Agricultural and fishery cooperatives strengthen linkages along the value chain, solving output for agricultural products

Currently, the network of agricultural and fishery cooperatives in Tien Giang province is developing strongly, contributing to attracting farmers to participate in new collective farming models, creating jobs for idle agricultural workers, strengthening linkages along the value chain, solving output for agricultural products, and increasing income for member households.

Growing safe vegetables at Hoa Thanh General Agricultural Cooperative (Go Cong Tay district).

The province has established 195 agricultural and aquatic cooperatives, attracting nearly 45,000 members, creating regular jobs for nearly 2,300 workers. In the first quarter of 2024, the network of agricultural and aquatic cooperatives in Tien Giang province achieved a total revenue of over 111.7 billion VND, an increase of 13.64% over the same period last year.

According to the assessment, in Tien Giang province, agricultural and fishery cooperatives proactively innovate their activities, actively coordinate with all levels and sectors to promote agricultural and fishery extension work, support members in applying agricultural science to production, implement farming processes according to VietGAP, GlobalGAP, organic agriculture; link businesses according to the value chain model of providing input and output services for agricultural products...

In the 2023-2024 Winter-Spring crop, cooperatives specializing in rice production have proactively linked with businesses to build large fields with a total area of 2,500 hectares. Typical examples include My Trinh Agricultural Service Cooperative (Cai Be district), My Thanh Nam Agricultural Cooperative (Cai Lay district), My Quoi Agricultural Service Cooperative (Cai Be district), My Thanh Bac Agricultural Service Cooperative (Cai Lay district), Tang Hoa Agricultural Service Cooperative (Go Cong Dong district), Binh Nhi Rural Service Cooperative (Go Cong Tay district)...

Implementing the Large Field linkage model, in the Winter-Spring crop of 2023 - 2024, cooperatives harvested the area in the model with an average yield of 70 - 72 quintals/ha, the selling price guaranteed by enterprises was 600 - 900 VND/kg higher than the market, farmers earned a profit of 35 - 40 million VND/ha, the highest ever.

For many years, safe vegetable production cooperatives have cooperated to supply safe vegetables to supermarkets, collective kitchens in and outside the province, wholesale markets, etc., with nearly 40 types of vegetables, the supply output in the first months of 2024 reached about 5,000 tons of products. Notable ones are Go Cong Safe Vegetable Cooperative (Go Cong Dong district), Thanh Hung Safe Vegetable Cooperative (Go Cong Tay district), Long Thuan Fruit and Vegetable Cooperative (Go Cong city)...

Mr. Vo Minh Luan, Director of Phu Quoi Agricultural - Trade - Service Cooperative (Go Cong Tay district) said that the cooperative has attracted 130 members, cultivating nearly 14 hectares of safe vegetables according to VietGAP criteria. For many years, thanks to the association with collective kitchens, supermarkets, wholesale markets, ... supplying safe vegetables according to the value chain model, it has contributed to stabilizing production and increasing income for member households and farmers in the association model. On average, each day, through association, Phu Quoi Agricultural - Trade - Service Cooperative supplies the market with over 4 tons of safe vegetables. Through the survey, a household cultivating an average of 1,000m2 of safe vegetables has an income of 8 - 9 million VND/month. Therefore, people feel secure in sticking with the cooperative, organizing production to achieve increasingly high efficiency.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Quang, Director of Hoa Thanh General Agricultural Cooperative (Go Cong Tay district) shared that with over 20 hectares of safe vegetables, through the value chain linkage model, the cooperative supplies the market with 5 tons of safe vegetables to partners every day on average. To maintain year-round production, especially during the complicated drought and saline intrusion season of 2023 - 2024, the cooperative has received support from the province to invest in 2 electric pumping stations to get water for irrigation. These electric pumping stations are promoting irrigation efficiency, helping the cooperative ensure the production - consumption chain of safe vegetables, without interruption during the severe drought in this year's dry season.

In Tan Phu Dong district, Phu Tan Aquaculture Cooperative has over 60 hectares of production following the model of 1 shrimp crop + 1 rice crop/year (shrimp + rice) which brings high efficiency, adapts to drought, salinity, and mitigates natural disasters. According to Mr. Ha Van Hai, Director of the Cooperative, the unit links shrimp farming enterprises in the direction of biosafety, rice production according to GlobalGAP criteria has helped increase the average income to 50 - 60 million VND/ha/year. Thanks to that, 100% of households are recognized as well-off, rich, there are no more poor households.

In particular, 43 cooperatives specializing in fruit production and supply in the first months of 2024 have supplied the market with 3,500 tons of fruit, mainly local specialty fruits with competitive advantages such as Hoa Loc mango, green-skinned grapefruit, durian, etc. Mr. Pham Van Nuoi, Director of Cam Son Agricultural Service Cooperative (Cai Lay district) said that not only supplying fruit to the market, the cooperative also cooperates with farmers to build export growing area codes for thousands of hectares of durian in Cam Son commune. This is the basis for Tien Giang durian, including Cam Son commune, to be officially exported to the Chinese market, benefiting farmers.

According to the leader of the Tien Giang Province Cooperative Union, in the coming time, in order to help agricultural and fishery cooperatives improve their operational efficiency, Tien Giang province will continue to promote propaganda work and raise awareness of the role of new-style cooperatives in all levels, sectors and the masses.

The province synchronously implements the Cooperative Support Program for the period 2021 - 2025, with preferential policies on land, finance, credit, and infrastructure improvement to help improve processing and product preservation capacity, ensure synchronous logistics infrastructure in the production areas of cooperatives as well as promote trade and expand markets.

At the same time, actively support cooperatives in agricultural and rural vocational training, safe production, high-tech application, building growing area codes, traceability, applying digital technology in production management and product consumption... as well as replicating effective value chain cooperative models, solving input and output problems for agricultural products, stabilizing and improving the living standards of member households.

Minh Tri

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