Leverage for cooperative economy

Catch up with the trend

The province currently has nearly 579 registered cooperatives with a total charter capital of VND 1,300 billion; the number of members participating in the cooperative is 11,739 people. Of which, 112 cooperatives participate in the "One Commune One Product" (OCOP) program with 153 products and are ranked from 3 stars or higher. Currently, most cooperatives are in the stage of recovering production and business after the impact of the pandemic. In particular, some cooperatives have operated according to the production method associated with the value chain; many cooperatives have focused on promoting the application of information technology, digital transformation in production and business to catch up with development trends...

In particular, many cooperatives have applied high technology to production, control output quality, and increase crop and livestock productivity. Typical examples include Tien Thanh High-Tech Agricultural Cooperative (Yen Son); Su Anh Agricultural Production Service Cooperative (Tuyen Quang City); Sang Nhung Safe Product Processing and Production Cooperative (Son Duong), Ngan Son - Trung Long Organic Tea Cooperative, Trung Yen Commune (Son Duong); 168 Tea Cooperative, Lang Bat Tea Cooperative, Tan Thanh Commune (Ham Yen); Hong Thai Shan Tuyet Tea Cooperative (Na Hang) ... applying information technology to help connect cooperatives with customers and sell products on social networking platforms.

Mr. Pham Van Bung, Director of Thuan Thuy Green Tea Cooperative, livestreams online sales via Facebook.

Actively seeking directions for the cooperative with different products, Mr. Nguyen Cong Su, Director of Su Anh Agricultural Production Service Cooperative ( Tuyen Quang City) has boldly invested in technology in production, applying sales on social platforms. Currently, the cooperative has 7 OCOP tea products, of which 4 products have achieved 4-star rating (Ngoc Thuy green tea, Ngoc Thuy tea, Ngoc Thuy green tea buds, Ngoc Thuy green tea buds) and 3 products have achieved 3-star rating (Phu Lam green tea, Phu Lam green tea buds, Phu Lam green tea buds).

In particular, the Cooperative also has a unique "frozen tea" product, which was honored as a Scientific Initiative for Developing the Tuyen Quang Tea Brand. Mr. Su said: The Cooperative's tea products have been built and registered with the Intellectual Property Office for their labels and traceability stamps. Accordingly, all products use QR code electronic stamps to trace their origin. Thanks to that, the Cooperative's products are available at a number of supermarkets in the Hanoi market and on e-commerce platforms.

The digital transformation of production and business activities has initially changed the organization and management of cooperatives compared to traditional management methods; improving the quality and efficiency of cooperative operations. Most cooperatives have recognized the importance of digital transformation for organizational activities and development (especially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic); developed specific strategies and plans for digital transformation (from 3 to 5 years) and identified the necessary foundations according to the characteristics of cooperatives.

There are still many barriers

Thuan Thuy Green Tea Cooperative, Yen Thuan Commune (Ham Yen) has started selling on social platforms. Mr. Pham Van Bung, Director of the Cooperative said: “Applying digital transformation to production and business is inevitable to improve product quality and promote consumption, especially for a unit in remote areas. Therefore, in addition to learning from books, newspapers and television, the Cooperative also actively participates in product consumption training sessions organized by departments, branches and units.

Since May 2023, the Cooperative has also conducted livestream sales online through social networks such as Zalo, Facebook, TikTok... Thanks to that, the Cooperative's Shan Cao Duong tea products and Yen Thuan grapefruit green tea have become known to many consumers. The products have been supplied in small quantities to big cities such as Hanoi and Hai Phong. However, up to now, the Cooperative has only supplied in small quantities due to lack of capital to invest in technology and production workshops; lack of human resources to apply digital platforms...

The difficulty of Thuan Thuy Cooperative is also the difficulty of most cooperatives in the province today. The main reason is that many cooperatives have limited resources, so they have not invested in modern machinery and equipment to serve production and business, and do not clearly understand how to implement digital transformation in production; production organization is mostly still in the traditional way, small-scale production, outdated technology infrastructure, limited human resources...

In 2023, the Provincial Cooperative Alliance coordinated with the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance to organize a training course on digital transformation, application of e-commerce in production and business... for nearly 200 cooperative members to participate. The training content includes instructions on electronic tax declaration, electronic skills, propaganda, trade promotion, application of digital transformation in consumption...

Mr. Cao Hung Dung, Chairman of the Provincial Cooperative Union, said: “The Cooperative Union continues to accompany and support cooperatives in the process of digital transformation to meet market requirements. In particular, focusing on supporting cooperatives to promote their internal strength for digital transformation, helping to improve efficiency in the process of promoting, producing, trading, managing cooperatives, improving techniques, applying scientific advances in production and processing, creating many quality products that meet OCOP standards”.

Digital transformation in the cooperative economic sector is necessary for this sector to develop in line with the growth of the economy. However, in order for the cooperative economy to apply digital technology and digital transformation in production and product consumption, cooperatives must be more proactive.

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