Cooperative links thousands of households to promote organic farming

TUYEN QUANG With 4 OCOP products, Tho Binh Agricultural and Forestry Cooperative (Lam Binh district) is one of the cooperatives with the most OCOP products in Tuyen Quang province.

Organic peanut products of Tho Binh Agricultural and Forestry Cooperative are popular in the market because of their clean and delicious quality. Photo: Dao Thanh.

With an area of ​​nearly 300 hectares of peanuts, Tho Binh commune has the largest peanut growing area in Lam Binh district (Tuyen Quang province), with an average fresh peanut output of more than 2,000 tons/year. Seeing the potential of peanut products in their hometown, Tho Binh Agricultural and Forestry Cooperative has linked production and product purchasing with about 1,000 households to both ensure stable output for the people and enhance the brand of local agricultural products.

For many years, Ma Cong Vinh's family in Na Con village, Tho Binh commune has been growing spring peanuts organically, without using chemical pesticides, and weeding entirely by hand. Growing peanuts organically is harder for Vinh's family, but the products are safe for consumers and easy to build a brand. With 3,000m2 of peanuts, after deducting all expenses, Vinh earns about 10 million VND per crop.

Mr. Vinh said that since joining the Tho Binh Agricultural and Forestry Cooperative, peanut growers like his family have been assured of the output and price of their products. To have a stable market, households must have high consensus and strictly apply the organic peanut growing process set forth by the Cooperative.

The family of Mr. Ma Duy Man in Na My village, Tho Binh commune is the largest goat farmer in Tho Binh Agriculture and Forestry Cooperative. With more than 100 breeding and commercial goats, on average each year Mr. Man sells about 100 meat goats to the market. Each goat Mr. Man sells for 2.8 to 3 million VND, after deducting the costs of investing in breeding stock, food, and care, he makes a profit of about 60 million VND.

Mr. Man said that Tho Binh goats are raised by many people in the villages of Na Vai, Vang Ang, and Ban Puoc. Currently, Tho Binh mountain goats are raised completely naturally on the top of Phia Khan mountain, so the quality of the meat is delicious. However, the biggest difficulty is that the purchasing sources are not really stable, so the people here have not dared to expand the scale of raising.

Tho Binh mountain goat is one of the outstanding specialties of Tuyen Quang province. Photo: Dao Thanh .

From the initial 300 breeding goats, the number of goats raised by the Tho Binh Agricultural and Forestry Cooperative in association with local households has now increased to 1,000. This is the result that over the past 5 years, the Cooperative has always maintained and cooperated with 73 households raising specialty goats, purchasing and selling over 10 tons of goat meat each year.

In particular, in September 2023, the Cooperative started construction of a concentrated livestock farm to concentrate on raising and fattening commercial goats. The Cooperative also cooperates with restaurants and hotels in and outside the province to consume goat products for people.

Mr. Dang Van Lam, Deputy Director of Tho Binh Agricultural and Forestry Cooperative, said that because the cooperative's goat, peanut, tea products... have clean raw material areas, they are easily recognized when registering OCOP products. In 2020, the cooperative had 3 products achieving 3 OCOP stars, which are peanuts, peanuts and fresh goat meat. In 2021, the cooperative continued to register for evaluation of 1 peanut oil product and was recognized as achieving 4 OCOP stars.

Expanding good agricultural products, increasing income for people, in the next phase, the Cooperative will strengthen trade promotion activities, advertise products, bring agricultural products of Tho Binh commune in particular and Lam Binh district in general to consumers inside and outside the province through e-commerce platforms and trade centers. Up to now, the Cooperative's good agricultural products have been present in 30 provinces and cities nationwide, and have been well-rated by consumers for their quality.

Tho Binh Agricultural and Forestry Cooperative has cooperated with local people to develop a specialty Shan Tuyet tea area to be recognized as an organic product with an area of ​​38 hectares.

Source: https://nongsanviet.nongnghiep.vn/hop-tac-xa-lien-ket-hang-nghin-ho-thuc-day-nong-nghiep-huu-co-d398716.html