Mountainous agricultural products offered on e-commerce platforms

This is an opportunity to bring products under the One Commune One Product (OCOP) programme and local agricultural products closer to both the domestic and foreign market.

2021 has been a year of success for the Nhung Luy Cooperative, located in Yen Duong commune, Ba Be district, because of a bumper harvest of wax gourd with decent selling prices. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has affected direct sales and delivery of agricultural products, all products grown and supported by the cooperative have sold out thanks to e-commerce platform availability.

Director of the Nhung Luy Cooperative Dinh Tuyet Nhung said that the cooperative signed a contract with 10 cooperative groups to grow fragrant wax gourd in Dia Linh and Yen Duong communes in Ba Be district with a total area of ​​​​about 23 ha. The product was certified as an OCOP product, with traceability, food hygiene and safety, so when it was put on the e-commerce platforms and social networks, it received positive feedback from consumers.

Vi Huong is one of the communes of Bac Kan province selected by the Ministry of Information and Communications to pilot digital transformation. The commune announced the results of its first phase of digital transformation on December 22, 2020, the first commune in the country to attain this result.

Having been given support for digital transformation, Thien An Cooperative has perfected the production process of its products, such as: herbal pillow and the herbal medicines of the Dao ethnic group with the brands Phuc duong hoa, Moc vuong xuan, An mong nhi and Cao gam, amongst others. These products have been granted circulation licences, trademark registration and are protected according to regulations.

In particular, the Thien An cooperative has been supported to participate in e-commerce and now has a website to promote its agricultural products on, a fanpage to introduce products on social networks, in addition to putting its products on sales on e-commerce platforms such as Postmart, Tiki, Shopee and others.

Director of the Thien An Cooperative Ly Thi Quyen said: “The complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic have decreased the amount of products being consumed, but thanks to e-commerce, the cooperative has about 350 online orders each month, accounting for 70% of the total number of orders. Products have reached the markets of Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City and Lam Dong, among others. Thus, the cooperative can create jobs for 15 to 20 local workers, with an average income of VND4 million per month.”

With the goal of expanding the market and promoting the consumption of its agricultural products, the People's Committee of Bac Kan province has coordinated with a number of businesses to build an e-commerce platform to bring local OCOP products closer to domestic and foreign consumers.

With the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Bac Kan has provided training for 45 cooperatives, businesses and cooperative groups on the skills needed to join e-commerce platforms and also filmmaking skills to promote their products online. Thereby, 56 local products have been listed on e-commerce platforms.

In addition, Bac Kan currently has 44 products produced by 33 cooperatives on the portal of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance. The People's Committee of Bac Kan province has also signed an agreement with Hanoi-based Kim Nam Group to deploy an e-commerce platform named www.bkmarket.vn .

Through this e-commerce platform, Bac Kan promotes and distributes OCOP products, helping local enterprises, cooperatives, and business households manage their product and service information and helping customers trace the origin of the products.

According to the Vice Chairman of Bac Kan Cooperative Alliance Tran Ngoc Quang, through training and support, most cooperatives in Bac Kan now know how to sell online and put their products up for sale on e-commerce platforms. In the future, the Bac Kan Cooperative Alliance will build a portal combining the functions of an e-commerce platform to support agricultural consumption for ethnic minorities.

Bac Kan province has set a target of 40% of all communes having traders selling goods or providing services online and 80% of e-commerce websites having integrated online ordering functions by 2025.

The province also aims to have 40% of small and medium enterprises conducting trading on e-commerce platforms, including social networks with e-commerce functions and 40% of enterprises participating in e-commerce activities on mobile applications. E-commerce platforms are considered an opportunity for Bac Kan to develop its agricultural products and OCOP products, helping improve the value of local products and maintaining stable consumption.