Developing processing industry promotes agricultural commodity production

Attracting businesses to invest in production, preservation and processing of agricultural products is the province's policy to promote the development of commodity agriculture . And in fact, the province's agricultural processing industry has been maintained quite effectively, with a variety of products, thereby gradually promoting production development along the value chain, creating a positive change for agriculture .

Developing processing industry promotes agricultural commodity production Agricultural production in the province's fields in recent years has had positive changes towards commodities. With rice, localities have now built over 70 model fields with the same varieties, the same tea, and the same care process. At the same time, many models of land concentration of individuals, cooperatives, and cooperatives producing commodity rice have been formed. Crops used as raw materials for processing have developed quite well, creating concentrated production areas. Cucumber alone, the main product for export processing in the province, has always maintained an annual production area of nearly 1,000 hectares, grown in all 3 crops of the year (spring, summer-autumn and winter). Many localities have a cucumber production area of up to tens of hectares each year, such as: Nhan Nghia, Tran Hung Dao, Bac Ly (Ly Nhan); Van Xa, Hoang Tay, Dong Hoa (Kim Bang) ...

Production development, along with the issues of "output", the issue of product quality and value is always of special concern to localities and cooperatives. Therefore, in recent times, many cooperatives have directly signed contracts with agricultural processing enterprises to purchase agricultural products for farmers.

A typical example is Hoi Vu Company Limited, one of the largest agricultural export processing units in the North, which currently has a factory in Cau Giat Industrial Park (Duy Tien town). Mr. Khuat Duy Hung, a member of the company's Board of Directors, said: After more than 10 years of participating in purchasing and processing agricultural products for export in Ha Nam , the company's products have increasingly been affirmed in the market. One of the company's main export processing products is jarred pickled cucumbers exported to Eastern European markets. Due to the large demand for export orders and the need for raw materials of 3-5 thousand tons/year, to ensure a stable supply, the company has linked up to produce export cucumbers in localities in the province.

Along with Hoi Vu Company Limited, there are currently many agricultural processing enterprises established in the province associated with production areas. Mai Chi Food Joint Stock Company Branch (Moc Nam Commune) specializes in processing dried products and apricots from agricultural products, such as: glutinous corn, apples, sour plums...

Huynh Tuan Private Enterprise (Chan Ly Commune) specializes in processing agricultural products for export and has closely linked with the production areas of Ly Nhan District. Each crop, the enterprise signs a contract to directly purchase baby cucumbers for export on an area of about 30 hectares and imports more from outside agents with a total quantity of more than 1,000 tons of cucumbers...

Or Long Vu Food Joint Stock Company (Binh My town) is maintaining effective rice processing activities. Each crop, the enterprise organizes purchasing on a production area of more than 500 hectares with rice output of up to thousands of tons. Currently, Long Vu Food Joint Stock Company has expanded its raw rice purchasing area for processing to many localities in the province, such as: Ly Nhan District, Thanh Liem, Binh Luc...

Mr. Trinh Tuan Anh, Deputy Director of Long Vu Food Joint Stock Company said: The company specializes in processing rice to serve the needs of the domestic market. Building a factory and having raw materials locally through joint activities creates great advantages for the unit. Therefore, the company focuses on exploiting the strengths of traditional rice growing areas in the province to minimize the import of raw rice from other provinces...

In general, in the province, there are currently more than 10 agricultural processing enterprises in the fields of rice, vegetables, fruits, livestock products (mainly fresh cow's milk)... The production efficiency brought about by the raw material production areas of the enterprises is higher than that of the old, mass production. The area of cucumbers used as raw materials for processing signed with enterprises is always guaranteed in terms of value. On average, each sao of exported cucumbers has a value of 7 - 9 million VND, after deducting costs, the profit is 5 - 7 million VND, many crops reach a value of more than 10 million VND/sao. In rice production, most of the area signed with enterprises has a stable selling price, people do not have to spend time drying, preserving or depending much on the weather, significantly reducing losses due to selling fresh rice immediately after harvest.

As for fresh cow's milk, when enterprises organize processing, the value increases by 2 times compared to selling raw. Milk processing enterprises in Duy Tien town at peak times purchase more fresh cow's milk from farms in the area for production... Thus, along with the shift in crop structure and plant variety structure towards commodities, the formation of chains from production to consumption and processing has contributed positively to improving the quality and value of agricultural products per unit of cultivated land area. That is one of the effective solutions to accelerate the restructuring of Ha Nam's agricultural economy.

Developing processing industry promotes agricultural commodity production The efficiency in production associated with agricultural processing has been clearly demonstrated, especially in increasing production value and income for people. However, in the process of linking production and product consumption between people and businesses, there are still many limitations.

In reality, the area of crops that are linked between processing enterprises and people is not commensurate with the land potential. With rice, the linked area only accounts for more than 10% of the total cultivated area of the province and has only been implemented in a few localities and cooperatives. Even the model fields built with the goal of linking production with enterprises, but currently only about 30% of the fields. Although export cucumbers are still a key crop, they have decreased in both area and number of producing localities compared to 5-7 years ago. The area of export cucumbers is currently only maintained in Kim Bang and Ly Nhan districts, accounting for more than 90% of the province's area.

