Production linkage: The effective direction of cooperatives

– Over the past time, with the attention and support of all levels and functional sectors in the province, cooperatives have actively linked production and consumption of products, thereby, bringing about practical results.

Over the years, many households in Chi Lang commune, Chi Lang district have grown fruit trees for economic development. However, due to small-scale production, the linkage of production is weak, therefore, it frequently leads to the problem of selling a great harvest at low price. Stemming from that fact, in 2016, Phuong Hoang Cooperative was established and associated with 18 cooperative member households to produce nearly 15 hectares of fruit trees (10 hectares of pomelo, 4.5 hectares of custard apple). Mr. Duong Ngoc Dai, director of the cooperative said: “Right after its establishment, the cooperative actively improved the quality and value of products by coordinating with professional agencies to guide people to plant and take care of fruit trees according to VietGAP standards, searching for the consumption market to ensure a stable output. As a result, product quality is improved with better package; the price and consumption market are stable. In 2020, the cooperative purchased and sold 100 tons of fruit, the revenue was over 1 billion VND.”

Representative of Tuan Vu Agricultural Product Cooperative, Trang Dinh district purchases agricultural products from people (photo taken before April 27, 2021)

Similar to Phuong Hoang Cooperative, the Cooperative of Agricultural Production and Service Supply in Quyet Thang Commune (Huu Lung District), established in 2015, also cooperates with 76 households growing Bat Do bamboo shoots. Accordingly, the cooperative provides bamboo shoots, guides people to plant and take care of them according to VietGAP standards and consumes all bamboo shoots for people with an area of ​​27 hectares. On average, a year, the cooperative buys over 20 tons of Bat Do bamboo shoots. This linkage contributes to ensuring a stable market for bamboo growers in the area and ensures the supply of processing materials for the cooperative. In 2020, the cooperative’s revenue reached 560 million VND, up 140 million VND compared to 2019.

The above are just two of many cooperatives that effectively link production. Recently, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has implemented programs to create favorable condition for cooperatives to develop. Specifically, from 2015 up to now, the department has organized 60 propaganda classes to guide the establishment of new cooperatives with 2,704 participants who are organizations, individuals and founders wishing to establish cooperatives. In addition, in the period of 2015 – 2020, the department organized 40 training courses for training and fostering human resources for cooperatives with 1,454 participants, contributing to improving the qualifications of the Management Board, members of the cooperative in managing, developing plans and appropriate production and trading.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Ly, Director of Agricultural Product Cooperatives in Chi Lang district, said: “In order to improve the efficiency of the linkage between the cooperatives and the people, it is very important to actively seek markets for farmers to sell their products. As soon as the cooperative was established (in 2018), the Board of Directors of the cooperative actively researched the market both inside and outside the province to consume agricultural products of Chi Lang district as well as some other districts in the area. Thanks to a hard work of researching and connecting through many different information channels, up to now, the cooperative’s agricultural product consumption market has spread throughout the country, in which, the most popular ones are markets of agricultural products, supermarkets in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh… as well as exporting agricultural products to foreign countries. With markets, the cooperative has actively linked to consume agricultural products for farmers. From 2018 to now, on average, the cooperative consumes about 100 tons of custard apple per year for farmers; in the 2021 chili season, the cooperative has consumed 1,700 tons of fresh chili…”

Gia Cat clean vegetables and fruits cooperative members take care of asparagus

In particular, implementing Program No. 22/CTr-UBND dated July 15, 2016 on restructuring the agricultural sector associated with new rural development in the 2016-2020 period, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, districts and cities have focused on propagating and supporting cooperatives and people to link and sell products. Accordingly, the department directs its affiliated units to build 30 models with 28 cooperatives and 4 cooperative groups participating in production models applying scientific and technical advances associated with product consumption linkages….Thereby, it gradually changes the traditional production practices, contributing to improving economic efficiency.

As a result, up to now, the whole province has 36 cooperatives that have effectively linked with farmers to consume products through contracts such as Bac Son General Business – Production Cooperative (Bac Son district) with the production and purchase of Bac Son yellow-flowered sticky rice of households and cooperative members with an area of ​​30 ha; Yen Thinh Agricultural Service Production Cooperative, Cai Kinh Agriculture and Forestry Cooperative (Huu Lung District) signed contracts to produce and consume products of households and cooperative members with a total production area of over 40 ha… Thereby, it not only improves the production efficiency of the cooperative but also contributes to creating stable output for the people. In 2020, the average revenue of cooperatives in the province reached over 500 million VND/cooperative, up 50 million VND/cooperative compared to that of 2018.

Mr. Hoang Van Su, Kep 1 village, Quyet Thang commune (Huu Lung district) participating in the chain of production and consumption of products from Quyet Thang Commune Agricultural Production and Service Supply Cooperative said: “My family grows about 1,000 bamboo shoots, previously, there was no association with cooperatives, I have to wait for traders to buy at  volatile prices. In 2017, since I associated with the cooperative, the product was sold at a more stable price, our people were very excited, every year I sell about 3 tons of bamboo shoots to the cooperative, earning over 100 million VND.”

Assessing the efficiency of production linkages of cooperatives, Mr. Pham Tuyen, Director of the Rural Development Sub-Department of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: “The implementation of production linkages of cooperatives contributes to creating stable output for products, attracts production scale expansion, increases production value by 1.2 -1.5 times compared to mass production. The linkage creates a premise for the application of science and technology, especially high technology application to agricultural production, contributing to improving professional knowledge, management skills, changing production practices and spontaneous consumption to goodsproduction for farmers, connecting the community.

In the coming time, the provincial agricultural sector will continue to promote the effective implementation of programs, schemes and plans for agricultural and collective economic development. At the same time, it is necessary to continue to direct the professional agencies to guide, integrate and mobilize resources to support the construction and development of value chains and linkages in agricultural production, in which selecting construction chains which must be of a large enough scale, with the participation of enterprises, cooperatives and cooperative groups in the form of close association and there is a legal obligation between the participating parties.