Sóc Trăng Province’s Kế Sách District strives to develop more OCOP agricultural products

The logo of new rural area development.

SÓC TRĂNG — Developing agricultural products following the “One Commune One Product” programme has been identified as the top goal of Kế Sách District in the Mekong Delta province of Sóc Trăng.

The district has potential in the garden economy, growing a variety of fruit trees including green-skinned pomelo, Năm Roi pomelo, star apples, durian and longan.

The One Commune-One Product (OCOP) programme is considered a solution to enhance the value of speciality products in localities, creating jobs and increasing incomes for local people according to the national target programme on building new-style rural areas.

In 2021, Xóm Đồng 2 Agricultural Cooperative in the district’s Thới An commune was established with 20 members who are local farmers with extensive experience growing pink star apples.

The advantage of the pink star apple is that the fruit is large and round. When the fruit is ripe, it is shiny pink, and the flesh of the star apple is thick, sweet and has a very attractive buttermilk scent. The fruit has been granted a growing area code, exported to the United States and achieved four-star OCOP at the provincial level.

There are 21 ha of pink star apples in the cooperative, annually supplying hundreds of tonnes of star apples to the market.

The cooperative has actively connected with businesses in production and consumption to export the fruit with stable prices of VNĐ35,000 (US$1.44) per kg, and sell to high-end local stores at VNĐ25,000-30,000 ($1-1.2) per kg.

Trần Văn Phương, director of the cooperative, said the cooperative’s goal was to invest in growing pink star apples organically, prevent pests and diseases with microbiological measures and say no to pesticides.

Local growers often covered the fruit by non-woven bags to prevent pests, thereby creating clean, delicious and healthy fruits, he said.

Thanks to good quality and four-star OCOP certification, the cooperative’s fruits were gradually favoured by consumers. The fruits had stabilised output, he added.

According to Phương, not only the pink star apples of the cooperative, but most of the OCOP certified products in the district had increased their value, helping entities increase the scale of production and revenue.

Evaluation of localities showed that revenue of OCOP products increased by an average of 20 per cent each year. The products gained higher prices after receiving OCOP certificates.

There were outstanding agricultural products in the district, including green-skinned pomelo and Năm Roi pomelo of Thành Công Cooperative in Kế Thành Commune; purple star apple of Mỹ Phước High-Tech Agriculture and Community Tourism Cooperative in Nhơn Mỹ Commune; purple star apple of Quyết Thắng Cooperative in Xuân Hòa Commune; and purple star apple of Trinh Phú Cooperative in Trinh Phú Commune.

Nguyễn Văn Phải, director of Thành Công Cooperative, said green-skinned pomelo and Năm Roi pomelo of the cooperative were ranked four-star OCOP agricultural products since 2020.

The cooperative’s members applied the growing process following Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices (VietGAP), and the quality of the fruits had been improved. Currently, the yield reached 12 – 15 tonnes per ha, he said.

The average profit per ha of growing pomelo reached over VNĐ300 million ($12,400) each year thanks to stable prices.

Local growers harvest durian fruit in Kế Sách District in the Mekong Delta province of Sóc Trăng. — VNA/VNS Photo Tuấn Phi

According to Phải, the district has 10 agricultural products recognised to meet three-star and four-star OCOP standards so far, including green-skinned pomelo, Năm Roi pomelo, purple star apple, pink star apple, dried and sliced asparagus, Linh Chi mushrooms, bird’s nest water and Phương Phi frog.

Besides, durian, pepper grain longan and purple star apple were also potential local fruits targeting the high-end and export market segment.

Vũ Bá Quan, head of the district’s Agriculture and Rural Development Office, said the district planned to develop more OCOP certified products such as durian from Bá Trinh and Xuân Hoà communes this year.

The district would also mobilise resources to invest in economic development in rural areas, calling for the participation of businesses and cooperatives to strengthen OCOP products associated with tourism, and develop advantageous crops and livestock in the locality, he said.

The district will enhance trade promotion and product consumption; promote investment in developing agricultural production associated with processing, connecting markets along the value chain in order to raise people’s income, changing the face of the agricultural sector and rural areas and building a solid foundation for sustainable new-style rural areas, he said.

Currently the province has 64 out of 84 communes meeting new-style rural area standards. The province now has Mỹ Xuyên District, Ngã Năm Town and Vĩnh Châu Town meeting the new-style rural area standards.

It is expected that by the end of this year, there will be an additional six communes and two districts meeting the new-style rural area standards in the province.

The province plans to have at least eight additional communes and three more districts meeting new-style rural standards by the end of 2025.

Vương Quốc Nam, deputy chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said local districts had to pay attention to increasing income and stabilising people’s lives to achieve the goals.

Districts and communes, which strived to meet new-style rural area standards, were told to periodically report every six months so authorised agencies could promptly fix shortcomings, he added. — VNS