Branding agricultural commodities fails to meet its value

​Dong Nai has many major agricultural products such as pepper, coffee, cashew, many kinds of specialty fruit trees, etc. with large specialized farming areas and good quality, but there are not many brands recognized by the market.

Long Khanh Rambutan has been granted geographical indications. Photo: Phan Anh

Brand helps improve agricultural products

The Tan Trieu Pomelo Village Ecotourism Area (Tan Trieu Island, Tan Binh Commune, Vinh Cuu District) was recognized by the Unesco Vietnam Union of Top 10 Cultural Tourism Brands; Top 100 impressive destinations in Vietnam; Certified Vietnamese high quality goods, etc. To get this result, from a very early time, Mr. Nam Hue's facility not only registered the trademark but invested in packaging with a grapefruit-shaped ceramic wine bottle to contain grapefruit specialty, self-produced by the establishment, as well as go for registration of intellectual property protection on brands and product packaging designs. Mr. Huynh Duc Hue, the person who built this Buoi Village brand shares about the branding experience: “Many years ago, I invested in a private label and logo for Tan Trieu Pomelo Village and printed it on business cards to introduce to near and far tourists. But the most important thing for the reputation of Tan Trieu Pomelo Village to spread to customers is because of the care from the quality of each product to the attentive customer service.”

Xuan Loc district is one of the leading localities in the province in building trademarks of agricultural products. Up to now, the district has supported 47 production and business establishments to register trademarks; 14/14 communes ensure the requirement “each commune has at least 1 certified trademark”; Support for bar code registration for 7 units to help production facilities be eligible for product distribution at supermarkets and department stores; guide enterprises and cooperatives in traceability with QR code stamps.

Thanks to the attention of investment, many local agricultural strengths have been identified by the market. In particular, the district had 2 OCOP certified products, including: chicken egg products of Thanh Duc Co., Ltd (Xuan Phu commune) of 4-star standard, Cantaloupe product of Viet Farm Trading Co., Ltd. (Xuan Truong commune) achieved the 3-star OCOP certification but most of the criteria were scored high with 4-star standards.

Mr. Tran Quang Tinh, Director of Viet Farm Trading Co., Ltd shared, that all vegetables and fruits grown in the membrane of enterprises are all certified GlobalGAP. The company also has a store selling organic products in Ho Chi Minh City with mostly foreigner customers. Mr. Tran Quang Tinh shared about the plan to keep the brand of clean vegetables and fruits of the business to continue to reach out: “In the coming time, we will focus on adding more requirements and completing the profile to continue raising the OCOP star for the product. We are also trying to work with partners from Japan and Europe on the cooperation plan to export farm products.”

Need for support

Dong Nai has one of the top banana areas in the country, including large areas specializing in banana export but there are no brands on this product that are recognized by the market. Packing bananas for export in Trang Bom District. Photo: Phan Anh

Dong Nai has implemented a science and technology program to support businesses to improve their competitiveness, apply advanced quality management systems, and protect intellectual property in the integration process from 2016 to 2020. The goal of the program is that by the end of 2020, there will be about 200 units and local businesses supported for protection registration, trademark registration, domestic collective trademark, foreign trademark registration, industrial design, etc. In particular, supporting the registration of agricultural product trademarks is one of the important contents.

Although the province does not lack of major crops such as rubber, pepper, cashew, mango, banana, durian, rambutan,... with a large area, many specialty fruit areas famous for their delicious quality. Although the number of units registered to participate in science and technology programs helps businesses improve their competitiveness to meet the set requirements. But participation in protection registration and trademark registration of agricultural products is still very limited. Until now, agricultural product names that have been registered for protection in localities still finger-counting as: Tan Trieu pomelo, Long Khanh rambutan, Xuan Loc pepper,…

Agricultural products are still mainly sold on the market to traders, farmers hardly pay attention to making brands and brands. One of the significant ‘barriers’ is the process and procedures for trademark registration and intellectual property protection, which face many difficulties.

Mr. Duong Minh Giang, Director of An Vien Agricultural Services Co-operative (Trang Bom district) commented, that An Vien cashew has an area of thousands of hectares, often paid by traders 1-2 prices higher than many other production areas because of its good quality. But this product still has no name as well as other identifying characteristics. Mr. Giang expressed his wish: “The trademark registration process takes too long; The procedures and papers are too complicated, making farmers afraid to start working. Besides, farmers also need practical support in connecting consumption channels to promote the brand to identify products of consumers.”

By Phan Anh