Members of the Thoi Thanh Agriculture Cooperative process coconuts to make coconut-related products in Ben Tre province’s Thanh Phu district. (Photo: VNA)The province plans to develop 50 new cooperative groups and 15 newcooperatives this year, according to the provincial People’s Committee.
Under current regulations, the minimum number of required membersfor a cooperative group are three and seven for a cooperative.
The province plans to increase the average revenue of cooperativesto 2.1 billion VND (89,000 USD) this year from 1.2 billion VND (51,000 USD)last year.
It aims to develop 20 new products under the country’s “One Commune - One Product” (OCOP) programme for 20 cooperatives and upgrade thestar level of seven existing OCOP products of cooperatives this year. OCOPproducts are rated from one to five stars.
Nguyen Minh Canh, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’sCommittee, said the province will renovate the operation of the collectiveeconomy to improve its efficiency.
It will strengthen advocacy activities to enhance the awareness ofofficials, Party members and locals about the role and importance of thecollective economy.
It will improve policies for developing human resources, softloans, new technology, infrastructure, marketing and market informationresearch for the collective economy and co-operatives.
It will boost linkages between co-operatives and companies toproduce and consume products and services.
It will instruct agriculture co-operatives to change their mindsetof merely producing to become part of an agricultural economy to enable them tosell their produce.
Phung Anh Thuc Doan, Vice Chairwoman of the provincial CooperativeAlliance, said the alliance will instruct cooperatives to set up efficientproduction plans.
The production plans will diversify services, focus on using newseed varieties that have high yield and quality, produce safe and cleanproducts, and boost linkages among stakeholders in production and consumption,she said.
To increase value for agricultural products, the province hasencouraged companies and cooperatives to invest in production facilities andmachines to increase the rate of deep processing for agricultural products.
Develop more cooperatives
After the implementation of the 2012 Cooperative Law, theoperation of cooperatives has been improved significantly and their operatingmodels suit the production conditions of their members, according to theprovincial People’s Committee.
The number of the province’s cooperatives has increased from 94 in2013 to 179 last year. Of them, 140 operate in the agriculture and aquaculturesectors.
Many agriculture cooperatives have effectively supplied inputmaterials for agricultural production and have linked with processing companiesto secure outlets for farmers.
They have led in using good agricultural practices (GAP) ororganic standards in growing crops, especially coconut.
The country’s largest coconut producing province has developedconcentrated coconut growing areas in which cooperatives link with processingcompanies to grow the nut under organic standards.
It has 17,000ha of its 78,000ha of coconut planted to organicstandards, according to its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
There are 79 cooperative groups and 58 cooperatives growingcoconuts in the province. Of them, 32 cooperative groups and 28 cooperatives,which grow 5,600ha of coconuts and have 6,200 members, have linked withcompanies to develop value chains for their coconuts.
More agriculture cooperatives in Ben Tre have linked withcompanies to secure outlets and stable prices for their members.
Dinh Thuy Agriculture Cooperative in Mo Cay Nam district’s DinhThuy commune has a farm contract with a processing company to grow coconut toorganic standards.
It has 500ha of coconut and 144ha of them are planted to organicstandards under the farm contract.
Dang Truc Phuong, chairman of the cooperative, said the linkage togrow coconut under a value chain is a key for the cooperative’s members tobecome wealthy.
The cooperative gets an average revenue of 600 million VND (25,500USD) a month, he said.
Tran Van Luong, a member of the cooperative, said: “Thanks to thecooperative having a farm contract with the company, my family’s 1ha coconutgrove has stable outlet.”
He harvests about 1,200 coconuts which are purchased at a price of5,000-12,000 VND per dozen, higher than market prices, he said.
Huynh Quang Duc, deputy director of the department, said thedepartment has encouraged coconut farmers to join cooperative groups and cooperativeswhich link with companies to develop value chains for coconut and establishsustainable growing areas to meet export requirements.
The province is fostering growing coconut to organic standards anddeveloping production codes for coconut growing areas for official export toChina and other markets./.
VNA
