Supporting cooperatives in the new trend

To support cooperatives to develop and advance in the new period, the Can Tho City Cooperative Alliance has been coordinating with relevant departments and branches of the city to organize training courses to improve trade promotion capacity and market development for cooperatives; connecting many cooperatives to access capital from the Vietnam Cooperative Support Fund; supporting cooperatives to participate in promoting products and goods through exhibitions, conferences connecting supply and demand of goods inside and outside the city...

Currently, the city has 882 cooperatives, many of which have organized production of goods according to VietGAP or OCOP standards, registered growing area codes, associated with brand building, meeting market requirements. In particular, after Can Tho City merged with Hau Giang and Soc Trang provinces into the new Can Tho City with a large area and many support policies... it has helped many cooperatives have the conditions to expand production and business activities, contributing to bringing practical results to cooperative members.

With the support of local authorities, Truong Phat Agricultural Cooperative, Phuoc Thoi Ward was established and put into operation in 2020, with 22 members, specializing in growing Ri6 and Monthong durian according to VietGAP standards, supplying purchasing units and businesses, ensuring stable output for 23.5 hectares of durian grown by members, with prices higher than the market.

Members of Truong Phat Agricultural Cooperative, Phuoc Thoi Ward, informed local leaders about the cooperative's safe durian growing model.

Mr. Tran Thien Thanh, Deputy Director of Truong Phat Agricultural Cooperative, said: "Currently, the Cooperative has more than 20 hectares of durian cultivation land with a growing area code and has signed purchase contracts with many export units and enterprises; along with that, the Cooperative focuses on applying the production process according to VietGAP standards, so the durian of Truong Phat Agricultural Cooperative always meets safety quality standards and creates long-term business relationships with partners, ensuring output as well as economic efficiency for durian growers in the Cooperative". According to Mr. Thanh, it is estimated that each durian crop, the Cooperative harvests over 600 tons of fruit, bringing in an income of several hundred million VND to more than 1 billion VND for gardeners in the Cooperative.

To increase the efficiency of cultivating specialty fruit orchards for farmers, in early 2024, Mr. Ho Minh Chien and 18 gardeners specializing in growing star apples in Thoi Hung hamlet, Phong Dien commune joined forces to establish the Thoi Hung fruit garden cooperative, with 19 members, specializing in growing Lo Ren star apples and pink avocado star apples in a safe direction, with a total area of more than 12.9 hectares.

According to Mr. Ho Minh Chien, Director of Thoi Hung Fruit Garden Cooperative, in the past, most orchards grew fruit trees individually and spontaneously, so the situation of "good harvest, low price" often occurred, making farmers' income unstable, making it difficult to accumulate capital to invest in long-term and sustainable production. In particular, in the increasingly fierce market competition, small-scale farmers have more difficulties. Therefore, Thoi Hung Fruit Garden Cooperative was established to bring farmers together and support each other in production and business activities.

Accordingly, the Board of Directors and members of the Cooperative regularly exchange and share techniques for planting, caring for and harvesting star apples to ensure productivity and quality for high prices. In addition, the Cooperative Board of Directors also proactively grasps information as well as market needs, thereby coordinating with members of the Cooperative to harvest fruit in rotation, spreading out the season, extending the harvest time (from October this year to May next year), so that the Cooperative can have stable output, meet the requirements of purchasing enterprises, ensure output, and sell at high prices to star apple growers.

According to Mr. Chien, thanks to the orientation for cooperative members to produce fruit in a safe direction, combining the good application of new cultivation techniques, covering the fruit with 2 layers of mesh bags, allowing the star apple to develop naturally, ensuring safe quality, beautiful color and moderate sweetness, the star apple of Thoi Hung Fruit Garden Cooperative is highly appreciated by customers for its quality. Notably, in the 2024 crop, the cooperative's star apple was purchased by fruit exporting enterprises at a fairly high price of nearly 600,000 VND/box (5kg); it is estimated that on average, 1 hectare of star apple will harvest more than 30 tons of fruit, sold at a price of 45,000-50,000 VND/kg, gardeners will have a profit of 400-600 million VND/year.

In order for cooperatives to develop more and more effectively in the new trend, relevant departments and branches of the city need to strengthen the work of mobilizing cooperatives to link production according to the value chain; encourage cooperatives to apply standards in production to create products and goods with high added value; promote activities to support cooperatives to participate in trade promotion programs to find and expand consumption markets; build links between cooperatives with each other and between cooperatives and enterprises to increase production scale, create high-quality goods and agricultural products to serve domestic consumption and export needs..., thereby supporting cooperatives to develop more and more effectively and sustainably in the new trend.

Article and photos: MY HOA

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/tiep-suc-cho-hop-tac-xa-trong-xu-the-moi-a190962.html