Cooperatives in Dak Nong produce in association with value chains

Exploiting agricultural potential and advantages

Dak Nong currently has 294 cooperatives, of which 230 operate in the agricultural sector. In recent years, the Dak Nong Cooperative Union has promoted propaganda to cooperatives and farmers about the role and benefits of production linkages according to the value chain.

Cong Bang Dak Ka Agricultural and Commercial Cooperative, Dak R'lap district invests in greenhouses to dry coffee

The Cooperative Alliance and cooperatives assessed that the province has many potentials and advantages for agricultural production according to the value chain. Of which, the total agricultural land area is over 378,000 hectares, accounting for 58% of the province's natural area.

Dak Nong's annual crop area is over 86,000 hectares, and perennial crops are about 235,000 hectares. Dak Nong's land and climate are favorable for cultivation.

Mr. Bui Hoa Tham, Vice President of Dak Nong Cooperative Union, shared that the Cooperative Union clearly recognized the reality that in the development process, Dak Nong province's agriculture in general and cooperatives in particular revealed major gaps in production lines, post-harvest processing technology, quality and food hygiene and safety.

Cong Bang Dak Ka Agricultural and Commercial Cooperative, Dak R'lap district, received partial funding to invest in greenhouses for coffee production according to the value chain.

Therefore, although the province has many advantages in exporting agricultural products, the sustainability in production is not high. Agricultural products mainly stop at exporting raw agricultural products. Meanwhile, the added value of agricultural products is mainly due to processing, packaging and commercial activities.

The main reason for this situation is the backwardness of pre- and post-harvest technology. Cooperatives are still limited in their qualifications, so they have not participated in the chain from production, processing to marketing, distribution and consumption.

Nam Ha Agricultural and Forestry Cooperative, Cu Jut District produces natural gac vermicelli according to the value chain

“As a representative agency of the collective economic sector, many years ago we promoted cooperatives and farmers to understand value chain production. In early 2021, the Dak Nong Cooperative Alliance implemented the Project to build a model of a chain linking product consumption for cooperatives and cooperatives in Dak Nong and was approved by the Provincial People's Committee to be implemented until 2025,” Mr. Tham shared.

In 2021, participating in the Project to build a model of a chain linking product consumption for cooperatives and cooperatives, the whole province has 5 cooperatives and 1 cooperative group receiving a total support of 1,350 million VND.

They are: Cong Bang Dak Ka Commercial Agricultural Cooperative (Dak R'lap); Cong Bang Thanh Thai Agricultural Cooperative (Krong No); Nam Ha Agricultural and Forestry Cooperative (Cu Jut); Long Viet Agricultural - Service Cooperative (Tuy Duc); Nhu Y High-tech Agricultural Cooperative (Gia Nghia); Agricultural and Brocade Weaving Cooperative (Dak R'lap).

Before the project, in the period of 2018 - 2020, there were 4 cooperatives supported by the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance with a total budget of 885 million VND for production according to the value chain, including: Krong No Agricultural Cooperative (Krong No); Tia Sang Agricultural Service and Trade Cooperative (Gia Nghia); Quang Truc Green Agricultural Cooperative (Tuy Duc); Hoang Nguyen Organic Agricultural and Trade Service Cooperative (Dak Song).

Clear transformation

Cooperatives producing according to the value chain have shown clear development. Agricultural cooperatives producing according to the value chain have been improving product quality to meet the requirements of sustainable agricultural development and increasing farmers' income.

Typically, Nam Ha Agricultural and Forestry Cooperative Nam Ha Cooperative is currently associated with nearly 210 members and farming households growing more than 100 hectares of gac fruit. The Cooperative currently processes gac oil, gac membrane, gac powder, and gac vermicelli.

Of which, gac membrane products are exported to the Korean and Taiwanese markets. Natural gac vermicelli of Nam Ha Cooperative has achieved 3-star OCOP, producing about 100 tons per month.

Nam Ha Agricultural and Forestry Cooperative, Cu Jut district produces gac fruit according to the value chain to increase farmers' income.

