Ms. Nguyen Dang Thai Hoa is coating  girdle rice paper.

Over the past month, the rice paper production facility of Nguyen Dang Thai Hoa and other families in Hoa Phong commune, Hoa Vang district, has been working around the clock.

Every day Hoa and her children get up at 2 a.m. to grind flour, make a fire, and coat girdle cakes to fill orders on time.

For a good quality rice paper, the main ingredient must be “xiec” rice, the original rice of the Quang region, plus some typical spices, such as ginger, garlic, fish sauce, and sugar. The rice papers must be dried on a charcoal stove, not in the sun.

Hoa says that at 9.4 USD for a dozen papers, her family makes a pretty good income, thanks to a large number of orders just before Tet.

“During the Tet holiday, my family makes more paper cakes than usual. We have to hire some seasonal workers. Although the selling price is higher than last year, it's not enough. We begin producing this Tet specialty in August. The craft has helped my family's economic conditions improve,” Hoa told VOV.

In Cam Le sesame dry cake village, households are busy churning out cakes for the Tet market.

Nguyen Duc Sol, the owner of the Ba Lieu Me facility, proudly introduces his family’s products.

Nguyen Duc Sol, owner of the Ba Lieu Me facility in Cam Le district, says his facility usually makes 2,000 boxes a day of sesame dry cakes.

When Tet comes, his output increases to 5,000 boxes per day. This year, the facility has hired 30 workers and given them a stable income.

Mrs. Lieu is one of the village’s most famous sesame dry cake makers. Many of her children have followed the family tradition, and the brand "Ba Lieu Me" is the most popular in the market.

Nguyen Duc Sol says he is proud of his family's products, adding, “Ba Lieu Me sesame dry cake is one brand of a Da Nang specialty. Popular nationwide, we ship many orders to other provinces and cities. Last year we produced about 300,000 products for Tet. So far this year we have made nearly 360,000 products.”

For Nam O fish sauce craft village, Tet is the biggest occasion of the year. Local establishments have prepared raw materials and personnel to meet their deadlines.

These days workshops are busy extracting fish sauce from tanks and bottling, labeling, and boxing customers’ orders. Production facilities starting stockpiling supplies for Tet several months ago. Product quality, packaging, and labels have been improved to encourage buyers to buy fish sauce as Tet gifts.

Every time Tet comes around, many people give each other traditional products, helping to popularize Da Nang's OCOP items.

Nguyen Huu Thiet, Chairman of the Da Nang City Farmers' Association, said the municipal administration has supported the craft villages with machinery and equipment, preferential loans, and connections to buyers to guarantee that all their products are purchased.

Thiet said the Association's policy is to direct its affiliates to advise the municipal administration on restoring traditional craft villages and how to help their products reach the market.

“Gradually the restored traditional craft villages will be linked with ecotourism. The city Farmers' Association will organize many trade fairs to introduce and sell OCOP products, particularly the products of craft villages,” said Thiet.