Thuong Truc Private Company in My Xuyen craft village transported nha ruong (ancient wooden houses) to customers in Quang Tri, Nghe An.
Expansion
With more than 700 households engaged in carpentry and wood carving, My Xuyen traditional craft village, of Phong Hoa commune (Phong Dien, Thua Thien Hue) is one of the more prosperous craft villages. Not stopping at regular products such as tables, chairs, cabinets, beds, statues ..., in recent years, some households have invested in stockpiling timbers for making nha ruong and other valuable products such as wooden couches and sofas.
Mr Le Van Truc, Director of Thuong Truc Private Company, said: "The carpentry industry is developing towards a sustainable future and expanding its scale as the number of customers and the income for workers increase. Since the beginning of the year, the company has produced two nha ruong for customers in Quang Tri and Nghe An, and has sold over 30 sets of furniture, earning nearly 5 billion VND. Due to the sheer number of orders for nha ruong, the raw materials we had in hand were not enough and thus had to be imported from Laos, Cambodia and the Central Highlands provinces."
Two rattan and bamboo crafts production units in Quang Phu Commune and Quang Loi Commune (Quang Dien District) are not lacking in raw materials, but they lack the skilled labor force for production when orders are constantly increasing and the export products require delicate and sophisticated crafting techniques. "In addition to the common products, the co-operative is taking interior and exterior decoration orders from hotels, resorts and tourism sites in Hue, Da Nang and Nha Trang. Those orders are mainly for products which are simple and easy to make, but of high value such as paper towel dispensers, bed lamps, tea trays," said Tran Loi, Director of Thuy Lap Cooperative.
Mr Vo Van Dinh, Director of Bao La Rattan and Bamboo Co-operative informed: "For the last two years, the co-operative has received many orders to export to China, Korea and Japan, thus there were not enough products to supply to the market. In early July, 2017, we have signed a contract to supply 5,000 products to Phan Huu Thanh Private Company in Hanoi to export to China, and simultaneously taken orders from tourism sites in Da Nang, Quang Nam, Da Lat…Since the beginning of this year, the co-operative has gained over 1 billion VND, up 30% compared to the same period in 2016 and reached the highest sale level in the history of the co-operative."
Mr Ta Minh Son, Director of Tu Son Supermarket (An Giang) affirmed: "Through field research, Hue craft village products are found to be quite diversified and have good quality. The company has signed contracts with facilities to put products on display at supermarkets, and export to Cambodia. For the time being, we have chosen Thien Huong sesame sprinkled candy, Tam Hue sauce, Duc Phuong tea, Bao La rattan and bamboo craft along with a number of other handicrafts, and expand to more products of other villages in the future."
Upgrading traditional crafts
There are currently 88 craft villages in the whole province, including 69 traditional handicraft villages, 8 handicraft villages and 11 newly-imported-craft villages with more than 2,500 production establishments. Among them, there are 2 traditional crafts, 10 handicraft villages and 16 traditional craft villages recognized by the Provincial People’s Committee as traditional professions and craft villages. In order to preserve and develop crafts, craft villages and traditional craft villages, in June 2017, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued a decision approving the proposal for the "National Program for One Product per Commune" in 2017-2020, aiming for 2030, and for the survey toolkit. The project has been implemented in 63 provinces and cities nationwide.
According to the Steering Committee for the implementation of the strategy of developing trademarks for province-specific products, from now till 2020, priority shall be given to build collective trademarks for various products from Hue handicraft villages such as Hue sauces, royal tea, cajeput oil, Hue ceramic enamel, as well as register trademark protection for Hue sesame candy collective trademark. For the established collective trademarks, certification trademarks and geographical indications, the province will organize the management, exploitation and development of the trademarks of these featured products. In addition, the Provincial People’s Committee also encourages and facilitates the development of collective brands in localities such as Quang Dien red rice, Quang Tho pennywort, Chuon village wine, Thuy Thanh fragrant rice, Vinh Loc watermelon ..., contributing to the development of trademarks for many specialty products and craft villages.
According to Mr Nguyen Thanh, Director of the Department of Industry: "The Department is building a vocational training plan for the young generation to honor the craftsmen and craftswomen to become artisans themselves, while supporting craft villages, production establishments in promoting, aiming to bring their products to domestic and foreign markets."
By Thanh Hương