Actively striving for economic development, many cooperatives owned by women also contribute
Protect the living environment with creativity, flexibility, and "green" production processes.
Success with closed chain model
Pham Thi Huong and her husband are both engineers at Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry. “With the knowledge and experience accumulated from practice, in 2022, my husband and I established the Thai Binh Organic Farm Cooperative.
The special thing about the cooperative is that we build a closed chain between livestock and cultivation, rotating crops and breeds according to the season. The closed model not only helps reduce investment costs but also ensures clean products from the root,” said Ms. Huong.
With the initial 4ha farm, the couple used 1,000 m2 for barns, 1,000 m2 to build greenhouses to grow vegetables, tubers, fruits and more than 8,000 m2 to grow long-term crops with sustainable economic value such as: green asparagus, eggplant, male papaya flowers, fruit trees...
“With 1,000 m2 of barns, in just one year, the cooperative spent about 6 months growing mushrooms. The harvest yield was 10 tons of fresh mushrooms per crop. The average selling price was 40,000 VND/kg. In the first year, we earned 400 million VND/crop.
In the next 4 months, we raised chickens, with a scale of 6,000 chickens/crop. The total income of the chicken flock was 120 million VND/crop. In the remaining two months of the year, the entire barn area was used for composting organic fertilizer and green manure. From there, I took advantage of the chicken manure and waste mushroom spawn to compost into organic fertilizer, providing nutrients for the plants grown in greenhouses and gardens of the cooperative", Ms. Huong shared.
As for the 1,000 m2 greenhouse, the cooperative uses it to grow vegetables, tubers, and fruits such as: cherry tomatoes, grapes, broccoli, spinach, glass lettuce... All are grown using high technology, using an automatic watering system using drip or misting techniques.
With the remaining 8,000 m2, the cooperative grows asparagus, male papaya and some perennial fruit trees, using waste from mushroom farms and chicken farming as fertilizer for the plants. Every day, the cooperative's 6 workers continuously harvest, classify and package vegetables and tubers to transport to clean agricultural product stores in many localities such as: Hanoi, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Hung Yen, Son La...
Ms. Pham Thi Huong (Thai Binh Organic Farm Cooperative) takes care of plants at the farm.
Promoting “green” production
In Binh Phuoc province, the Binh Phuoc Women's Cordyceps - Mushroom Cooperative (Bu Dop district) is a new model, currently with 7 members. The cooperative has a cordyceps cultivation room with the stages of planting, breeding, creating breeds and cultivating all invested in and equipped with an automatic machine system.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Tien, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors and Director of the Binh Phuoc Women's Mushroom - Cordyceps Cooperative, said that to successfully cultivate and produce Cordyceps requires careful selection of breeds and culture media. The mushroom culture environment must be clean, meeting strict standards of temperature, humidity, light, air, etc.
The organic mushroom cultivation process is very environmentally friendly. The waste products are then processed by the cooperative to use microorganisms to make food for goats.
“In the process of cultivating and producing products, environmental issues are always our top priority. The cooperative follows an organic approach, so it must comply with strict regulations on quality and environment.
In the near future, we will implement a project to utilize cashew and rubber gardens in the area to grow mushrooms, both creating livelihoods and income for local farmers and contributing to environmental protection," said Ms. Tien.
In Quang Binh, Anh Minh Agricultural Production and Service Cooperative (Le Thuy District) has 9 members, mainly women, involved in growing crops, producing hygiene products and growing medicinal plants. The main products of the cooperative include shampoo, shower gel, cleaning solutions, essential oils, etc.
Ms. Vu Thi Hoan, Deputy Executive Director of Anh Minh Cooperative, said that the products of the Cooperative are all made from herbs, the production process is almost waste-free. Waste in the production process, mainly herbal residue, is reused, using microbial products to compost into fertilizer, continuing the cycle of growing herbs and medicinal herbs.
In addition, in the process of producing essential oils, distilled water and hydrogen are also converted into new products such as floor cleaner and dishwashing liquid for cleaning and creating fragrance. Environmental protection has been the orientation of the cooperative from the beginning. Farmers must also comply with strict regulations to ensure the quality of input materials.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Ha, Vice President of the Women's Union of Quang Binh province, said that after a period of implementation, the implementation of the Project "Supporting cooperatives managed by women, creating jobs for female workers until 2030" (referred to as Project 01) has initially contributed to supporting and improving the lives of members and workers in cooperatives; promoting collective strength, connecting the majority of members and women to participate. With the goal of a pollution-free environment and public health, the implementation of Project 01 not only contributes to economic growth, cultural and social development of the locality but also makes an important contribution to community activities to adapt to climate change, mitigate natural disasters, etc.
Cooperatives managed by women all focus on the rational use of natural resources, minimizing pollution and protecting the landscape, maximizing community capacity in management and minimizing environmental pollution.
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