Mr. Tran Dinh Luong, Director of Nam Ha Agricultural and Forestry Cooperative, shared: “Previously, the cooperative mainly produced raw products with low economic value. Since 2018, we have invested in processing according to the value chain but encountered difficulties in capital sources. With capital support from the Dak Nong Cooperative Union and the Provincial People's Committee, we boldly invested an additional 1 billion VND to buy a production line, a factory to produce and deeply process products, which has increased the value of gac fruit. Currently, gac growers often earn a profit of 120-150 million VND/ha/year.”

Dak Nong has a large coffee area, with an area of about 140,000 hectares, including Robusta coffee, famous for its delicious and aromatic flavor. Many cooperatives have determined to develop a value chain from coffee.

Dak Ka Cong Bang Agricultural and Commercial Cooperative was established in 2020. Its initial economic potential was limited, so it encountered difficulties in expanding its care scale and processing capacity.

Mr. Tran Van Phu, Director of Dak Ka Cooperative said: “Previously, we only supplied green coffee beans to partners. After receiving financial support from the province, we invested more than 1 billion VND to build a greenhouse for drying and modern roasting machines to process specialty coffee.”

Typical products of cooperatives displayed and introduced at the Conference to honor typical and advanced cooperatives

Dak Ka Cooperative invested in a coffee roasting machine with a capacity of 150 tons/year, increasing the factory capacity to 225 tons/year to supply domestic partners and export.

Specialty robusta coffee products (fine robusta) of Dak Ka Cooperative are highly appreciated by the World Coffee Quality Institute CQI, achieving 80 points or more, ground coffee achieves 3-star OCOP.

Cong Bang Thanh Thai Agricultural Cooperative currently has over 240 members growing 500 hectares of coffee, of which about 200 hectares are invested in specialty production. Specialty coffee production increases economic value, at times increasing 1.5 times compared to regular coffee production.

Mr. Lang The Thanh, Director of Thanh Thai Cooperative, said that producing high-quality coffee associated with value chain development is a long-term direction for the cooperative.

The cooperative strives to increase the area of specialty coffee, applying high technology to about 300 hectares in the next few years, and build a growing area code. The cooperative continues to invest in machinery and technology, improve product quality, and diversify products to meet market demand.

Thanh Thai Cooperative has 2 products that have achieved 3-star OCOP: roasted and ground coffee, paper filter coffee and has registered the trademark "Quintessence of Dak Nong volcanic land".

Tia Sang Cooperative, Gia Nghia City produces passion fruit according to the value chain for export.

Up to now, the whole province has about 50 cooperatives aiming at value chain production with products such as: coffee, pepper, rice, fruits, vegetables, tubers...

Mr. Bui Hoa Tham assessed: “Production cooperatives associated with value chains apply systematic care processes from planting techniques according to VietGAP, organic, biological standards... to deep processing, which have contributed to increasing the value of agricultural products of the province, aiming for sustainable exports. Cooperatives organize production more systematically, improve management skills, apply digital transformation, thereby improving the lives of members and associated farmers”.

From the Project on building a model of a chain linking product consumption for cooperatives and cooperatives in Dak Nong, it shows that units are increasingly aware of the sustainability of clean agricultural production. From the production, purchasing, processing stages between households, individuals, and farms are closely linked.

Developing a sustainable product consumption chain contributes to building new rural areas, realizing the target program of sustainable poverty reduction, and the program of One Commune One Product (OCOP).

Linking product consumption gathers sources of goods, ensuring that goods can be supplied continuously, implemented synchronously according to a safety and quality standard. At the same time, ensuring traceability of product sources when sold, protecting consumer rights, contributing to promoting local socio-economic development.

Therefore, Dak Nong is implementing policies to encourage development, cooperation and association in production and product consumption. Thereby, very positive results have been achieved.

Source: https://baodaknong.vn/hop-tac-xa-o-dak-nong-san-xuat-gan-voi-chuoi-gia-tri-231901.html