Son La effectively reduces poverty from new cooperative model

In the journey of turning difficulties into advantages to reduce poverty, the new-style Cooperative model has become a key driving force, supported and effectively led by the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance system, especially the Son La Provincial Cooperative Alliance.

With impressive poverty reduction efforts, achieving an average reduction of over 3% per year in the 2021-2025 period, bringing the province's poverty rate down to about 10%, Son La has proven that production linkage is the golden key. This is not just a story of quantitative growth but a qualitative transformation, creating global value chains, helping thousands of households escape poverty sustainably.

Sowing green startups

Son La, a mountainous province with 12 ethnic groups living together, has long identified the collective economy , with cooperatives as its core, as one of the key solutions to restructure the agricultural sector and achieve the national goal of poverty reduction. However, mobilizing farmers to change their small-scale production habits to join together is a big challenge. This is when the role of the Son La Provincial Cooperative Union is strongly promoted.

Over the years, the Son La Province Cooperative Alliance has continuously played the role of a bridge and the first guide for start-up ideas based on local potential. To "incubate" new-style cooperatives, propaganda, consulting and start-up support are given top priority.

The Provincial Cooperative Union has organized a series of sustainable activities, focusing on founders and working-age workers: From 2021 to now, the Provincial Cooperative Union has organized more than 60 propaganda conferences for founders in districts and cities in the province. These are direct meetings, clearly explaining the Law on Cooperatives, the benefits of the linkage model and the strength of large-scale production. Not only stopping at propaganda, the Provincial Cooperative Union also organizes start-up consulting conferences associated with the cooperative model, to equip people of working age with practical knowledge.

Production linkage is the golden key in poverty reduction.

The support of the Cooperative Union is not only directional, but also goes into every detailed step, helping founders realize their ideas: Consulting founding groups to build production and business plans, ensuring feasibility and sustainability in terms of the market. At the same time, supporting the completion of documents and procedures to establish cooperatives quickly and in accordance with legal regulations.

With these efforts, Son La's collective economy has developed in both quantity and quality. Currently, the whole province has 871 cooperatives and 6 cooperative unions in operation, attracting over 10,000 members and workers. It is worth mentioning that these cooperatives not only focus on agriculture but also expand to many other diverse fields such as industry, handicrafts, electricity, water, construction, people's credit funds, trade, tourism services, market management, transportation, creating a dynamic collective economic ecosystem.

In addition to its formation, the Son La Province Cooperative Union also regularly organizes annual dialogue conferences to grasp the situation of cooperatives and propose to relevant departments and branches to promptly remove difficulties and obstacles in operations. This is a dual monitoring and support mechanism, ensuring that cooperatives not only "survive" but also develop stably in a competitive business environment.

Miracles of sustainable poverty eradication

Son La is proving that linking through cooperatives is not only a solution to hunger eradication and poverty reduction but also a path to sustainable enrichment, bringing local agricultural products to the international market. New cooperative models, fostered by the "midwife" Vietnam Cooperative Alliance and the Provincial Cooperative Alliance, have created spectacular leaps in income and quality of life for members.

The story of Hung Loc Agricultural Service Cooperative (Chieng Khuong) is a typical example of changing production thinking. Mr. Tran Van Loc, Director of the Cooperative, recounted: “In 2017, with the encouragement of the Provincial, District and Commune Cooperative Unions, I linked up with 23 households in the village to establish Hung Loc Agricultural Service Cooperative.

After its establishment, the Cooperative has transformed its production scale with 43 hectares of early-ripening longan and longan from the Central Highlands, and is cared for according to VietGAP standards. The application of VietGAP not only ensures quality but also creates outstanding competitive advantages. As a result, the average yield reaches 12 tons of fruit/ha, the products are widely consumed in the provincial markets and especially exported to China. After deducting expenses, the average income of member households has reached more than 200 million VND/crop - a dream number for many farmers in the Northwest region, demonstrating the clear economic efficiency of the Cooperative model in improving the economy and promoting poverty reduction.

From another perspective, the Phong Lai Production, Trading and General Services Cooperative has focused on increasing the value of traditional tea trees. After being facilitated by the Provincial Cooperative Union to study the successful model, the cooperative members have focused on improving operational efficiency, especially through contracting to purchase for about 400 households, with nearly 500 hectares of tea in many neighboring communes.

Increase income from production linkage.

