Traditional craft villages struggle for survival

Hanoi (VNA)- Twenty percent of traditional craft villages have gone bankrupt and another 20 percent are on the brink of bankruptcy, warned a watchdog chief.

Vu Quoc Tuan, president of the Vietnam Traditional Craft Villages Association,
said the remaining 60 percent of Vietnam 's 2,107 craft villages are struggling
for survival, and that the dilemma imperils the ability of over 11 million workers
to earn their livings.

In villages with booming craft industries, living conditions are much better than
in purely farming communities. Many handicraft entrepreneurs have become
billionaires, according to national statistics.

Traditional craft villages also serve as repository of cultural heritage, said Ho
Xuan Hung, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

However, they are facing numerous difficulties in developing, the first of which
is access to bank loans, said traditional crafts business owners.

They also complained of a shortage of skilled workers, saying that only elderly
artisans dedicate their careers to craft villages, while younger generations are
reluctant to learn traditional skills, especially handicrafts.

To tackle the problem, the Government has been considering business models
based on tours of traditional crafts villages, to promote on-the-spot exports.

Tran Chien Thang, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said many
traditional crafts villages have already set up relationships with travel agents
to open tours of their sites. However, they have not yet received support from
other relevant agencies, especially local administrations.

Luu Duy Dan, Deputy President-cum-Secretary General of the Vietnam Traditional
Crafts Villages' Association, said there should be projects to promote tours of
traditional crafts villages on a systematic basis.

He proposed tours of pottery villages, including famous sites such as Bat Trang
village on the outskirts of Hanoi , Phu Lang village in Bac Ninh province, Tho
Ha village in Bac Giang province and Chu Dau village in Hai Duong, all in the
north.

He added that natural silk-making villages in Ha Dong, Chuong My, Phu Xuyen,
Thuong Tin, Thach That and Son Dong around Hanoi are potential destinations, while
Ha Nam, Ninh Binh and Nam Dinh provinces may organise tours of embroidery and
sedge mat-making sites.

However, to make these schemes work, traditional crafts villages should intensify
investments in infrastructure and improve their environments, Dan
emphasized.--Enditem