Sir, craft villages not only contribute to economic growth but also help maintain and deepen the beauty, regional cultural identity, and unique features of rural Vietnam. How do you evaluate this issue?
- Our country has over 60 crafts considered traditional crafts of great value: weaving, lacquer, mother-of-pearl inlay, woodwork, tailoring, embroidery... very unique, bearing the cultural features of regions, areas, and ethnic groups. If we consider the density of crafts and craft villages, Vietnam is not inferior to any country in Southeast Asia. Craft villages reflect the typical cultural features of rural Vietnam, reflecting the communities of each region.
In the process of developing a craft village, the value brought is not only for the craft village itself, but also the issue of exogenous development. For example, the development of the silk industry will lead to the development of mulberry growing and sericulture areas. The proof is that now, when the silk industry develops, the mulberry areas that were thought to have been lost for a long time have developed again.
The development of the mulberry area in Chuong My (Hanoi), the mulberry area in Yen Bai... has been creating an ecosystem for occupations and craft villages. For example, the Nam Cao silk village (Kien Xuong - Thai Binh) has developed again because its products have become famous and attracted foreigners. This shows that craft villages have connected urban and rural cultures, even connecting globally through exchanged goods.
In fact, many factors have promoted the development of many occupations and craft villages. However, many occupations are showing signs of decline, leading to a "decline" in the appearance of many craft villages. Even the fact that the An Phuoc sedge mat craft village (Duy Xuyen - Quang Nam) had its recognition revoked is an alarm bell for localities to pay more attention to preserving and developing occupations. Could you share about the current difficulties that craft villages are facing?
- In the process of development, from the past to the present, there have been different ups and downs of occupations and craft villages according to consumer tastes as well as product output. Besides, there are many factors that can cause occupations to be lost. Currently, the profession of printing paintings is easily lost. Dong Ho paintings and Hang Chieu paintings are only on the preservation map and not developing because consumer tastes have changed, there are almost no players of these types of paintings. Speaking of mat craft, An Phuoc mats of Quang Ngai, Nga Son mats of Thanh Hoa, Kim Son mats of Ninh Binh, Lai Vung mats of Dong Thap... are all being lost.
There are many reasons for the decline of some occupations and craft villages, including both external and internal causes, but in general, the biggest difficulty within the craft village is the lack of space for development due to lack of land.
The second difficulty, also internal to the craft village, is the issue of artisans. The soul of the craft village is the artisan, but this team is also decreasing a lot. The profession of the craft villages is specific, not industrial, but folk, so it needs artisans, but currently the team of artisans has also faded, not systematically gathered. We also do not have adequate policies for artisans. Currently, excellent artisans and folk artisans have also been given priority, but there are no specific policies to encourage them, leading to the design of craft products gradually being limited. If artisans have information about consumer tastes and knowledge of painting, the craft products will change. For example, in the pottery profession, we see that pottery used in the domestic market is different, but pottery exported to Europe mostly has to ask for designs from there to be sent back for processing.
The third difficulty is the raw material area for the profession. Some professions are facing a shortage of raw materials such as rattan and bamboo. The rattan used in this industry must be special. For example, most of Vietnam's bamboo is hard bamboo with many knots, so bamboo must be imported. The raw material area is not only the quantity and output of the raw material, but also the requirement for traceability. Currently, even rattan and bamboo products or wooden furniture cannot be exported if they do not have traceability.
Another difficulty is the environmental story. This issue is related to science and technology. For example, in the pottery industry, we have tried to convert the raw materials from burning polluted coal to burning gas or other combustible materials, but many other industries have not caught up, such as the bamboo weaving industry, drying bamboo by solar heat is available but limited. Or other issues such as modernizing some technologies of the craft village, introducing machinery, reducing labor... have not yet been met. Regarding alternative materials, the current world trend is to use environmentally friendly materials: not using nylon, plastic..., but the speed of our replacement with environmentally friendly materials is still slow.
The important issue is the market. There is no shortage of markets, but we do not know. Since 2022, after the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development conducted a survey in a number of countries, including Europe, it has discovered that trade promotion of craft villages is very limited. In Milan (Italy), the European Craft Council and the city of Milan hold a fair every year attracting 5,000 booths from more than 200 countries to introduce handicraft products. But we did not know. Since 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has coordinated with Hanoi City to start registering booths and bringing products to introduce to EU countries...
So, in your opinion, what solutions are needed to overcome difficulties and preserve craft villages, especially traditional craft villages?
- As I said above, the issue of artisans. Currently, we have only stopped at conferring the title of excellent artisan and people's artisan, with the Ministry of Industry and Trade as the focal unit, while ordinary artisans are currently mainly managed by associations and provincial People's Committees, so each place does it differently. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is guiding localities to unify the conferment of the title of "artisan" according to a unified criterion.
The second issue is the raw material area, currently localities are creating conditions for restoration, for example many mulberry areas are being developed. But there are also many difficult raw material areas: The ceramic industry is also re-planning kaolin mine areas. The most difficult story now is still the land, it is impossible to maintain the profession in the village forever, because it comes with environmental issues. Other issues such as design, market connection... The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and localities are actively connecting, organizing craft village fairs, OCOP fairs (one commune one product - PV)...
Another important issue is vocational training, not only passing on the craft from artisans in the village to their children, but also needing State support in the use of raw materials, rational exploitation of raw materials... helping workers stick with the craft and protect the environment.
Currently, the Government is very interested in developing rural occupations. In addition to Decree No. 52/ND/CP in 2018, dated July 7, 2022, the Prime Minister approved the program to preserve and develop Vietnamese craft villages for the period 2021 - 2030. For the group at risk of being lost, some craft groups have been classified. For example, the group of products affected by the market (printing ancient paintings, mats, etc.), it is necessary to develop products in the direction of tourism products. Mats that are reduced should be replaced with baskets and woven bags with eye-catching and attractive designs. That is, we must increase the commercial value of the product. If so, we should change the products to preserve the craft, not eliminate the craft. Preserving craft villages means always changing designs to adapt to the market and promoting product promotion programs.
Regarding the problem of lack of successor artisans, what do you think is the solution to help young people stay connected to their craft villages and the professions passed down from their ancestors?
- Young workers are very important. I am very happy that recently young people are tending to return to the profession in craft villages. In order to encourage young people to stay with craft villages, the most important thing is to change the working environment. Craft villages are not all manual, but must bring in machines and apply science and technology for young workers to return, otherwise if they simply sit and weave, whittle (bamboo and rattan weaving), mold (pottery)... then young people will not like it. Secondly, young people have many strengths of their own, so it is necessary to create business groups for young people in craft villages because more than anyone else, young people are very dynamic and have the ability to connect with the outside, groups with the same interests to stay with the profession (together doing stories of trade promotion, e-commerce, consulting...). Thus, to keep young people attached to the profession and craft villages, it is necessary to change the space and methods of working.
Thank you!
