Phuoc Hung, the 'Cooperative Star'

Constantly innovating and making breakthroughs in its operations, in 2024 Phuoc Hung Agricultural Cooperative was ranked among the top 100 outstanding cooperatives nationwide and received the 'Cooperative Star' award.

Many breakthroughs

Visiting the headquarters of Phuoc Hung Agricultural Cooperative (Tuy Phuoc Bac commune, Gia Lai province) on any given day, we see cooperative officials busy with a "mountain of work," including services such as: on-field irrigation; supplying plant seeds and agricultural materials; rice drying; rural electricity; internal credit; gasoline trading; straw baling; and rice sales.

When mentioning Phuoc Hung Agricultural Cooperative, people in the eastern part of Gia Lai province immediately think of the first unit in the former Binh Dinh province that boldly implemented land consolidation to build large-scale rice seed production fields. In 2016, tasked by the local government with building a "large-scale field" model covering 100 hectares, mainly in Luong Loc and Tan Hoi villages, the cooperative worked hard to mobilize farmers to consolidate their land for implementation.

The high workload of employees at Phuoc Hung Agricultural Cooperative. Photo: V.D.T.

“It was called a land redistribution program, but in reality, what we did was demolish the field boundaries and expand the land in the two villages of Luong Loc and Tan Hoi, 50 hectares in each village. After the farmers agreed, we cast concrete pillars and marked the boundaries of each plot of land according to the old boundaries, so the land area of ​​each household participating in the large-scale field was still clearly defined. With the boundaries removed, the fields became large fields, allowing plows and harvesters to operate freely without being obstructed by boundaries like before, making production organization much easier,” recalled Mr. Tran Tang Long, Director of Phuoc Hung Agricultural Cooperative.

Thanks to the expanded field boundaries, starting from the 2020-2021 winter-spring crop season, Phuoc Hung Agricultural Cooperative has been using drones to spray pesticides on the area under its rice seed production linkage. The large-scale field model is very suitable for the use of drones because of the interconnected fields and plots, reducing the number of pesticide sprayings.

Since the 2013-2014 winter-spring crop season, Phuoc Hung Agricultural Cooperative has pioneered the service of baling rice straw using mechanized equipment, contributing to increasing the value of by-products from rice production, providing raw materials for mushroom cultivation, vegetables, perennial crops, livestock feed storage, and environmental protection. In addition, the cooperative organizes a service of buying and collecting straw to sell to dairy farms in Binh Dinh and Gia Lai (formerly) provinces, generating revenue of 500-600 million VND per year.

“Currently, Phuoc Hung Agricultural Cooperative maintains a partnership with ThaiBinh Seed to produce rice seeds on an average area of ​​250 hectares per year, with a purchase volume of nearly 1,000 tons per year; annual revenue is over 9 billion VND, bringing added value to member farmers of about 1.5 billion VND per year,” said Mr. Tran Tang Long.

A large field for the production of rice seeds by Phuoc Hung Agricultural Cooperative. Photo: V.D.T.

The brand "Phuoc Hung Local Rice"

In 2023, Phuoc Hung Agricultural Cooperative invested 5 billion VND to build a high-tech rice drying plant with a capacity of 30 tons/shift. The cooperative purchases fresh rice from farmers to reduce pressure on drying space and labor costs, and to increase the storage capacity for rice seeds and commercial rice. The dried rice seeds have stable quality and a high germination rate. Furthermore, the reduced drying time, independence from weather conditions, and reduced post-harvest losses, along with a 1/4 reduction in labor costs compared to manual sun drying, contribute to this success.

Recently, to increase rice drying capacity, Phuoc Hung Agricultural Cooperative invested over 5 billion VND to build an additional drying plant with a capacity of 30 tons/shift, raising the total drying capacity to 60 tons/shift to serve rice seed production and rice processing activities.

Mr. Long added that, in addition, the cooperative also leased 4 hectares of public land to build a high-quality rice raw material area and invested 3 billion VND in building a new technology rice processing factory. To date, the cooperative has built the brand "Phuoc Hung Local Rice" according to the OCOP value chain, gradually bringing clean, organic agricultural products to the market.

Simultaneously, the cooperative has also established a concentrated production area applying high technology; built a website for selling and introducing products, and ensuring traceability. The cooperative has registered the collective trademark "Phuoc Hung Homemade Rice" and its products have been recognized as OCOP 3-star.

The product "Phuoc Hung Local Rice" has been recognized as a 3-star OCOP product. Photo: V.D.T.

In addition, the cooperative has established experimental production areas for new rice varieties, piloting and demonstrating the application of advanced scientific and technical models in agriculture. The goal is to gradually produce organic and clean agricultural products to enhance their market value.

According to Mr. Le Anh Duy, Vice Chairman of the Tuy Phuoc Bac Commune People's Committee, to improve the quality of "Phuoc Hung Local Rice," the Phuoc Hung Agricultural Cooperative has invested in installing additional product packaging lines and polishing machines; designing and printing new packaging and designs, helping the product to be more competitive in the market.

“Phuoc Hung Agricultural Cooperative is a united, dynamic, and creative collective; it dares to think and act, organizes production and product consumption well, creates jobs, increases income for its members, and contributes to achieving the target of one product per commune in the new rural development program,” assessed Mr. Nguyen Hung Tan, Chairman of the People's Committee of Tuy Phuoc Bac commune.

Source: https://nongnghiepmoitruong.vn/ngoi-sao-hop-tac-xa-phuoc-hung-d784992.html