Cooperation and association for sustainable agricultural development

Leaders of Dien Bien district visited the production area of vegetables and fruits of Noong Luong Commune General Service Cooperative with the people.

Noong Luong General Agricultural Cooperative, Noong Luong Commune (Dien Bien District) was newly established and put into operation in early 2022, but has gradually affirmed its role in leading the production and business of member households and farmers. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Huy, Director of Noong Luong General Agricultural Cooperative, said: Up to now, the Cooperative has linked production and product consumption with 34 households, with an area of 3.4 hectares, mainly growing vegetables. Not only stopping at linking with members of the Cooperative, but also doing a good job of consuming and consuming agricultural products for farmers; building a production chain between farmers and the Cooperative and ensuring that people's products do not fall into the situation of "good harvest, low price". At the same time, through the linkage, the Cooperative supplies seeds, fertilizers, and materials of guaranteed quality, contributing to changing the production mindset of farmers in the area.

Muong Nha commune has the strength to develop pineapple into a key product in hunger eradication and poverty reduction, but in the past, people grew it spontaneously, each person planted and consumed it themselves, so the economic efficiency was not high. Since 2022, Muong Nha Pineapple Cooperative was established and linked with households to develop, expand and consume products for people. Up to now, the whole Muong Nha commune has 60 hectares of pineapple of nearly 300 households, of which the pineapple growing area is concentrated in Pu Lau village with more than 30 hectares linked with Muong Nha Pineapple Cooperative.

People of Muong Nha commune cooperate with Muong Nha Pineapple Cooperative in production and product consumption.

According to Mr. Thao A Giang, Director of Muong Nha Pineapple Cooperative, the Cooperative guides people to grow pineapples according to technical processes to improve productivity as well as fruit quality. The Cooperative accepts to consume all output for people, and at the same time cooperates with companies to purchase green and ripe fruits. With guidance on applying science and technology and guaranteeing product consumption, in recent years, pineapple products have become increasingly high quality, with stable prices, helping many households escape poverty.

The reality of developing linkage chains in agricultural production in recent times shows that agricultural cooperatives play an important role in the restructuring of the agricultural sector and in linking and cooperating to develop production. With current practical conditions, the cooperative model in the production and consumption of agricultural products is quite suitable, bringing high socio-economic efficiency. Because only with linkage cooperation can we concentrate land - the main means of production to create concentrated production areas, large fields, and raw material areas. Creating the necessary conditions to apply new scientific and technological advances to the production of large enough volumes of goods to meet the requirements of the consumption chain, overcoming the disadvantages of the existing small and retail household economy.

Green hemp growing model linked to the value chain, from production to product consumption. In the photo: People of Pa Ngam 2 village, Nua Ngam commune, Dien Bien district harvest green hemp.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hanh, Thanh Yen commune (Dien Bien district) said: My family has more than 3,000m2 ^of rice fields for two crops. Since joining the production and consumption linkage with Thanh Yen Agricultural Service Cooperative, we have been supplied with seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, and have been produced according to the process, so productivity and output are always stable. At the end of the season, the Cooperative organizes the purchase of all products at a price higher than the market price at the same time. Although prices fluctuate every year, by linking with the Cooperative, we are still guaranteed profits.

Participating in production linkage, people have their rice products purchased by Thanh Yen General Service Cooperative.

Although the value of the linkage chains between cooperatives and farmers is clear, the development of production and consumption chains of agricultural products in cooperatives still faces some difficulties and limitations. In particular, the linkage chains in cooperatives are still loose, in the form of "willing buyers, willing sellers", leading to the linkage contracts being easily broken. In addition, the awareness of some farmers and cooperative members about joint ventures, linkages, and value chain formation in agricultural production is not high and they have not seen the long-term benefits of linkages in production and consumption of agricultural products. Therefore, the linkage contracts between people - cooperatives - enterprises are still not sustainable and not legally binding.

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