Part I: Comprehensive effectiveness

The agricultural value chain is an agricultural product produced according to a process that involves many stages and production steps. The agricultural value chain is an important factor in increasing output, quality, competitiveness, and value of agricultural products, thereby promoting sustainable agricultural development and improving farmers' lives.

Linking value chain production helps form concentrated production areas that synchronously apply mechanization to production stages.

The organization of agricultural production linkage according to the value chain in the province has been formed and developed. This form ensures that economic components participating in the value chain share benefits and responsibilities with each other, regulate market supply and demand and trace the origin of products.

Accumulating more than 10 hectares of rice fields, for many years, through the cooperative, Mr. Nguyen Duy Tam, An My commune (Quynh Phu) has joined the rice seed production association with ThaiBinh Seed Group Joint Stock Company. Mr. Tam said: By linking with the enterprise, we are able to use quality rice seeds and are guided on the cultivation process, so the rice yields high and stable yields. In addition, the enterprise also buys at a price 1.3 times higher than the market price, so the economic efficiency is higher, especially when planting on a large scale.

Minh Hoa H4G Co., Ltd., Duyen Hai Commune (Hung Ha) is a company that owns a closed, complete chain including the stages: production - processing - consumption. Up to now, the Company has the capacity to produce 3 - 4 quintals of tilapia/day, supplying the market with 1 - 1.5 quintals of boneless tilapia.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hinh, Director of the Company, said: Tiger perch is a farming species that brings high economic efficiency if there is a stable consumption market, especially processed products from tiger perch bring 10-15% higher profit value than selling commercial fish. Therefore, in 2019, I established a business, expanded cooperation with fish farmers, provided breeds, technical guidance, and purchased products for people. The association not only helps us control the quality of input materials but also helps people consume stably, without worrying about being forced to lower prices by traders. Strictly controlling the farming and processing process to ensure food safety, my products are completing the dossier to be certified for a safe food supply chain, aiming at the system of large supermarkets. Recently, the boneless tiger perch product has been certified as a 3-star OCOP product at the district level.

Minh Hoa H4G Company Limited is currently cooperating with many farming households across the province. Not only creating jobs and stable income for direct workers, linking production according to the chain also helps farming households stabilize output, confidently invest in production, and shift from traditional methods to practicing safe production processes, aiming for concentrated and safe agricultural production.

Implementing the project of restructuring the agricultural sector of the province, in recent times, the agricultural sector and localities have focused on investing in production development towards improving productivity, quality and efficiency associated with restructuring crops and livestock; developing linkage models and building concentrated, large-scale, high-tech production areas according to the value chain. Agricultural production has shifted strongly towards commodity production, the internal structure of the agricultural sector has shifted towards increasing the proportion of livestock, reducing the proportion of crop cultivation, the structure of crops has shifted strongly towards plants with high economic value, limiting pests and diseases. Livestock has decreased sharply from small-scale farming in households to concentrated scale according to the model of enterprises, farms, and family farms with industrial and semi-industrial forms. Aquaculture has developed diverse types (tidal flats, ponds, lagoons, semi-floating ponds, cages, etc.), moving towards marine farming. The cooperative economy has had positive developments with the establishment of new cooperatives participating in the chain of agricultural commodity production.

Carrot growing areas are concentrated in Diep Nong commune (Hung Ha).

Up to now, the whole province has 250 cooperatives participating in production and product consumption linkages with 20 enterprises inside and outside the province. The total area of crop production with linkage and consumption contracts reaches over 10,000 hectares/year, mainly linked to the production of rice seeds and commercial rice. In livestock, there are 5 enterprises linked with 33 pig and poultry farm owners; many cooperatives and livestock cooperatives operate effectively. There are many chains with relatively synchronous investment in technical facilities, applying high technology associated with the development of OCOP products that have affirmed the brand and product quality. The whole province has 28 cooperatives that have built 34 brands with labels and packaging, of which 16 products are recognized by the Provincial People's Committee as 3-star and 4-star OCOP products; 18 products have been evaluated and classified by the provincial council from 3 stars to 4 stars, and are completing the dossier to submit to the provincial People's Committee for recognition. Enterprises and cooperatives that own the chain have the role of selecting input material suppliers, supervising production techniques, purchasing, processing, building brands, promoting, introducing, and consuming products. Partners participating in the chain must properly implement the linkage contract and carry out production and business in accordance with the instructions and requirements of enterprises and cooperatives.

According to Ms. Tran Thi Lien Hoa, Deputy Head of the Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Product Quality Management: Linking production according to the chain brings value to 4 parties: people do not worry about what to plant, what to raise, how to produce, where to consume, how because the enterprises and cooperatives that own the chain have the role of selecting the supply of input materials, supervising production techniques, purchasing, processing, building brands, promoting, introducing, and consuming products; Cooperatives lead the linkage to organize concentrated and synchronous production, thereby improving efficiency in operations and management; for enterprises, they can take the initiative in raw material areas, thereby taking the initiative and developing the consumption market, and for localities, linking production according to the chain helps form concentrated production areas, developing advantageous and key products. Linking production according to the value chain has contributed to promoting the development of the province's key agricultural products towards commodities, increasing value, avoiding the situation of good harvest but low price, contributing to increasing people's income, developing the local economy and building new rural areas.