Driving force for collective economic development in the new period

Booth connecting agricultural product consumption for cooperatives, cooperative groups, and production facilities in Quang Tri province located in Dien Sanh town, Hai Lang district - Photo: NT

On the basis of resolutions and policies to support collective economy and cooperatives issued by the central government, especially the implementation of the Program to support the development of collective economy and cooperatives for the period 2021 - 2025 issued together with Decision No. 1804/QD-TTg, dated November 13, 2020 of the Prime Minister and the development of the Master Program on collective economy for the period 2026 - 2030, the province has developed and issued a system of directive and management documents, mechanisms and policies for the development of collective economy and cooperatives in accordance with the potential and strengths of the locality such as: regulations on the level of expenditure to support the development of collective economy and cooperatives in the province and the charter capital of the cooperative development support fund; content and level of support in implementing production development support activities under national target programs; policies to support interest rates on loans for production and business development to implement the national target program on new rural construction... Thanks to that, cooperatives and cooperative groups have developed in both quantity and quality, and many new models have emerged with effective operations.

In the period of 2021-2025, the total budget for implementing the Program on developing collective economy and cooperatives is more than 44.4 billion VND, of which the state budget supports over 31 billion VND, and the cooperative's counterpart fund is more than 13.4 billion VND. The whole province has newly established 53 cooperatives and 1 cooperative union. 100% of cooperatives and cooperative unions are organized and operate according to the provisions of the Law on Cooperatives, achieving the set goals. The number of cooperatives operating from good level and above reached 63%, exceeding the set target. There are 38 cooperatives applying high technology or applying technical technology, tracing origin in production and business. The number of members participating in cooperatives has increased significantly. Up to

Currently, the province has 320 agricultural cooperatives and 2 agricultural cooperative unions with a total of 60,949 members; there are 1,981 cooperatives, of which 237 have notified/registered their operations with the local authorities and functional agencies. Most of the cooperatives in the province are general agricultural service cooperatives, accounting for 90% and only 10% are specialized cooperatives (pig farming, aquaculture, planting, processing, trading coffee, medicinal herbs...). Average revenue is about 1.35 billion VND/cooperative, average profit is 130 million VND/year/cooperative. Average income of regular workers in cooperatives is 35 million VND/year. Total assets of cooperatives are 500 billion VND, of which current assets are 150 billion VND, fixed assets are 350 billion VND.

The province regularly integrates into training programs to raise awareness for managers and cooperative members about cooperative management knowledge, cooperative accounting, FSC-certified forest planting and care techniques, digital transformation in agricultural cooperatives, product traceability, etc. Organizing agricultural cooperatives to participate in many trade promotion activities, expanding markets inside and outside the province. Currently, 81/318 cooperatives participate in linking agricultural products based on linking businesses and companies with cooperatives to consume products for cooperative members.

The province has 29/103 OCOP entities being cooperatives with 46/181 products. In the 2021-2025 period, more than 30 agricultural cooperatives have participated with an estimated total budget of about 180 million VND. Implementing policies to support investment in infrastructure and product processing, the province has supported 88 agricultural cooperatives with a total budget of 32,722 million VND, of which the central budget of the National Target Program on New Rural Construction is 20,931 million VND; the provincial budget is 11,791 million VND.

The supporting projects focus on developing infrastructure, machinery, factories for preliminary processing and processing of agricultural products, and main intra-field traffic routes and intra-field canals for irrigation of cooperatives. The policy to support attracting young workers to work at the cooperative has also been promoted, supporting the attraction of 8 young workers with a total budget (provincial budget) of over 780 million VND.

Although the policy has only been implemented for nearly 2 years, most of the attracted young workers have completed their tasks well, helping cooperatives build more effective production and business plans and strategies, and the financial management of cooperatives has become more orderly and in accordance with State regulations.

In the period of 2021 - 2025, the province has selected 5 agricultural cooperatives to participate in the pilot project of effective cooperatives. Up to now, the cooperatives have achieved and exceeded the set targets: the classification score according to Circular No. 01/2020/TT-BKHĐT is higher than 80 points, attracting more members to participate, revenue and profit increased compared to before participating in the project, which is the basis for replicating the model in the period of 2026 - 2030.

Promoting the achieved results, at the same time overcoming the limitations and shortcomings in the process of implementing policies to support collective economy and cooperatives, in the coming time, the province will continue to promote propaganda and raise awareness of collective economy and cooperatives in the new period.

Issue policies to support cooperatives participating in OCOP, support the construction of factories, machinery and equipment for processing agricultural products in line with local conditions. Complete specialized departments on economic and social development at all levels, especially at the commune level after the merger to strengthen state management at the grassroots level. Develop a coordination mechanism between departments, branches and sectors with the People's Committees at the commune and ward levels in monitoring and supporting cooperatives. Include criteria for cooperative development in the performance assessment criteria of commune-level authorities.

Innovate production and business methods of cooperatives. Support cooperatives in digital transformation, brand building, growing area codes, and connection with e-commerce platforms. Orient cooperatives to develop along value chains in potential areas: clean agricultural products, medicinal plants, coastal aquaculture, and community tourism.

Strengthen close links with businesses and banks to call for investment to support cooperatives to operate effectively, strengthen links and access preferential credit. Develop typical support programs and projects to develop cooperative models associated with community tourism in ethnic minority areas. Pilot implementation of high-tech cooperative support programs in the production of medicinal plants, processing of essential oils, herbs, etc.

Ngoc Trang

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/dong-luc-thuc-day-phat-trien-kinh-te-tap-the-trong-giai-doan-moi-193961.htm