"Star" of economic development in rural areas

Located in a purely agricultural area where people struggle to cling to the land with rice and low-value crops, Minh Truong Wood Cooperative, Binh Dinh Commune (Luong Tai) is considered a new economic development model, bringing high efficiency, creating many jobs for many workers. Being awarded the title of "Star" of the National Cooperative for 2 consecutive years has demonstrated the Cooperative's constant efforts towards the goal of improving the lives of rural people.

In the workshop area of ​​about 1,000m2 ⁱⁿ Ngo Phan village, Binh Dinh commune, the sound of saws and chisels is bustling with a few people operating modern machines to process large blocks of raw materials. There are young people meticulously learning how to carve and depict delicate lines on wood under the guidance of Cooperative Director Pham Minh Truong. In the ancient space of finished statues, Truong shared his ambition to get rich together in his hometown and jokingly said: "I am not a star, I am just a farmer in this countryside, I want the children to have jobs, a better life than plowing and hoeing, so I enthusiastically teach and that is how the children come to learn."

In 2016, Mr. Truong and 6 other members shared the idea of ​​establishing Minh Truong Wooden Furniture Cooperative. According to him, when life becomes more prosperous, people tend to focus on renovating churches and ancient houses, and the demand for wooden handicraft products increases. With the support of the locality, the Cooperative bid for land to open a production workshop and train highly skilled workers. Right from the start, the Cooperative determined to follow a new direction by applying advanced machinery and technology to increase productivity and reduce product costs. With careful research and study, the cooperative has introduced a series of high-tech machines such as 3D, 4D CNC punching machines, engraving copying machines, sanding machines, drilling machines, cutting machines, sawing machines, candle umbrella machines, sanding machines, automatic computerized lifting and cutting machines, product polishing machines, etc. In particular, the application of synchronous machinery from the raw material mixing stage to the product polishing stage helps increase labor productivity 10 times compared to processing, the cooperative's income increases by an average of more than 40%.

Minh Truong wooden furniture cooperative creates many jobs for local workers.
Currently, the Cooperative produces many valuable high-end products such as worship items, Buddha statues, fine art wooden household items, and participates in the renovation and embellishment of many temples, pagodas, monasteries, and ancient houses. The products are beautiful, sophisticated, rich in artistic quality and high aesthetics, of which 4 products are recognized as 3-star OCOP products: Uncle Ho's wooden plate, lotus wooden vase, wooden parallel sentences, and Ly Thai To wooden statue. Due to the reduction of many costs, the Cooperative's products can easily reach different customer groups with many large orders inside and outside the province. To improve production capacity, the Cooperative signs contracts with small-scale wooden furniture producers in the locality and neighboring areas. Many farming households receive samples and raw materials from the Cooperative to carry out stages such as sanding, chiseling, trimming, painting, spraying, polishing with varnish, etc. The Cooperative creates jobs for 50 workers, with an income of about 10 million VND/person/month.

From the success of the woodworking industry, the cooperative has capital to expand high-tech agricultural services and transportation business. From 7 initial members, the cooperative attracted 20 more members, with revenue in 2024 reaching 6 billion VND. With outstanding achievements in production, business, innovation, product quality improvement, job creation and promotion of local economic development, Minh Truong wooden furniture cooperative has become a typical model in the collective economic sector, receiving many awards from the Central and the province. Including the title of National Outstanding Cooperative in 2024 and National Cooperative "Star" in 2024 and 2025.

Modestly talking about those titles, Director of the Cooperative Pham Minh Truong expressed: “The establishment of the Cooperative was the right decision and brought many practical benefits to all members when we shared, exchanged experiences, linked together to help develop production and business to increase income and improve life... We hope that all levels and sectors will pay attention to supporting capital and production space to expand the scale, diversify production types, and create resources for the Cooperative to rise up to be worthy of the titles awarded.”

Song Giang

Source: https://baobacninh.vn/-ngoi-sao-phat-trien-kinh-te-giua-vung-nong-thon-97874.html