In recent years, traditional craft villages have made significant contributionsto the national economy.
According to statistics from the Vietnam Traditional Craft Village Association,there are more than 5,400 craft villages across the country but most of thevillages are small scale and products are made by hand.
“The Vietnamese craft village system has a long tradition. But they are facingmany difficulties to keep up with today's economic and social developments,”said Luu Duy Dan, the association’s president.
“If we do not integrate or catch up with international standards, our craftvillages will continue lagging behind and be unable to escape manual andsmall-scale production,” Dan said.
“So, the villages must apply technological advances in production forsustainable development and higher productivity and competitiveness,” hesaid.
Accordingto Ha Thi Vinh, general director of Quang Vinh Ceramics Ltd. Company in Bat TrangCeramic Village of Hanoi’s Gia Lam district, the use of technology inproduction has helped reduce production costs by more than 30 percent.
More importantly, the percentage of defective products has droppedsignificantly and the design of the products are also more diverse thanks tomachine production, said Vinh.
“Ourproducts are more competitive in the market,” said the general director.
Meanwhile,Pham Khac Ha, president of Van Phuc Wormsilk Craft Village’s Association in Ha Dongdistrict, Van Phuc village now has 200 households engaged in silk weaving.
Before, most of the silk products were woven manually. But in recentyears, many households have shifted to using machines, said Ha.
This has helped Van Phuc silk products meet higher demands in terms ofquantity, quality and design, he said.
Similarly, environmental problems in Phu Do village's rice noddle productionwere effectively solved thanks to using machines and renewable energy inproduction stages such as powder grinding, mixing and cooking.
The discharge of residue and wastewater into the Nhue River was stopped.
In fact, mechanisms to encourage and support craft village households toinnovate technology, apply science and technology through industrial promotionpolicies, industrial and handicraft development projects have made many householdschange their thinking of production to invest in modern machines to improveefficiency.
Moreimportantly, the change has helped craft villages shorten manual productionstages, reduce their labour force and improve their environmental impact.
Dao HongThai, director of the Hanoi Industrial Promotion and Development ConsultationCentre, said many traditional craft villages had applied technological advancesin production with the assistance of the municipal authority and ministries.
Since 2016, the centre had provided assistance for 64 rural industrialentities to innovate technologies in production] to increase labourproductivity and reduce environmental pollution, according to the centre’sdirector.
This year, Hanoi aims that craft villages will account for 8.5 per cent oftotal industrial economic value.
The infrastructure of 50 villages will be improved and environmental issues ofthe 50 worst polluting villages are expected to be solved.
About 1million jobs for rural areas will be created with per capita income of 35-40million VND (1,500-1,700 USD ) per year.
In 2021-2025, the city has set targets that more than 10,000 businessesand rural industrial establishments will get assistance from the city’sindustrial promotion programme, while 50,000 jobs will be created forrural workers, export turnover from handicraft products will increase by 5-8percent and 20,000 items with modern designs for export will be produced,said Thai.
To achieve these goals, the city will continue to implement many policies tosupport craft villages, focusing on encouraging the application of newtechnologies to replace manual production, he said.
Theproduction establishments will also be given financial assistance to expandfacilities and labour training.
Alongwith technological application to increase productivity and cut productioncosts, branding for craft villages is also vital for sustainable development,said Dan.
The villages should push co-operation in branding and promoting products ininternational markets, he suggested./.