An Giang promotes the role of cooperatives in value chain links

5 key link chains

In recent years, the province has prioritized the development of cooperatives, cooperatives, and chain link models, from production to consumption of agricultural products. In particular, many chain link models have been successfully built, developing key agricultural product chains, such as rice, vegetables, livestock, fisheries…

According to the People’s Committee of An Giang province, implementing Action Program 06-CTr/TU, the Provincial People’s Committee approved the project “Restructuring the agricultural sector for the period 2021 – 2025, orientation to 2030”, integrating ecosystem development Agricultural cooperatives are linked to the chain link plan of each industry. From there, a chain of linkages of 5 strong and potential industries and concentrated production material areas associated with the value chain of enterprises, cooperatives and THTs will be formed.

Specifically, the rice industry has established a stable rice production material area applying advanced production processes to reduce costs and increase production efficiency. The province forms a sustainable raw material area between Loc Troi Group Joint Stock Company and agricultural cooperatives in key rice production areas (Tri Ton, Thoai Son, Phu Tan, Chau Thanh districts).

The vegetable industry is formed as a raw material area for growing baby corn, soybeans and vegetables managed by cooperatives and THT, associated with the processing factory of An Giang Food and Vegetable Joint Stock Company in Chau Phu district, Cho Moi, area The combined area reaches 4,265 hectares/year.

The fruit tree industry forms raw material areas, such as: Mango, banana, durian, jackfruit, citrus trees, with an area of ​​over 19,500 hectares. Notably, the mango chain of Cu Lao Gieng GAP Cooperative in the mango specialized production area of ​​3 Cu Lao Gieng communes (Cho Moi district) with wholesale markets and businesses in the city. Ho Chi Minh.

In addition, the province formed an associated pangasius farming area with an area of ​​1,070 hectares, notably a high-tech pangasius breeding area in TX. Tan Chau of Viet Uc Group. The province basically formed a farming and processing area for pigs, chickens, and ducks in TX. Tinh Bien, Tri Ton district, Chau Phu, Thoai Son of CP Vietnam Livestock Joint Stock Company, Thagrico Company…

Aiming for concentrated, modern and effective agricultural production

Quantity goes hand in hand with quality

Chairman of the Cooperative Alliance An Giang Tran Van Hard said that by December 15, 2023, the whole province had 287 cooperatives operating in 6 fields and 1,099 cooperatives. Currently, 12 products of cooperatives and THT participate in the One Commune One Product Program (OCOP). Among them, 4 products of the cooperative meet OCOP 3-star standards, including: Acacia mango of Long Binh Agricultural Cooperative (An Phu district), sarong of Khmer Van Giao Brocade Weaving Cooperative (Tinh Bien town), dried frogs sunshine of Khanh Hoa Trade – Service – Frog Breeding Cooperative, Canoe longan of Khanh Hoa Trade – Service – Agricultural Tourism Cooperative (Chau Phu district).

The province has 8 potential products, including: Floating rice season rice of Vinh Phat Agricultural Cooperative, durian of Phuoc Loc Thanh Production – Trade – Service Cooperative, dried eel of VietGAP Thanh Eel Farming Trade – Service Cooperative My Tay (Chau Phu district); flat-seeded mango from GAP Cu Lao Gieng Cooperative, baby corn from GlobalGAP Agricultural Products Cooperative (Cho Moi district), dried red tilapia from My Hoa Hung Cooperative (Long Xuyen City), abalone mushrooms from Agricultural Production Cooperative and Chau Thanh service (Chau Thanh district), Nui Cam tangerine of THT citrus growing (Tinh Bien town).

Chairman of the Board of Directors, Director of Cu Lao Gieng GAP Cooperative (Binh Phuoc Xuan commune, Cho Moi district) Nguyen Minh Hien said: “In 2024, we plan to purchase 200 hectares of VietGAP mangoes in the commune, helping farmers People develop stable production and consumption of agricultural products, forming the practice of producing mangoes under off-take contracts. From there, step by step overcome the refrain “If you get a good price, you lose the season, if you get a good season you lose the price” or being pressured by traders.”

GAP Cu Lao Gieng Cooperative has signed a cooperation agreement in the direction of providing fruit packaging materials and guaranteeing money to buy agricultural materials from farmers with Tin Tam Investment and Trade Development Company Limited (Long Xuyen City). ), no interest, payment after harvest. The cooperative purchases all green-skinned mangoes that have signed contracts, the price for type I mangoes in the favorable season (from January to May every year), large fruits 15,000 VND/kg, small fruits (toad wearing) 14,000 VND/kg. Grade I mangoes are in off-season (from June to December every year), large ones are 20,000 VND/kg, small ones are 17,000 VND/kg. Particularly, mangoes that fall out are purchased at the market price negotiated by the two parties.

“According to the company’s technical requirements, farmers are not allowed to use pesticides on the State’s list of banned drugs. When harvesting, they must be quarantined for at least 14 days. Regarding product standards, large or small fruits must still be covered with smooth skin, without affecting their appearance, being sticky with pus or being bitten or stung by insects. Large mangoes weigh from 600gr to under 1kg, small mangoes from 230gr to under 600gr. Producing according to prescribed standards contributes to improving the quality and value of agricultural products” – Mr. Nguyen Minh Hien added.

