(VAN) With more than 900 recognized products, Hai Phong is making full use of digital transformation and indigenous cultural value to bring its agricultural goods to international markets.
A digital catalyst for local producers
In Hai Phong, digital transformation has become the decisive factor reshaping how cooperatives and enterprises approach both production and sales. Rather than depending on intermediary traders, OCOP producers are taking direct ownership of technology to reach consumers on their own terms.
Luong Thi Kiem, Deputy Director of the Hai Phong Department of Agriculture and Environment, presents four-star OCOP certificates to producers in the first round of 2026 certifications. Photo: Dinh Muoi.
The Phu Dien High-Tech and Organic Agriculture Cooperative offers a telling example. Over approximately four years, the cooperative has established its credentials by growing baby cucumbers and Korean milk grapes inside modern greenhouse and net-house systems. Its products have earned a three-star OCOP certification, with a stable yield of ten tons per crop cycle across just 0.17 hectares. The real breakthrough, however, has come through the digitization of its sales channels. The cooperative built its own website and expanded promotion across Facebook and Zalo, enabling its products to reach younger consumers directly in Hanoi, Quang Ninh, and Ho Chi Minh City.
Another instructive model is the “digital farmer” approach pioneered at the Nam Vu Clean Agriculture Cooperative. Leveraging its abundant guava-growing area, the cooperative invested in machinery to produce guava bud tea, which has earned a three-star OCOP rating. Its members have taken a further step by conducting live-streamed sales sessions on TikTok and Facebook. Luong Thi Cuc, a cooperative representative, noted that the unit supplies between 5,000 and 6,000 boxes of tea each month, with 90 percent of orders originating from social media. Beyond expanding the market, livestreaming has made the production process transparent, allowing customers to watch the tea drying and packaging stages firsthand, building trust and improving returns for farmers.
Through digital transformation and targeted marketing solutions, OCOP producers have achieved significantly greater effectiveness in both promotion and sales than in previous years. Photo: Dinh Muoi.
To help businesses keep pace with the digital era, the Hai Phong Department of Agriculture and Environment and the Department of Industry and Trade have organized in-depth training sessions on digital marketing and e-commerce. Equipping producers with knowledge of online brand building has allowed hundreds of the city’s active OCOP products to transcend geographic limitations and progressively connect local goods with the tourism industry and international trade.
The power of products that tell a story
Alongside technology, product storytelling is emerging as a key competitive advantage for Hai Phong’s agricultural sector. Within the national OCOP evaluation criteria, this narrative dimension accounts for 10 out of 100 possible points.
The Thang Thuy Agriculture Cooperative provides a compelling example, having built a story around filial devotion tied to its three-star-certified chrysanthemum products. From the vibrant flower fields of Dong Loi village, a cultural message draws visitors to experience the growing process and purchase products directly in the field, transforming agricultural goods into an integral part of the tourism journey.
Similarly, Khanh Tho Production, Trading and Services Co., Ltd. has made its mark through a narrative of preserving rural heritage, embodied in products such as field carp rice crackers and instant eel vermicelli. The company has mapped out a clean raw material zone and partnered with 200 farming households practicing organic cultivation to revive distinctive local aquatic species. The clarity of its message has helped secure a presence across multiple major supermarket chains in northern Vietnam.
The Vinh Thuan polychaete worm specialty offers yet another model. Through the Polychaete Festival, a seasonal delicacy has been elevated into a cultural product. Visitors come not only to purchase polychaete patties and paste, but also to learn about the natural cycles and the seasonal bounty found along the banks of the Thai Binh River, the very qualities that set this local product apart.
The Polychaete Festival in Vinh Thuan commune, held for the first time, drew large crowds of domestic and international visitors, powerfully amplifying the region’s distinct image, cultural heritage, and culinary traditions to the wider public. Photo: Dinh Muoi.
Building the brand and setting strategic priorities
Hai Phong has also leveraged traditional festivals to showcase OCOP products. At the 2025 Con Son – Kiep Bac Autumn Festival, the city’s exhibition area drew tens of thousands of visitors, featuring more than 200 distinctive agricultural products. The presence of high-quality goods, including ceramics, honey, organic rice, fish sauce, and Bang La apples, within a prestigious festival setting brought local produce into direct contact with a broad consumer base. This combination of cultural promotion and commercial display delivered a dual benefit: heightening the appeal of tourism while creating sustainable livelihoods for local producers.
Luong Thi Kiem, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, noted that the city’s OCOP products are growing in both number and quality. An increasing number of producers are investing in product improvement, redesigning packaging in a more professional direction, and enhancing their competitiveness in the domestic market, with some products already making inroads into international markets.
The OCOP program has expanded well beyond rural areas to reach urban districts, contributing to improved living standards and incomes for workers across the city. Consumer confidence in OCOP-certified products continues to grow, particularly during holiday and Lunar New Year seasons.
Luong Thi Kiem, Deputy Director of the Hai Phong Department of Agriculture and Environment (in pink), alongside leaders of affiliated agencies, visits and encourages a business displaying its OCOP products at the 2026 Con Son – Kiep Bac Spring Festival. Photo: Dinh Muoi.
Looking ahead, Deputy Director Luong Thi Kiem outlined five strategic priorities to ensure the program’s continued and meaningful development in an increasingly integrated market environment. These encompass intensifying public communication to foster a spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation within the community; raising product quality through value chain development; expanding the application of science, technology, and digital tools across production, management, and distribution while strengthening trade promotion and e-commerce to bring OCOP products to international markets; linking OCOP product development with rural, experiential, and cultural-spiritual tourism; and refining policy frameworks while improving access to training, capital, and technical expertise.
“The Hai Phong OCOP program has taken root across both rural and urban areas,” Deputy Director Luong Thi Kiem said. “The close coordination among departments and agencies, combined with the proactiveness of enterprises and cooperatives, has given Hai Phong’s agricultural products an increasingly solid standing. With the determination of the entire political system and the dynamism of the business and cooperative community, the OCOP program will make an important contribution to the city’s socioeconomic development, helping build a Hai Phong countryside that is ever more civilized, modern, and sustainable.”
According to the Hai Phong Department of Agriculture and Environment, 2025 marked a significant surge in the OCOP program, with 68 applications received from 22 producers across 16 notable communes and wards, including Gia Vien, Cat Hai, Thuy Nguyen, Bac Thanh Mien, and Nam An Phu. The year-end evaluation recognized 58 products in total, 26 earning four-star ratings and 32 receiving three stars. Notably, seven products scoring above 90 points have been put forward by the central government for national five-star assessment.
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