Escape poverty thanks to OCOP

50 tons of Dien Grapefruit grown on Yen Thuy land have been exported to demanding markets such as the UK, US, and Czech Republic in 2023.

“2022 is the first year Yen Thuy can export a batch of 11 tons of grapefruit to the UK market. In 2023, Yen Thuy will be able to export 50 tons of grapefruit to the UK and Czech Republic, and especially this is the first year that grapefruit from Yen Thuy will be accepted by the US market. In 2024, the locality plans to export 80 tons of Dien grapefruit to these markets" - Mr. Bui Huyen shared.

Mr. Huyen shared that Ngoc Luong was originally a mountainous commune, before that people’s lives faced many difficulties. Therefore, when there was a policy to build the OCOP Program, the local government chose Dien grapefruit as the commune’s strong tree for investment and development.

“To be able to link together to create strong local products, the district has advocated establishing Dai Dong Cooperative (Cooperative) to gather grapefruit growing households to develop together. Up to now, the cooperative has 29 members with about 31 hectares of Dien grapefruit growing, producing about 800 tons/year, consumed in major markets such as Hanoi, Hai Phong, and Ho Chi Minh City. In particular, in 2022, for the first time, Dai Dong Cooperative products were exported to a European country. Since then, export output has increased,” Mr. Huyen said.

Evaluating the effectiveness of implementing the OCOP Program, Mr. Vu Xuan Oanh - Director of Dai Dong Agricultural Cooperative said that previously Dien grapefruit products were only consumed locally, but when included in the OCOP Program, especially When granted 4-star certification, Dien Yen Thuy grapefruit became more widely consumed. Thanks to that, the income of grapefruit growers is increasingly better. Many households have become billionaires thanks to growing grapefruit. “For each household planting 1 hectare of grapefruit, the harvest is nearly 500 million VND per year, minus expenses, each household also has an income of more than 300 million/year thanks to growing grapefruit” - Mr. Oanh informed.

Dien grapefruit on sale at London supermarket.

Just like Dai Dong, since participating in the OCOP program, the Cao Phong orange brand and products processed from oranges of Ha Phong Cooperative have grown rapidly by 200 - 250%, and revenue is constantly increasing. The cooperative’s orange growing area has also been expanded, before the cooperative was only 200 hectares, but now it has increased to more than 300 hectares; Since then, the number of workers in the area has also increased to more than 70 people, actively contributing to hunger eradication and poverty reduction for people in the commune.

Not only Hoa Binh, the implementation of the OCOP Program has created a huge change in rural economic development in many localities. Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development show that currently the whole country has 14,208 OCOP products with 3 stars or more (72.3% of 3-star products; 25.6% of 4-star products; 2.1% of 5-star products and 5-star potential) and 7,894 OCOP subjects.

According to Mr. Phuong Dinh Anh - Deputy Chief of the Central New Rural Coordination Office (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development): The deployment of OCOP products has contributed to increasing value, helping subjects increase production scale and revenue. The rate of OCOP subjects increasing in output after being recognized as OCOP is 46.0%, the average increase in sales revenue is 29.7%; The percentage of OCOP products with increased selling prices is 50.43%, the average price increase is 17.5%.