Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, Nguyen Thien Nhan, praised recent efforts by the central province of Thanh Hoa to improve the effectiveness of local cooperatives while pushing for a thorough assessment on their operations in order to prepare for further development plans.

Nhan was speaking during a field trip to the province in mid-May.

Although provincial authorities last year issued a five-year cooperative development plan towards 2020, nearly 1,000 cooperatives are still facing problems.

Those co-operatives run business in various sectors, including agriculture, industry, commerce and fisheries and transport services. Small size and a lack of infrastructure result in the low effectiveness of most cooperatives in the province, representatives said at a meeting with Nhan.

Difficulties in borrowing loans from banks to expand operations was also another obstacle, said Hoang Kim Trung, chairman of the Trung Nghia Cooperative.

"Many cooperatives did not even have sufficient documents to borrow loans as required under the amended Law on Cooperatives 2012," he said. "We suggest that the authorities allow banks to accept our current situation for easier loan processing," Trung said.

Nhan acknowledged the importance of the cooperative sector in the socio-economic growth of Thanh Hoa and asked the authorities for a better management at cooperatives to gain higher profits and raise farmers' incomes.

"The cooperatives should research the market, give farmers advice about which plants and animals to grow, and help make their products accessible to consumers," Nhan said.-VNA