Authorities in the southern province of Ben Tre will focus on building brand names for unique local fruits, helping it to gain prestige in the market and become recognisable to consumers.
Speaking at a conference on the development of brand names for Ben Tre fruits and bonsai held on June 18 in the province, Director of the provincial Department of Sciences and Technology Lam Van Tan said that for local products to penetrate into export markets, the first thing to do was to build their brands.
“Branding is becoming a topic that is of particular concern to businesses, Government agencies and trade associations,” said Tan.
The conference aimed at exploiting and developing branding for fruit trees and flowers of Ben Tre Province. It was held at the 17th fruit festival in Cho Lach District from June13-19.
The province has an agricultural area of about 180,000ha, accounting for nearly 80 per cent of the natural land. Within this, the area of orchard is 30,000ha, growing mainly buoi hong da xanh (green-peel and pink-flesh) grapefruit, rambutan, longan and coconut.
“When you mention Ben Tre, people always think of coconuts, durian, Cai Mon bonsai and flowers, and rambutan, but many people are less interested in the brand of agricultural products,” said Tan.
Many local fruits have been granted brand certification by the National Office of Intellectual Property of Viet Nam, including Chin Hoa durian of Cho Lach District and grapefruit of grower Do Van Ro in Mo Cay Bac District.
From 2013 to now, the province has developed more than 20 collective brand names and geographical indications.
According to Tran Giang Khe, head of the National Office of Intellectual Property’s Office in HCM City, it needed to develop collective branding because of the unique features of its products.
He said collective branding could be registered as intellectual property. The registration is not as complicated and costly as geographical indications.
“Another advantage of collective branding is that through this work, it is possible to gather and promote collective power and community participation in the intellectual property protection of traditional values. As a result, members can help each other in the production and trading of branded products,” said Khe.
To spread branded products, Director of Aliat Legal Company Duong Thanh Long said management agencies needed to organise fairs and conferences to introduce products with trademarks or geographical indications to consumers. In coordination with traditional advertising activities, it can be flexibly combined with media for further advertising.
“In addition, management agencies should coordinate with experts and researchers to provide growers with modern technical training support, helping ensure the quality of products,” said Long. — VNS