U Minh mangroves provide an ideal environment for honey bees, making honey a key product of Cà Mau Province. – VNA/VNS Photo Thế Anh

CÀ MAU – The southernmost province of Cà Mau will promote its key agricultural products, especially collective brand names, to increase their value and competitiveness.

The province has 10 products that have been granted collective brand names by the National Office of Intellectual Property.

Most of the collective brand names of the key products are managed and used by agricultural co-operatives and farmer associations.

The province’s key products are favoured by consumers as they have high quality. However, some key products have unstable outlets and low competitiveness as they are mostly produced on a small scale by households and small companies.

The key products of the province include U Minh honey, U Minh dried snakeskin gourami, Rạch Gốc dried shrimp, Năm Căn mud crab, Thới Bình fermented snakehead fish, Cái Nước bulrush, Cái Đôi Vàm dried creamfish, Tân Thành eel fish - marble goby, Trần Hợi dried banana and Mũi Cà Mau shrimp crackers.

In recent years, Cà Mau has organised many trade fairs and product display sites to develop its key products. 

It has worked with the departments of industry and trade of HCM City, Hà Nội and other provinces and cities to promote its products to large distributors and wholesale markets since 2016.

Last year, the province’s Department of Industry and Trade worked with five companies in Cà Mau City, Năm Căn and Ngọc Hiển districts to open six sites to display and sell the province’s key products.

Lưu Văn Quốc, deputy director of the department, said that producers found it difficult to sell their products, especially rice, banana and fish.

The department in co-operation with the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development would review the quantity, quality and models of key products, and instruct producers in procedures to ensure that their products meet conditions to supply large distributors.

The province would tighten promotion of the sales of products that have large quantities like rice, shrimp, crab and banana, he said.

The province has encouraged the establishment of agricultural co-operatives that produce quality products and linkages between agricultural co-operatives and companies to develop value chains for agricultural products.

Châu Công Bằng, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that cooperation from agricultural co-operatives was necessary to develop value chains for agricultural products.

This measure would secure outlets for farmers, provide quality products for companies, create favourable management condition for agencies and help consumers trace product origin, he said.

The province’s People’s Committee has instructed relevant departments and localities to improve protection of products that have been granted collective brand names.

Located in the Cửu Long (Mekong) delta with three sides bordering the sea, Cà Mau has great potential for developing agriculture, aquaculture, fish catching and seafood processing. The province is the country’s largest shrimp producer.

It has developed shrimp farming areas meeting domestic and international standards such as Vietnamese good agricultural practices (VietGAP), Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and best aquaculture practices (BAP).

The province is building geographical indication certification for its black tiger shrimp and mud crab.

The province’s three rice specialty varieties – một bụi lùn, tài nguyên đục and tép hành – have been granted intellectual property protection certificates.

The province produces more than 530,000 tonnes of paddy and 1.57 million tonnes of aquatic species a year, according to the province’s People’s Committee. – VNS