Trade villages face challenges

Lack of capital and poor market demand are among the biggest challenges faced by Viet Nam’s trade villages, said State officials at a workshop held in Ha Noi yesterday.

Trinh Quoc Dat, head of the Training Section of the Viet Nam Trade Villages Association, said that 60 to 70 per cent of trade villages lacked capital for production, leading to difficulties in securing adequate production materials and improving product quality.

“The Government has a policy to offer loans to trade villages, but it isn’t so easy to get them,” said Dat.

Speaking at the workshop on development of trade villages, Dat cited the high interest rates charged by banks and complicated loan procedures as reasons that limited trade villages from accessing much-needed funds.

Many trade villages also suffer from poor demand for their products. Dat said their products were not competitive enough in both the domestic and international markets due to poor quality and limited range of designs.

Officials said that a large proportion of craftsmen working in trade villages were not young and some were even disabled.

“The youth in trade villages are not very interested in pursuing their ancestors’ trade,” said Luu Duy Dan, deputy chairman of the Viet Nam Trade Villages Association, citing low incomes as the main reason for young people looking elsewhere for work.

Dan said young people preferred working for factories and plants to earn more stable incomes.

Even trades with popular products faced many problems, with one of the biggest challenges being a lack of skilled craftsmen.

Artisan Nguyen Van Trung, director of the Ha Noi-based Phu Vinh Vocational Training Centre for Bamboo Products, said the market for bamboo products was now growing thanks to some creative designs and artful production, but export companies still grappled with a lack of these products.

The lack of skilled craftsmen poses a challenge to officials working on expanding vocational training to workers.

Participants at the workshop agreed that offering training, especially in the making of craft work for people in rural areas, was of great importance in order to both ensure stable incomes and help preserve and develop traditional trades, which were acknowledged as part of the country’s cultural values.

The Government is taking measures to tackle the problems in a range of ways.

According to Chairman of the Viet Nam Trade Villages Association Vu Quoc Tuan, the total expense allotted by the State to vocational training under the Plan on Vocational Training for Workers in Rural Areas until 2020 was up to VND24.7 trillion (US$1.2 billion).

Under the instructions of the Ministry for Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the General Department for Vocational Training and Trade Villages Association is working to supervise the operations of 20 vocational centres and companies participating in a pilot programme to offer basic training in 26 traditional trades.

More than 2,610 workers in 10 cities and provinces are involved in the programme.

The Trade Villages Association is also developing new training models for the piloted areas.

These include training to create and develop new trade villages as well as on developing existing villages. The training will also focus on the importance of developing trades in villages that suit the availability of resources in the area.

At the workshop, representatives from vocational training centres asked for the Government’s continued support and favourable policies, and called for tax cuts and more support to access loans.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, trade villages have created jobs for about 24 per cent of workers in rural areas. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam Trade villages