In the period 2021 – 2023, the province supports and creates conditions for 34 agricultural cooperatives and THT to access capital to build agricultural models applying high technology to production and business; Granting 343 growing area codes to businesses, cooperatives, and THTs for export. In addition, the Provincial People’s Committee approved the investment policy for 4 agricultural cooperatives participating in the pilot cooperative project using provincial budget capital for medium-term public investment in the period 2021 – 2025, with a total investment capital of over 8.3 billion VND. billion VND (provincial budget capital is nearly 8 billion VND, the remaining is counterpart capital of the cooperative). Commercial banks lent over 10.6 billion VND to cooperatives and THTs, and 450 billion VND to businesses. Support 5 cooperatives to bring agricultural products to e-commerce platforms, such as: Voso, Postmart, sanocop; 15 cooperatives apply information technology and digital transformation to the cooperative’s production and business activities.

“Participating in cooperatives has brought practical economic results, such as: The value of input materials is reduced, labor productivity and agricultural product quality are increased, consumption is good and stable, and selling prices are also high. more… A very vivid, “speaking” detail in the OCOP product evaluation and ranking periods is that the ranked products all belong to collective economies, mainly cooperatives. When recognized as an OCOP product, the price and sales of the product increased significantly” – Mr. Tran Van Cang affirmed.

Aiming for efficiency and sustainability

Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Si Lam said that, implementing Action Program 06-CTr/TU, period 2021 – 2023, An Giang has formed concentrated, closed rice production material areas. managed by agricultural cooperatives. Cooperatives guide farmers in production, participate in supplying input materials, perform services for agricultural production and sign consumption contracts with businesses. The enterprise side is mainly responsible for consumption, personnel and technological equipment serving agricultural production.

“More and more agricultural cooperatives, THTs, and businesses are applying high technology and digital transformation in production and business, thanks to accessing more and more diverse capital sources, through preferential loan support policies in the field. agriculture. The connection between farmers and farmers, member farmers and cooperatives, and between cooperatives and businesses has been strengthened. At the same time, production cooperation helps cooperatives and farmers improve income, cut rice production costs due to labor savings, and increase income due to discounts from using services provided by cooperatives” – Mr. Nguyen Si Lam assessed.

Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the People’s Council of An Giang province Le Van Nung said that the leading factor determining success in developing and improving the efficiency of the collective economy is to properly determine the role of the Party committee, the attention, leadership and management of all levels of government.

At the same time, closely following the Party’s viewpoints and guidelines, the State’s policies and laws, and concretizing the actual local conditions… This is a key factor in successfully implementing targets, Tasks of Action Program 06-CTr/TU, in the direction of collective economic development, cooperatives associated with production organization according to local value chains…

“The Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political, socio-professional organizations and the Cooperative Alliance are the core force to propagate and mobilize members, union members, and people from all walks of life to change perceptions and concepts. Old-style cooperatives, slow to develop, move to new-style cooperatives, moving forward to actively participate in contributing capital to establish cooperatives and using the services provided by cooperatives. In particular, collective economic development must be based on understanding social needs, production needs and workers. At the same time, associated with determining the content of the collective economic model, the cooperative model is suitable for each subject, each area, and type of production, taking economic efficiency as the focus” – comrade Le Van Nung emphasize.

Besides the achieved results, the process of implementing Action Program 06-CTr/TU still faces some limitations, such as: Cooperatives and THTs are small in scale, and their growth and business efficiency are not high. , so internal accumulation for reinvestment in development is limited. In some places, cooperatives were established according to targets or mandatory requirements of new rural criteria, so their operations are formal and do not bring practical benefits to members. On the other hand, the production scale of farmers is still small and fragmented, they are still afraid and have not boldly linked up in groups or through representative organizations (Cooperatives, THTs) to jointly produce large areas, creating Homogeneous products…

Promoting the achieved results, while overcoming limitations, in the coming time, Party committees at all levels, local authorities, agencies and units will continue to implement Action Program 06-CTr/TU. Accordingly, continue to raise awareness of the role of Party committees, governments, and socio-political organizations to mobilize synergy and accelerate the development of farmer representative organizations associated with linkages. produce agricultural products in a modern, effective and sustainable manner. Develop agricultural cooperatives and cooperatives associated with modern production organizations, linking businesses to form large-scale, industrial-scale production areas, closed from production to processing; Apply digital technology and digital transformation to improve quality, brand, value of agricultural products and income for farmers.

Along with that, gradually modernize agriculture, apply science and technology, mechanize, apply technical standards and international market standards, issue planting area codes, and trace origins to ensure Ensuring transparency and product quality. Innovate the methods and forms of operation of cooperatives and agricultural cooperatives in a modern and effective direction, transforming farmers’ thinking from agricultural production to agricultural economics. Develop harmonious production relationships, companionship, mutually beneficial cooperation, and shared risks between cooperatives, cooperatives and enterprises.

THU THAO – HANH CHAU