This association not only ensures output but also controls input quality, helping the cooperative process 400-500 tons of finished tea products annually. The quality of the cooperative's tea products has been affirmed when the Provincial People's Committee recognized it as a 4-star OCOP product. With an annual revenue of more than 11 billion VND, the cooperative has contributed to helping members and people in the area have a stable income. In particular, through exporting to the Taiwanese market through companies in Hanoi, Phong Lai Cooperative has affirmed the position of Son La agricultural products on the international map, while at the same time fulfilling its commitment to continue to consume products, helping people to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty sustainably.

Even in Quynh Nhai, a locality with limited land for production, the cooperative model is still the solution to the livelihood problem. Tu Chau Cooperative, established in 2020, has boldly focused on high-value products and adapted to local conditions.

Tu Chau Cooperative currently cultivates 51.3 hectares of sticky rice, 10 hectares of lemongrass and 30 hectares of medicinal herbs under the forest canopy. Thanks to the methodical investment and processing, in 2022, the Cooperative's sticky rice and Java lemongrass essential oil achieved 3-star OCOP certification. With lemongrass essential oil, a niche product with high economic value (VND 350-500 thousand/liter of crude oil), the Cooperative has earned a profit of about VND 300 million/year after deducting costs, creating jobs and significantly increasing income for people, demonstrating the ability to flexibly adapt and exploit niche products of the new cooperative model.

The most impressive success story probably belongs to Ngoc Hoang Agricultural Cooperative (Ta Hoc commune). This is one of 5 cooperatives using the “Son La Dragon Fruit” trademark certification, opening up great opportunities for export. Every year, the cooperative maintains a stable export of nearly 1,000 tons of dragon fruit to demanding markets such as France, the Netherlands, Italy and EU countries.

Successfully penetrating the European market requires cooperatives to meet the most stringent standards of quality, food safety and traceability, an achievement that cannot be achieved without the connection and professionalization of the cooperative model. This success has led to a remarkable increase in income: the average income of cooperative members has reached nearly 1 billion VND/year. This is the most convincing proof of the role of cooperatives: not only helping to escape poverty but also helping farmers get rich, creating a class of professional farmers, integrating globally.

Ensuring the future of cooperatives

Son La has clearly realized that, in order to develop sustainably and continuously grow, applying technology and expanding the market are prerequisites. In this field, the Son La Cooperative Union continues to play a leading role with breakthrough and long-term solutions.

The Provincial Cooperative Union has supported cooperatives in applying information technology and implementing digital transformation in data management and product promotion. The cooperative database management software in the province has been deployed and provided with access accounts for districts, cities and related units, helping management, evaluation of operations and reporting become more online, transparent and effective.

In particular, the cooperative product software is integrated with the data management system, creating a synchronous digital platform. This platform is not only used for promotion and introduction but also helps connect supply and demand for key products of cooperatives across the province. From there, consumers and partners can easily search, evaluate and purchase OCOP products, typical products of Son La.

In addition, the Union always focuses on trade promotion. Every year, the Union organizes cooperatives to participate in promoting, promoting trade, linking supply and consumption of products through fairs, conferences, and joint programs organized by the Central and the province. These activities are not only sales opportunities but also opportunities for cooperatives to learn, expand partnerships, and access new market trends.

Promoting the development of new-style cooperatives is not only an economic issue but also a scientific one. The Provincial Cooperative Union has coordinated with the Union of Science and Technology Associations of Son La province to co-chair the workshop "Issues arising in the process of developing new-style cooperatives in the agricultural sector of Son La province". This is the basis for the Provincial Cooperative Union to continue advising the province on policies to support cooperatives and cooperative unions in accordance with reality.

This inter-sectoral coordination also aims to build and develop agricultural production models applying high technology to production; replicate models of high-quality fruit trees, clean vegetables, community tourism services and credit, towards a smart, environmentally friendly agriculture.

Continuing to promote the core role in promoting the development of collective economy and cooperatives, in the coming time, the Son La Provincial Cooperative Union will strengthen its advice to the province to implement policies to support cooperatives and cooperative unions. At the same time, it will advise, support, implement public services and economic activities to serve the development of collective economy and cooperatives.

The ultimate goal is to build harmonious and sustainable labor relations in cooperatives, cooperative unions, and cooperative groups; to gather, link, and guide members to cooperate and help each other develop.

vnbusiness.vn

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/son-la-giam-ngheo-hieu-qua-tu-mo-hinh-htx-kieu-moi-post885990.html