Promoting digital transformation in cooperatives.

One advantage in the current digital transformation efforts is the improved level of management skills among cooperative staff. In particular, college and university graduates, as well as retired officials from agencies and businesses, are increasingly interested in and participating in the establishment and management of cooperatives.

The ROFC Agricultural Service and Tourism Cooperative (Krong Nang district) focuses on applying digital technology to production.

Furthermore, in today's fiercely competitive market, cooperatives have become more aware of the importance of applying advanced technology to production. For example, agricultural cooperatives are focusing on applying drip irrigation technology, drying agricultural products using drum dryers and freeze-drying, and processing high-quality coffee. Meanwhile, industrial and handicraft cooperatives are actively innovating technology, applying scientific and technical advancements to production and business, and shifting their production-business-service model from single-sector to integrated business. Alongside modernizing production and business processes, cooperatives are also actively applying digital technology to promote and sell their products on various e-commerce platforms.

According to Huynh Bai, Chairman of the Provincial Cooperative Union, in order to promote the digital transformation of cooperatives, the unit has recently collaborated with the Trade Promotion Department ( Ministry of Industry and Trade ) to organize training courses on digital business skills, brand development, and image building for businesses and cooperatives with cooperative members in the province. At the same time, they introduced four cooperatives to participate in the project "Youth in Cooperatives as the Key Entities in Local Digital Transformation" of the Vietnam Cooperative Union. This has contributed to enhancing the capacity and networking of young people in local digital transformation.

One of the units recommended by the Provincial Cooperative Union to participate in the project "Youth in Cooperatives as the Key Entities in Digital Transformation at the Local Level" is the Tan Hoa Agricultural Service and Trade Cooperative (Buon Don District). Mr. Vu Dang Minh, Director of the Tan Hoa Agricultural Service and Trade Cooperative, said that from its early days, the Cooperative's management board focused on building a large-scale, centralized, and modern agricultural cooperative managed by technology. Despite being newly established, with the advantage of having 60% young people as its workforce, the Cooperative regularly updates itself on new trends in production and sales; and applies digital technology to its management and operations. Specifically, the cooperative has now applied AI (artificial intelligence) technology to writing articles and creating promotional videos for its products to share on e-commerce platforms such as TikTok, Shopee, Dak Lak Agricultural Products, Lazada, VDONE, etc. It is expected that in 2026-2027, the cooperative will affix identification codes to each tree, build an organic longan orchard, and install cameras and electronic chips so that users can directly view and pre-order. At the same time, this will help the cooperative monitor the growth process of its products across its entire area.

The Provincial Cooperative Union supports cooperative members in training on livestreaming sales on e-commerce platforms.

As for the ROFC Agricultural and Tourism Service Cooperative (Krong Nang district), digital transformation faces many difficulties because only 30% of its staff are young people, mostly farmers. However, this cooperative has actively researched and gradually applied digital technology to its production and product promotion.

Mr. Nguyen Dai Duong, Director of ROFC Agricultural Service and Tourism Cooperative, said that the cooperative has 12 members and 70 associate members, with a total area of ​​200 hectares including durian, coffee, macadamia nuts, etc., but each member works independently on a small scale. Therefore, the management board has focused on promoting and setting an example to encourage members to change their habits from small-scale, spontaneous production to developing organic agriculture, applying science and technology to production and crop care. At the same time, the cooperative monitors new plant varieties and care processes from the Eakmat Tay Nguyen Plant Seed Center (Buon Ma Thuot City) to encourage cooperative members to apply and follow them. As a result, the coffee products of ROFC Agricultural Service and Tourism Cooperative have now achieved OCOP 3-star standard and are purchased by many coffee shop chains in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Thanh Hoa, etc., at prices higher than the market rate. Trusted by its members, the cooperative boldly invested over 2 billion VND in equipment, machinery, and warehouses to professionalize its production line. Alongside this, it built a system for promoting its products through trade promotion programs and on e-commerce platforms such as Facebook, Zalo, and Shopee… Moving towards applying digital technology in the production of its products, such as quality control, management, and monitoring of the origin and supply chain of products produced by the cooperative.

These digital transformation efforts have facilitated management, reduced costs, and increased profits for cooperatives. In particular, the application of digital technology in product promotion has opened up many new opportunities for farmers, especially in exporting agricultural products abroad.

Source: https://mic.gov.vn/dak-lak-thuc-day-hop-tac-xa-chuyen-doi-so-197240821092339805.htm