"Joining capital and strength" as Uncle Ho taught - Lang Son Newspaper and Radio and Television Station

Production activities at Ban Quyen Agricultural and Forestry Products Service Production Cooperative, Trang Dinh district

Even when he was still wandering in search of a way to save the country, President Ho Chi Minh was interested in cooperative economic organizations, cooperatives. In the book “The Revolutionary Path”, written in 1927, Uncle Ho emphasized the Annamese proverbs with the sentences “grouping together makes rich, dividing together makes poor”, “one tree cannot make a forest, three trees together make a high mountain”. The theories of cooperatives are all included in these things. He also talked about the nature of cooperatives as socio-economic organizations, the way to organize cooperatives must be based on the principles of voluntariness, democracy, mutual benefit and from low to high.

Since 1945, the Party and the State have paid attention to the establishment of cooperatives, first forming simple cooperative models such as labor exchange groups, labor revolving groups, capital lending groups... On April 11, 1946, President Ho Chi Minh wrote a letter calling on Vietnamese landlords and farmers to participate in agricultural cooperatives. He wrote: "Cooperatives are pooling capital and strength together. With a lot of capital and strength, there will be less hardship and more benefits." By 1948, the first cooperative was established in the Viet Bac resistance base and then, the cooperative model spread throughout the country.

Up to now, Uncle Ho's thoughts on cooperatives still hold value for the socio-economic development in general. Especially in the construction of new rural areas, the development of cooperatives has been included as a hard criterion to contribute to the innovation of production organization and increase people's income.

In Lang Son , after the Law on Cooperatives in 1996 was issued, especially implementing Directive 68-CT/TW, dated May 24, 1996 of the Secretariat on the development of cooperative economy, cooperatives, the province issued programs, plans, and documents to implement innovation in the content and methods of cooperative operations to support cooperative development. Mr. Lieu Xuan Du, Chairman of the Provincial Cooperative Union, said: In recent years, the Provincial Cooperative Union has coordinated with relevant agencies to synchronously deploy solutions for new development as well as to improve the operational efficiency of cooperatives. In the past 5 years alone, on average each year, the Provincial Cooperative Union has coordinated to organize 26 classes to disseminate the Law on Cooperatives and provide guidance on the establishment of new cooperatives with about 2,500 participants; coordinated to disseminate 50 news and articles on collective economy in press agencies; relevant levels and sectors have integrated dissemination through conferences, activities, etc.

Along with that, from 2021 to present, relevant levels and sectors have organized 34 training courses for cooperative members with contents related to governance, operation, and digital transformation; supported 143 newly established cooperatives with a budget of nearly 3 billion VND; supported sending young intellectuals to work at 30 agricultural cooperatives; supported cooperatives to produce according to VietGAP standards; organized support for cooperatives to promote and introduce products for 40 cooperatives.

Ms. Lam Thi Hau, Director of Po Chang Agricultural Cooperative, Xuan Duong Commune, Loc Binh District, said: In 2023, with the propaganda and guidance of professional agencies, I and a number of apple-growing households in Xuan Duong Commune established Po Chang Agricultural Cooperative. When it was first established, the Cooperative had 9 members with an apple growing area of ​​nearly 2 hectares. Since its inception, in addition to its own initiative and efforts, the Cooperative has received support from all levels and sectors from establishment procedures, support in building production models according to VietGAP standards, building OCOP products, etc. Realizing the benefits of the cooperative model, a number of other households have applied to join the Cooperative. Up to now, the Cooperative has 25 members with an apple growing area of ​​over 6 hectares. Operating stably, the Cooperative has also directly contributed to helping Xuan Duong Commune complete the criteria in building new rural areas.

Along with the above cooperatives, in recent years, the quantity and quality of cooperative activities in the province have increased significantly. Currently, there are 565 registered cooperatives in the province, an increase of 265 cooperatives compared to 2021; the average revenue is estimated at 1.35 billion VND/cooperative/year, an increase of 22.7% compared to 2021; the average income of members and employees in cooperatives is 4-8 million VND/person/month, an increase of 30% compared to 2021. Up to now, the whole province has 168/175 communes with cooperatives, of which 122 communes meet criterion No. 13 on production organization and rural economic development in building new rural areas.

It can be seen that the application of President Ho Chi Minh's ideology to the development of cooperatives in the province in recent years has achieved many positive results. Following those results, currently, all levels and sectors in the province continue to focus on implementing solutions to develop and improve the quality of cooperatives' operations, contributing to improving people's lives as well as successfully implementing the goals of building new rural areas and developing the economy and society in the province.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/van-dung-tu-tuong-cua-bac-trong-phat-trien-hop-tac-xa-dau-an-mien-bien-ai-5047140.html