Over recent days, many of Da Nang’s craft villages have started to busy themselves in order to increase their production capacity for the most important crop of the year.  Included are the Tuy Loan rice paper village, the Cam Le kho me (sesame cake) village, and the Nam O fish sauce village.

At a sesame cake making establishment (Photo: Bich Thuy)

Mrs Nguyen Thi Nhut’s sesame cake making establishment at 200/5 Ong Ich Duong in Cam Le District is a typical example.

Mrs Nhut proudly said “This year saw higher number of our orders compared with the same period last year.  In particular, the majority of orders with large quantities have been from our regular customers”.

She said that her establishment, and others in the village have stockpiled ingredients for making such cakes several months ago.  In addition, extra seasonal workers, with daily wage of between 120,000 VND and 150,000 VND, have been recruited to further production activities at the venue.

Currently, a box of sesame cakes is priced at between 15,000 VND and 50,000 VND, depending on size and intricacy. 

Busy working atmosphere has also seen at the Tuy Loan rice paper village.  According to the villagers, the prices of 10 pieces of small and large rice papers are now at up to 80,000 VND and 150,000 VND respectively. 

Mrs Tran Thi Luyen from Tuy Loan Tay 1 Village said “Over recent weeks I have to wake up at 1.00am to make rice paper until 11.00am, and then dry the products on charcoal fires to prevent any mould formation.  A total of only 160 pieces of rice paper are made each day.  I am very happy because my products have won the trust of local customers, and this helps me dispel my tiredness”.

Chairman of the Nam O Fish Sauce Association, Mr Tran Ngoc Vinh, said “The village is now home to 53 fish sauce making households.  Together they will produce a total of around 100,000 litres of fish sauce to satisfy the growing consumer demand for the Tet festival, an increase of around 30,000 litres against the same period last year.  To date, a total of around 60,000 litres of fish sauce, priced at 70,000 VND each, have already been sold”.

All these above-mentioned products have won the trust of customers thanks to the villagers’ great efforts in promoting manual methods during their production activities whilst ensuring food safety and hygiene of their products.