OCOP products displayed on the sidelines of the conference.on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Đức Dũng

HÀ NỘI — Thousands of products have been rated and qualified for the standards of the One Commune-One Product (OCOP) programme during the 2018-2020 period, said Deputy Prime Minister Trịnh Đình Dũng.

Addressing a national conference reviewing the OCOP programme in the 2018-2020 period in Hà Nội on Tuesday, Dũng said that all 63 provinces and cities across the country have rolled out the programme, in which 59 provinces and cities have verified and rated products.

The trade promotion for OCOP products has been also actively and effectively implemented by provinces, cities and agencies, he said.

A report from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said that the OCOP programme has 4,469 products with three-star and above ratings in 59 provinces and cities, 1.86 times higher than the target set for 2018-2020.

Localities nationwide have so far organised 66 OCOP fairs.

Retail systems and trade centres have actively participated in consuming OCOP products.

The deputy prime minister emphasised that OCOP is a rural economic development programme, not only contributing to improving the incomes and the lives of people in rural areas, but also actively supporting agricultural restructuring and programmes on new-style rural area building.

The quality and design of the OCOP products improve day by day, bringing economic benefits to people, cooperatives, businesses and localities, he said.

However, the implementation of the programme still revealed several shortcomings, he added.

Several localities faced difficulties in defining their advantages and potential, and many only focused on existing products and did not pay attention to developing new products.

Trade promotion is still fragmented, not synchronous, and has not attracted consumers. Source of capital for OCOP development, the governance capacity of economic organisations and entities in OCOP are still limited.

The deputy prime minister requested ministries, sectors and localities to strengthen management over the implementation of the programme, guide the classification of products in localities, and supplement and complete a set of criteria assessing and rating OCOP products.

He also emphasised the need to absolutely avoid complaisance in assessing and recognising OCOP products, without paying attention to product quality, affecting the effectiveness of the programme.

For proposals and recommendations of ministries, sectors and localities, Deputy PM Dũng asked the MARD to consider thoroughly and continue working with them to build the OCOP programme for 2021-2025.

According to agriculture minister Nguyễn Xuân Cường, after three years of implementing the OCOP programme, business households, cooperatives, and small and medium-sized businesses have developed their production in the direction of professionalism.

The programme has promoted the potentials and strengths of localities in specialty products, production conditions as well as raw material areas with more than 145 OCOP products that have effectively exploited the local raw material areas, said agriculture deputy minister Trần Thanh Nam. — VNS