September 20, 2022 at the cultural house of Dung K' No commune, Lac Duong district, Lam Dong province. Vietnam Non-Timber Forest Products Program - NTFP.EP with the support of Caritas Dalat organized a workshop to build and protect collective trademarks for natural honey.

Participating in the conference included 55 delegates from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Women's Union, and the Farmers' Association of Lac Duong district. People's Committee, Farmers' Association, Women's Union, Youth Union of Dung K' No commune. Caritas Dalat and the communities of Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Gia Lai, Binh Dinh of NTFP.EP. There were also members of the Pokao bee cooperative group present.

Mr. Do Quy Tien - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Dung K' No commune delivered the opening speech at the conference. We hope that the Pokao bee group's model will continue to develop and expand, creating many livelihood incentives for people.

The workshop started with a presentation by the Pokao bee group. Background and reason for the formation of Pokao bee group with the purpose of sustainable development and increasing the value of natural products, along with dreams for the group to perfect the honey processing process and achieve FHCM certification (Asian collective brand).

Dr. Luu Hong Truong - Director of the Southern Institute of Ecology, Advisor of the Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Program (NTFP-EP) in Vietnam introduced the Forest Harvest Collective Brand (FHCM): Regional brand and certification process for community-based Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) businesses.

Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) “Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) are locally oriented quality assurance systems. Certification of manufacturing facilities relies on the active participation of stakeholders and is built on trust, social relationships and knowledge exchange.” (IFOAM, 2008).

What PGS is, its principles, characteristics, importance, PGS certification process... were presented by Dr. Tran Thi Thanh Binh - Director of the Organic Agriculture Center of Hanoi Forestry University. She also integrated a number of sample models for participants to better understand a model needed to operate PGS.

Ms. Dinh Thi Hong Phuc - Deputy Director of Caritas Dalat shares the story of the organic vegetable group IEm Goh ChuRu and the certification of Caritas Dalat farmers' guarantee system - CFGS is a guarantee system with the participation of Caritas Dalat.

The process of exploiting, processing, and preserving wild honey according to the collective label for natural products (FHCM) was presented by Dr. Phung Huu Chinh - Director of Vietnam Bee Research and Development Center (BRDC), Advisor of the Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Program (NTFP-EP). FHCM is an initiative of the non-timber forest products program. To achieve this label, it is necessary to ensure three factors: the product meets market and safety standards, the product is sustainably harvested and the traceability of the product is harvested from forests managed by the community in a sustainable way.

Finally, there is a presentation on processes and procedures for building and managing brand development for products (FHCM). The structure of the PGS system includes: producer, production group, inter-group and coordination board. Each group has its own role and tasks to form the PGS system.

The workshop ended with a commitment to participate in the PGS coordination board from representatives of commune and district authorities, Caritas Dalat and experts who attended the entire day of the workshop.

In particular, the enthusiastic words from the commune chairman to the Pokao group: 'never before have we seen a group of farmers come to the commune to ask to establish a cooperative group...' further motivated the group to boldly participate in Asia's first sample process of building a collective brand for natural honey. Hoping Dung K' No can not only develop the Pokao honey brand but also develop many other indigenous products. And I wish the cooperation of the supporting units to be sustainable and long-lasting to create synergy to bring Dung K' No forward.

Another activity was the visit to the honey house of the Pokao group, where delegates came to visit the quality of the honey after the water separation test, which also increased the pride of the members. Bee hunters suddenly become experts when analyzing and explaining to customers why water must be separated from honey, how to use a pen to measure honey water content, and how to compare undehydrated honey and dehydrated honey.

The workshop ended successfully in an atmosphere of joy and excitement and hope for the development of specialty product brands, promoting unique local advantages. Wishes for the cooperation of units to accompany people for a long time on the path to reap many good results.

Caritas Dalat Center