Lâm Đồng Pharmacy's Artichoke-based products are highly rated. — VNA/VNS Photo Vũ Sinh

HÀ NỘI — The OCOP programme has helped many localities to develop tourism in rural areas.

There are currently 65 recognised OCOP products in the field of tourism.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), 63 localities have conducted tests for OCOP products with 8,478 OCOP products rated 3 stars or higher.

Up to 4,351 OCOP manufacturers have 3-star OCOP products, with 38.3 per cent being co-operatives, 26.1 per cent businesses, 33.3 per cent households.

"The OCOP programme has had a lot of positive influences on the development of rural economy. It ignited the potential in resources that diversified the value of OCOP products," said Trần Nhật Lam, Deputy Chief of Staff for the Office of New-Style Rural Areas Coordination.

"Many OCOP products have become 'ambassadors' that tell stories of a whole land, as well as improving livelihoods for the marginalised groups, such as women and ethnic minority people," said Lam.

In August, the Prime Minister approved two programmes, the "OCOP Programme" and the "Rural Tourism Development in Developing New-Style Rural Areas in the period 2021-2025".

The MARD is committed to implement these two programmes. For the OCOP Programme, the MARD will implement OCOP flexibly, suitably for the development of the OCOP product value chain associated with the local raw material area. Promote training activities, focus on skills such as production organization, administration, product innovation and creativity, quality management, food safety, skills in packaging design, labeling and product design, marketing. 

A main focus is innovation in training methods and guidance in the direction of product development based on the community's resources, improving the quality of OCOP product management, promoting trade promotion activities, connecting supply and demand for OCOP products.

In particular, the MARD will focus on building key OCOP tourism products associated with tourist centers and cultural activities; improving the capacity of the logistics system for agricultural products and OCOP to promote trade, domestic and export product markets.

For the "Rural Tourism Development in Developing New-Style Rural Areas in the period 2021-2025" programme, the MARD will finalise mechanisms, policies and documents guiding the implementation of the programme.

The MARD will focus on building rural tourist destinations and products, forming rural tours and routes associated with conservation and promotion of cultural values and environmental protection, using local materials and labor, mobilising the participation of marginalised groups to improve people's living standards and incomes, and promoting digital transformation in introducing agricultural and rural tourism products.

"In building the new-style rural areas, we are doing a revolution," said Lê Minh Hoan, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. "If urban areas are the face of civilisation, rural areas are the face of culture."

"We must make it so that it's not about the number of localities that are qualified for New-Style Rural Areas, but it's about how many products and heritages that we are proud to share to the world," said minister Hoan. — VNS