Dialogue conference with businesses and cooperatives; connecting supply and demand, promoting agricultural product consumption

On the morning of June 26, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development held a dialogue conference with enterprises, agricultural cooperatives, and OCOP product owners in the province; connecting supply and demand, promoting the consumption of agricultural products in 2024.

The units signed a memorandum of understanding on Cooperation, support, connection, and linkage in production and consumption of agricultural products.

Attending the conference were representatives of the Trade Promotion Center - Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; representatives of provincial departments and branches, and more than 90 enterprises, cooperatives, and OCOP product owners in the province.

This is an opportunity for specialized agencies to understand more clearly and fully the difficulties, obstacles, thoughts and aspirations of enterprises and cooperatives, thereby finding solutions to remove them, creating conditions to help enterprises quickly overcome difficulties, towards the goal of long-term and sustainable development. At the same time, this is also an opportunity for enterprises and cooperatives to better understand the potential, policies and guidelines of the province, thereby setting out directions and exploiting potential to develop products.

Dialogue conference with cooperative enterprises on connecting supply and demand to promote agricultural product consumption — Conference scene.

According to the conference report, the province currently has 391 cooperatives, of which 181 are specialized cooperatives operating in the agricultural sector, participating in providing production services, representing members in organizing production, and linking with businesses in consuming agricultural products. The province currently has 181 OCOP products, of which 70 are rated 4 stars and 111 are rated 3 stars.

In recent years, the activities of agricultural enterprises and cooperatives have made important contributions to the socio-economic development of the province, while playing an important role and position, both supporting members to actively participate in the new rural construction program and implementing the goal of restructuring the agricultural sector towards increasing value and sustainable development. In the first 6 months of the year, the value of agricultural, forestry and fishery production in the province is estimated at more than 5,742 billion VND, an increase of 3.3%.

In the period of 2022-2025, Ninh Binh aims to develop the province's key products and specialties according to 5 ecological sub-regions associated with tourism services. Building and expanding the value chain from production to consumption is considered a breakthrough to enhance the competitiveness of agricultural production in the integration process, an important step in restructuring the agricultural sector towards increasing value and sustainable development.

At the dialogue conference, many enterprises and cooperatives discussed and raised difficulties, problems and obstacles in the operation process, focusing on issues such as: Tax policies for cooperatives; land policies; support for accessing preferential capital sources; support for re-evaluation of OCOP products; duration of OCOP products; policies on leasing forest land for developing eco-tourism and resorts; development of agricultural tourism models, etc.

Also at the conference, delegates listened to leaders of the Agricultural Trade Promotion Center, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and representatives of technology solution providers share experiences and suggest directions for developing agricultural product consumption channels, especially through e-commerce.

Representatives of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development acknowledged and highly appreciated the legitimate recommendations and proposals of enterprises and cooperatives; committed to accompanying, resolving and reporting issues beyond their authority, to join hands with relevant agencies to remove difficulties.

In order for the province's agricultural sector to develop sustainably, in the coming time, on the basis of clearly identifying the strengths and characteristics of each ecological region, the Department will support the building of agricultural product brands, building collective brands, geographical indications, product traceability, promoting trade promotion through many forms, especially putting them on e-commerce trading floors.

Along with that, promote the implementation of the linkage of 4 parties (state, scientists, businesses, farmers), aiming to bring the province's agricultural products into the value chain from production, harvesting, preservation, processing and consumption. Focus on attracting and developing enterprises, cooperatives, and linkage groups in agricultural production; advise on mechanisms and preferential policies to support, encourage, and attract businesses to invest in the field of preservation and processing of agricultural products, especially deep processing.

At the conference, the units signed a memorandum of understanding on Cooperation, support, connection, and linkage in production and consumption of agricultural products.

Thuy Lam-Anh Tuan