Enhancing product value
Phu Cu District has about 800 hectares of lychee, of which 100 are devoted to a variety known as egg lychee, owing to their size often being as big as chicken eggs, in the communes of Phan Sao Nam, Minh Tan, Doan Dao and Tran Cao Township.
In 2019, the Hung Yen Department of Science and Technology (DST) introduced a project to create, manage and develop the brand of Hung Yen egg lychee as a way to enhance the value of and offer market protection to the product.
In May 2020, the National Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (NOIP) granted protection for Hung Yen egg lychee, with the DST as the owner and management agency of the Hung Yen egg lychee certificate, and the Quyet Tien Agricultural Cooperative as the agency entitled to use the product code for Hung Yen egg lychees.
When the brand of egg lychee was created and widely promoted, hundreds of tonnes of egg lychee produced in Phu Cu District was quickly sold at relatively high prices, about 1.5 times greater compared with the previous season.
Le Van Tien, owner of an egg lychee orchard in Phan Sao Nam, said that “With a recognised brand, merchants are now buying Hung Yen egg lychee right in the field for as high as VND60,000 per kilogram, and we farmers are very happy about that.”
Dong Thanh Commune in Kim Dong District is rapidly transforming its crop structure, with about 200 hectares of low-yielding rice paddies converted to growing oranges. Local farmers have applied technological advances to their production to ensure the oranges have both a good appearance and high quality while meeting all relevant food safety standards.
In 2018, the NOIP issued a collective brand certificate for Dong Thanh oranges produced by the Dong Thanh Fruit, Vegetable and Trading Services Cooperative, helping to make Dong Thanh oranges more widely known as well as selling at higher prices. Some enterprises signed agreements with the cooperative to distribute Dong Thanh oranges in supermarkets and shopping malls.
In recent years, Hung Yen Province has implemented various measures aimed at developing collective brands so as to enhance the quality and value of local goods, especially agricultural produce. To date, the province has granted collective brand certificates for 19 products, such as Hung Yen longan, Ban soy sauce, Van Giang ornamental kumquat trees, Khoai Chau bananas, Dong Tao chicken, Hung Yen lychees, Chi Tan turmeric and Van Giang oranges. The province is also famous for such handicrafts as Hue Lai silverware, Long Thuong bronzeware and Cao Village incense.
The owners of collective brands are usually associations, cooperatives and trade villages, which are responsible for managing and promoting the recognised brands and products so that they become more widely known and achieve stronger sales.
Protecting and promoting collective brands
Phan Sao Nam Commune Chairman Nguyen Dinh Duc stated that the commune has 78 hectares of egg lychee and local authorities will encourage growers to employ technological advances and good practice, especially VietGAP, in their farming so that the trees will produce a higher yield and quality. The commune is also taking measures to manage the brand properly, promote trade activities and conserve this variety of lychee.
According to DST Director Tran Tung Chuan, the province is implementing various measures to enhance the public awareness of brand management and development, especially for agricultural goods. The producers of protected products need to enhance their quality; use logos, labels and other brand recognition marks in their production and business, considering them as an integral part of the value.
In the future, the province will continue to assess the brand development potential of other products with high economic value, especially those in the One Commune One Product programme, so as to work out an appropriate developmental direction.
The province will also look to improve farming practices in line with national and global standards, and enhance product traceability, while continuing to apply for brand protection to prevent counterfeit products or loss of brand value; step up advertising and provide complete and transparent information about the products, including recognition characteristics and awarded food safety certificates.
Other measures to promote collective brands include applying new technology to create clean, safe and quality products; enhancing the capacity for intellectual properties officers; increasing the responsibility of those in charge of managing and developing protected brands in facilitating producers to use such brands.
