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Even farmers are getting business savvy in fast changing Vietnam
Vietnam is changing fast – few examples can be more evocative than the fact its farmers are now learning about trademarks.
An Giang province authorities have decided to spend two billion dong to help small and medium enterprises to register trademarks. To date, the province’s authorities prop up 80 percent of the total expenses needed to register collective trademarks on both domestic and international markets.
Currently, 645 out of 947 trademark requests have received registration certificates from the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP). Tra Vinh province has also implemented the programme. The programme has been run in seven districts and 30 communes in the province.
To date, 29 famous local specialties have received support for defining, managing and developing intellectual property, including Doan Hung pomelo, Buon Ma Thuot coffee, Luc Ngan litchis, Da Lat flowers and Thai Nguyen tea.
It is expected that by 2010, the NOIP’s programme on support for intellectual property development will cover another 26 local specialties. The products protected by intellectual property laws, will be put under strict control when they are marketed. However, farmers well understand that the products will then be more valuable on the market.
Nguyen Van Chien, the owner of the first business in Long An province which registered trademark of Vica lemon, said that Vica seedless lemon has been selling well in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and the Middle East after it registered its trademark. Luc Ngan litchis, Moc Chau tea and Hai Hau rice have also become more valuable on the domestic market.
However, farmers are still hesitant to have trademarks registered. They have to follow a number of very complicated procedures. In registration, farmers have to prove their products have high quality and have special characteristics of the local products.
There’s also the requirement that production follows necessary processes on food safety.
The procedures seem to be very difficult to follow for farmers and can take several years.
Therefore, experts believe that in order to develop Vietnamese brand names, local authorities need to continue to give farmers a helping hand.
vietnamnet, vneconomy
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