Announcement on the Set of Criteria and Process for Evaluating and Classifying OCOP Products for the Period of 2021 - 2025

On the morning of March 8, the Central New Rural Coordination Office held information with the press about the set of criteria and the process of evaluating and classifying OCOP products according to Decision 148/QD-TTg dated February 24, 2023, of the Government. Prime Minister. This Decision will replace Decision No. 1048/QD-TTg dated August 21, 2019.

According to the Central New Rural Coordination Office, during the implementation process, the OCOP Criteria for the 2018-2020 period have revealed a number of shortcomings and limitations, specifically: The OCOP Product Criteria have not been entirely covered. Full range of products in 6 groups. Some criteria do not fully reflect issues of concern, mentioned in association with the orientation and approach of OCOP products, difficult to implement in the implementation process; the score structure of some criteria is not suitable for the exposure and requirements of the OCOP Program in the direction of promoting internal resources, added value and economic development of rural communities; The process of organizing the evaluation and classification is not really strict, some localities are still easy in the evaluation process in some criteria.

In addition, the implementation of the assessment twice has not been fully applied (some localities only evaluate once). Some localities suggest that it is necessary to enhance the advisory group's role and only organize an evaluation council once to facilitate the implementation process in the locality...
On that basis, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has advised and submitted to the Prime Minister for promulgation Decision No. 148/QD-TTg dated February 24, 2023, promulgating a set of criteria and procedures for evaluating and classifying OCOP products, replacing OCOP products. Substitute Decision No. 1048/QD-TTg dated August 21, 2019.

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Dao Duc Huan, Head of the OCOP Department, Office of New Rural Coordination, said some new points of the Criteria, the process of evaluating and classifying OCOP products, the development of the Criteria OCOP are implemented in the principle of maximum inheritance of the issued OCOP Criteria for the period 2018-2020; only adjust and supplement requirements to be consistent with the development goals of the OCOP Program for the period of 2021-2025 according to Decision No. 919/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister and meet practical requirements in localities...

According to Phuong Dinh Anh, Deputy Chief of the Central New Rural Coordination Office, the OCOP Criteria for the 2021-2025 period only adjusts and adds requirements to be consistent with the objectives of the OCOP Program development and meet the practical requirements in the locality. The set of criteria and procedures for evaluating and classifying OCOP products for the period of 2021 - 2025 has new points in product grouping; re-adjust the point structure; adding some new criteria... Specifically, adding 3 sets of products belonging to the group of ornamental products, including flowers, ornamental plants, and ornamental animals; grouping products for souvenirs, furniture, and decoration into a set of handicraft products; adding some products such as honey, essential oils, etc. Regarding the structure of OCOP product evaluation content, adjusted the structure of the score between 3 parts, to 40-25-35. Specifically: Products and community strength 40 points; marketing ability 25 points, and product quality 35 points (the structure according to Decision No. 1048/QD-TTg is 35-25-40).

At the same time, some new criteria were added to improve the quality, and value, and exploit the cultural values of OCOP products, encourage the participation of women and ethnic minorities, such as Ownership. intellectual property, product manuals; incentive points for female subjects/ethnic minorities, etc., in line with orientations and strategies for sustainable agricultural and rural development up to 2030, with a vision to 2045 in the direction of shifting from agricultural production to the agricultural economy; from single-sector development to multi-sectoral development, forming "multi-value" integrated products,...

Regarding the OCOP product classification and evaluation process, the regulations on registration documents for the evaluation and classification of OCOP products have been revised in the direction of reducing forms, such as Registration forms for products participating in the Program; business production methods,…

In particular, the evaluation and recognition of OCOP products will decentralize the district People's Committee to evaluate and recognize OCOP products with 3 stars; Provincial People's Committee evaluated and recognized OCOP products with 4 stars; The central government evaluates and recognizes OCOP products with 5 stars (national level OCOP).

After more than 4 years of implementation, the OCOP Program has spread strongly, and has been deployed synchronously and widely in all 63/63 provinces and cities, with 8,689 OCOP products (65.5% 3-star products; 33.6% of 4-star products; 0.7% of 5-star potential products and 0.2% of 5-star products) of 4,479 OCOP subjects were evaluated and classified with 3 stars or more. The program has mobilized the participation of all levels and branches from the central to grassroots levels, becoming a priority solution in rural economic development, associated with new rural construction in all localities. Positive and bold impact on rural economic development, contributing to the transformation from small-scale agricultural production to production in the direction of value chain linkage, according to standards and regulations, with traceability and traceability. according to market demand; arouse the potential of land, products, and comparative advantages, especially regional and cultural values to form "multi-valued" integrated OCOP products, linking agricultural development with services. service, tourism.

Through the OCOP program, many localities have planned areas of specialty raw materials, and developed rural industries, especially preserving and developing many traditional craft villages; forming many OCOP products associated with the role of an "ambassador" conveying humanistic product stories of the region and region.

By Minh Ngoc, Vietnam Business Forum