In particular, the direct labor force in rural areas is gradually decreasing. Currently, it is mainly elderly workers who do not have the conditions or ability to change jobs to stay with the fields. Therefore, the organization of production of these commodity crops is facing many difficulties. If we consider the raw material areas of the province, melons, sticky corn or some other crops cannot meet the quantity demand of enterprises.

For example, Hoi Vu Company Limited needs about 3,000 tons of baby cucumbers for processing each crop, but in reality, it can only purchase about 50% in the province, a decrease of 30% compared to the period 5 years ago. The remaining raw materials must be found and linked to production in Nam Dinh and Bac Giang provinces... Developing processing industry promotes agricultural commodity production

Another problem is that the signing and compliance with agricultural product consumption contracts by people in many localities is still limited. With rice production, there are many areas that have signed contracts to consume all products for businesses, but in reality, only about 50-60% of the products are sold, and in some places, even less. This situation occurs when people keep them waiting for prices to increase, or sell them to outside traders who pay higher prices than the businesses that signed the contract. For exported cucumber products, in addition to localities that sign direct contracts between businesses and people through agricultural service cooperatives, some places let the market float.

The purchase and sale of products are carried out freely through the trading system. This leads to unstable prices and product quality. During peak harvest times in bumper crops, product quality is strict, the rate of grading (grade 2) is high, and the selling price is low. On the contrary, when the output is low, the demand for processing is high, and the product quality is not maintained by the people. Thus, in general, both the people and businesses suffer when they do not sign a joint contract. There have been cases where when people's production is highly effective, the next crop expands the area but the value decreases, leading to unstable production area.

The role of agricultural service cooperatives in implementing agricultural product consumption services for people is still limited. In general, only about 30% of cooperatives in the province have effectively implemented product consumption services. According to Mr. Le Quang Vong, Vice Chairman of the Provincial Cooperative Union, agricultural service cooperatives need to further promote their role in organizing product consumption services. This is the bridge that creates connections between people and processing enterprises.

Existing constraints are barriers to both field production development and processing enterprises.

Developing processing industry promotes agricultural commodity production

Discussing the production direction with links with enterprises, Mr. Truong Quoc Hung, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: Linkage is an inevitable direction for production development. When there is a contract, the market is stable, people only need to focus on investing in production, creating quality products. With businesses accompanying, new rice and commodity crop production areas are expanded. The agricultural sector is actively implementing activities to build production models according to the value chain with links with enterprises.

In order to effectively link production and product consumption, helping processing enterprises promote their role in promoting the development of commodity agriculture, in the coming time, the agricultural sector will coordinate with localities to synchronously deploy solutions in directing and organizing production; create all conditions to attract and support agricultural processing enterprises to operate effectively. Focus on propaganda work so that people can fulfill their contractual obligations with enterprises. Local authorities promote their role in managing commercial activities, especially preventing and handling cases of not signing contracts but competing to buy in the area. According to Mr. Nguyen Van Sam, Director of Tuong Linh Agricultural Service Cooperative: The cooperative needs to be closely monitored and people need to clearly see the effectiveness of selling products through contracts. Local authorities need to pay attention and promptly prevent from the beginning when there are signs of individuals and units not signing contracts, but entering the area to raise prices to compete to buy at a certain time.

Along with that, it is necessary to further improve the quality of operations and the role of agricultural service cooperatives to perform well the service stages to create conditions for people to expand their area and produce with the highest efficiency. When income in the fields is guaranteed, seasonal workers will be brought back to the fields. In fact, in some specialized cucumber growing areas of the province, many households have considered this as the main source of income for their families. In Van Xa, Hoang Tay (Kim Bang), Chan Ly (Ly Nhan) communes, many households produce from 1 mau to over 1 hectare of export cucumbers. For these households, in addition to family labor, they also hire additional workers during the peak harvest period... According to specialized export cucumber growing households, when there is a contract to consume products with processing enterprises, production efficiency is very high, on average, the monthly income is 1.5 times higher than working as a worker for enterprises.

For rice areas, strengthen the organization of production links with enterprises on model fields; encourage individuals with conditions, economic potential, and passion for rice fields to concentrate rice production land in association with enterprises. In the province, there are a number of individual models that borrow and rent rice fields from people who no longer need production, creating concentrated areas of 10-20 hectares for commercial rice production according to the needs of enterprises, bringing high efficiency. For example, Mr. Hoang Van Thuong's household in Tieu Dong commune (Binh Luc) has rented 20 hectares of rice fields from people to invest in production. Every crop, Mr. Thuong signs a contract to produce and consume fresh rice products with processing enterprises. Mr. Thuong's model brings 1.5 times higher efficiency than the previous small-scale production. Developing processing industry promotes agricultural commodity production The province's agricultural production in the new period is determined to develop in the direction of green, clean agriculture, organic agriculture and smart agriculture; large-scale concentrated production. Therefore, the planning of production areas for processing materials in accordance with the customs and production conditions of each locality needs to be given special attention by local authorities and sectors. From there, creating a link between production and product consumption with businesses, improving efficiency and income for people.