An asparagus field of the Tuan Tu General Service Cooperative in Ninh Phuoc district’s An Hai commune. (Photo: VNA) Up to 24 ofthe province’s 63 agriculture cooperatives have linkages with companies todevelop value chains for their products like rice, corn, grapes, asparagusand organic cashew nuts.
The 24 cooperativesproduce agricultural products on large-scale fields that use advancedfarming techniques.
Manyproducts of the cooperatives have been granted international standardcertificates from the EU and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) andVietnamese good agricultural practices (VietGAP).
The Tuan TuGeneral Service Cooperative in Ninh Phuoc district’s An Hai commune growsasparagus on a large-scale field to VietGAP standards and has a farm contractwith Tien Tien Organic Agriculture Farm to guarantee outlets for its members.
Hung Ky,director of the Tuan Tu General Service Cooperative, said: “The cooperativesupplies loans and fertilisers to its members to grow asparagus andteaches them techniques to produce safe, quality products."
Theagriculture cooperatives' products have been included in thecountry’s "one commune – one product" (OCOP) programme in theprovince.
OCOPproducts are commercial products and services such as food and beverages,handicrafts and rural tourism services. They are classified at fivelevels, with a five – star being the highest level.
Dang Kim Cuong,Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development anddeputy chairman of the appraisal board for the province’s OCOP programme, saidthat seven cooperatives participated in the province’s OCOP programme lastyear.
The cooperative’sproducts like red onion, fresh jujube, dried jujube and asparagusare rated three or four-star OCOP products.
The provinceis promoting OCOP products in combination with tourism services via cooperatives,companies and households.
The Thai AnGeneral Agriculture Service Cooperative in Ninh Hai district’s Vinh Hai communehad its NH01 - 152 grape recognised as a four-star OCOP product last year, andits NH01 - 152 grape growing area has become a tourism destination.
Nguyen KhacPhong, director of Thai An, said the province had assigned theco-operative to expand the cultivation of its NH01 – 152 grape to serve tourismservices.
Besides itsNH01 – 152 grape, Thai An has other seven products, including dried jujube,dried grape, and fresh red grape and grape wine, granted as three-star OCOPproducts.
“Theco-operative’s OCOP products have created motivation for the co-operative topromote production and expand its market,” he said.
With theireffective operation, the provinces’ agriculture cooperatives had an averagerevenue of 2.1 billion VND (90,000 USD) and average profit of 250 millionVND (10,800 USD) last year, up 9.4 percent and 13.6 percent, respectively,against 2019, according to the province’s Co-operative Alliance.
Collectiveeconomy
Ninh Thuantargets that its collective economy will contribute 8.8 – 9 percent of itsgross regional domestic product (GRDP) this year, according to the provincialPeople’s Committee.
The provinceaims to establish 10 – 12 new cooperatives and 10 – 15 new co-operative groups,with a total of 200 – 300 members, this year.
Its goal isto have average revenue of 2.2 – 2.25 billion VND (95,000 – 97,200 USD) thisyear for cooperatives and an average revenue of 260 – 270 million VND for cooperativegroups.
It alsoplans to have 50 – 60 percent of cooperatives operating effectively by 2025,and for the collective economy to contribute 10 – 11 percent of its grossregional domestic product (GRDP) in 2025.
The provincewill encourage the development of cooperatives in agriculture, smallindustry, commerce and services, and promote effective new-style cooperatives,and cooperatives that link up with companies to produceagricultural products on large-scale fields with value chains.
Tran QuocNam, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said: “The province will help cooperativesto access the central and local governments’ preferential policies onland, loans, infrastructure, human resource training, and advanced techniquesfor production.”
It will alsoarrange trade promotions at home and abroad to expand markets for productsof cooperatives.
Ninh Thuan,which has the least rainfall in the country, has developed 12 specificallyidentified products, including grape, jujube, asparagus, sheep, goat, Ca Nafish sauce, My Nghiep brocade products and Bau Truc pottery products./.
VNA
