Only about 13% of cooperatives participate in value chain linkage.

Over 4,000 cooperatives participate in value chain linkage

This is the figure given at the Forum "Agricultural restructuring: Solutions for effective and sustainable development of agricultural value chains" organized by Business Magazine (VnBusiness) on the morning of August 28, in Hanoi.

Overview of the Forum (Photo: Nguyen Hanh)

Speaking at the opening of the forum, Ms. Cao Xuan Thu Van - President of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance - said that currently, the whole country has over 4,000 cooperatives participating in value chain linkage (accounting for nearly 13% of the total number of cooperatives) with diverse forms of value chain linkage development according to stages in the agricultural value chain.

According to Ms. Cao Van Thu Van, to promote the consumption of agricultural products in the best way and increase the value of Vietnamese agricultural products, the effective and sustainable development of the agricultural value chain is a vital issue in agricultural restructuring. This is to meet the international market that continues to expand for Vietnam with nearly 20 signed and negotiated FTAs, as well as to meet the needs of the domestic market with a population of more than 100 million people.

However, it is necessary to recognize the fact that there are still many limitations and certain challenges for the sustainable development of the agricultural value chain. And one of the biggest limitations today is that the linkages between actors in the same stage (horizontal linkage), as well as between stages (vertical linkage) in the value chain are still loose. The linkages in production and consumption are still not really solid.

Not only that, the number of cooperatives that have built product brands is not much, and their competitive value in the market is not high. There are not many cooperatives that have the capacity to organize and link, promote the role of a truly effective bridge, and have the ability to spread in developing production according to the value chain.

Therefore, in restructuring agriculture, in order for the Vietnamese agricultural value chain to develop sustainably and effectively, it is necessary to overcome these inherent limitations. In particular, it is necessary to closely link production, processing and consumption. At the same time, it is necessary to consolidate and develop collective production organizations and vertical linkages between actors in the chain.

At the Forum, agricultural expert Hoang Trong Thuy commented that, along with abundant production capacity and diverse products, FTAs ​​have created huge competitive advantages for strategic agricultural, forestry and fishery products and have strengths thanks to commitments to reduce tariffs.

However, in the coming time, Vietnam's agricultural exports will still face five major challenges: High input material prices; transportation and logistics costs showing no signs of decreasing; import policies of countries constantly changing; increasing requirements for quality standards; foreign consumers tend to tighten spending due to inflationary pressure.

At the same time, in the context of forecasted high energy prices, especially food prices, thereby posing challenges to ensuring food security and reducing surplus value. The above challenges require Vietnam to have synchronous and effective policies to ensure sustainable development in the global agricultural export supply chain.

Strengthening links

Accordingly, in addition to solutions on production organization, quality improvement, design improvement, building strong and reputable brands in the export market, promoting trade promotion activities, strengthening the market information system, to promote linkage activities, Mr. Hoang Trong Thuy said that processing and exporting enterprises, as chain operators, need to proactively approach and sign memorandums of understanding on linkage; then proceed to sign official contracts with production households in the planned raw material areas, in the direction of contracts ensuring product consumption to create trust for farming households.

At the same time, as the center of the chain, processing and exporting enterprises also need to have close connections with the information systems of other members in the chain. Effective sharing and connection will contribute to providing complete, accurate and timely information to all members in the chain, helping to better balance purchasing, storage and transportation; aiming to minimize fluctuations in supply and demand in the market; gradually meeting the requirements of tracing the origin of exported agricultural products.

For ministries and sectors, there should also be appropriate incentive and support mechanisms to increase and expand investment, linkage, and technology transfer towards forming large-scale processing facilities with modern technology, thereby increasing processing capacity, increasing the rate of deep processing, creating quality products, and meeting the high demands of the world market.

On the part of the authorities, Mr. Phung Duc Tien - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development - said that close linkages between actors in the agricultural value chain from production, processing to consumption are key factors to improve efficiency and ensure sustainability. The State needs to have support policies, creating favorable conditions for cooperatives, businesses and farmers to cooperate with each other. At the same time, building linkage chains according to the "from farm to table" model will help improve product quality and increase added value. Along with that, perfecting and adjusting support policies, encouraging the development of agricultural cooperatives, especially new-style cooperatives...

“In order for Vietnam's agricultural sector to continuously develop, improve efficiency and develop sustainably in the agricultural value chain ; contribute to building and raising the level of Vietnamese agricultural products in the world market, this is not only the task of the agricultural sector but also requires the joint efforts of the whole society, from state agencies, enterprises, cooperatives to farmers,” the Deputy Minister emphasized.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/moi-co-khoang-gan-13-hop-tac-xa-tham-gia-lien-ket-chuoi-gia-341976.html