperatives to improve their capacity, disseminate knowledge and information on domestic and international food safety regulations, meet quality requirements; at the same time, improve intellectual property knowledge for cooperatives in building and developing brands; support capital for cooperatives to invest in applying technology to build warehouses, pre-processing and packaging, machinery and equipment in processing, packaging and preserving products with agricultural brands.

Currently, building brands and collective trademarks of agricultural products is still difficult because in some areas, farmers still do not strictly follow the VietGAP production process, record field diary books to trace the origin of products; protect agricultural product brands. In addition, the consumption market is not large and unstable; the link between production and consumption is limited, causing difficulties for farmers' production.

There are still difficulties

Currently, safe agricultural production is very effective, but the implementation process is still difficult because safe agricultural production models are still small and fragmented. People and cooperatives lack capital to invest in farms and large-scale production areas, synchronous from production to preliminary processing, processing, and product consumption. Consumers still easily accept buying agricultural products of unknown origin in the market, making it difficult for safe agricultural products to compete in price...

To overcome difficulties and replicate safe agricultural production models, Ms. Nguyen Thi Loi, member of the Board of Directors of Dong Xuan Agricultural Products and Trade Services Cooperative (Quoc Oai district) proposed that departments and branches advise the city to issue support policies on preferential loans, machinery, equipment, locations to expand production and business development; Regularly open training courses, training courses, and visit effective production cooperative models, helping managers and members of cooperatives have the opportunity to study, accumulate experience, and access advanced science and technology to ensure the best product quality.

Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Dinh Hoa said that in the coming time, the agricultural sector will coordinate with localities to continue to strengthen information, propaganda, and dissemination of laws on safe agricultural, forestry, and fishery production and business, mobilize and guide the replication of safe production and supply chain models; strengthen support for all levels of associations, members of farmers' associations, and women's associations in propaganda and mobilization for safe production and business of agricultural and food products, detect and honor advanced models, and fight against violations; prioritize support for small and medium-sized enterprises to develop industry clusters, value chains for production, food processing, and high-tech agriculture.

In addition, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development coordinates with departments, branches, and local authorities to strengthen product monitoring on a large scale, according to concentrated production areas, high-risk products, warnings, and food safety risk assessments in the city; promote activities to promote and connect production and consumption of safe agricultural products and food; continue to promote activities to connect safe, quality, key agricultural products of the city, OCOP products to consumption units and consumers; together with provinces and cities, implement the coordination program "Ensuring food safety, improving the quality of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products traded between Hanoi and provinces and cities nationwide in the period of 2021-2025"... to control the quality of agricultural products in the market.

Source: Rural Economic Newspaper