Cooperative Development "Boost" from Support Program

Workers of Ban Quyen Agricultural and Forestry Products Production and Service Cooperative, De Tham Commune, Trang Dinh District, pack products.

With synchronous and appropriate solutions from relevant levels and sectors, from 2021 up to now, the number of cooperatives in the province has increased rapidly.

Number of newly established cooperatives exceeds plan

From 2021 onwards, the collective economy sector, with the core being cooperatives in the province, continued to face many difficulties, the number of cooperatives was still limited; production and business activities were not effective due to lack of capital, limited management and operation capacity and narrow product consumption market...

In order to support and remove difficulties for the field of collective economy and cooperatives, on May 23, 2021, the Provincial People's Committee issued Program No. 19 on supporting the development of collective economy and cooperatives in the period of 2021-2025. Along with that, relevant levels and sectors have developed plans to implement solutions related to innovating production organization forms, improving the capacity and efficiency of cooperatives in the new period as well as implementing support policies according to Resolution 08 dated December 10, 2019 of the Provincial People's Council on specific policies to encourage investment, develop cooperation, link production and consumption of agricultural and rural products in the province in the period of 2020-2025 (including cooperative development).

According to Program No. 19/CTr-UBND dated May 23, 2021 of the Provincial People's Committee to support the development of collective economy and cooperatives in Lang Son province in the period of 2021-2025, with specific goals in the period of 2021-2025, relevant levels and sectors in the province organized 200 propaganda and training classes on collective economy and cooperatives; organized 15 support and consulting classes on building or amending charters; supported the establishment of 200-250 new cooperatives; organized 30 training classes for members and employees of collective economy organizations; supported 50-60 young workers working at collective economy organizations; supported over 125 cooperatives to participate in fairs and exhibitions to promote products and trade; supported the rental of locations and the operation of a number of product introduction and sales points for 50 or more cooperatives; Support quality certification, branding, product origin, and traceability for 75 or more cooperatives; support over 30 cooperatives to borrow capital from the Cooperative Development Support Fund; support over 40 cooperatives to invest in infrastructure and product processing...

Implementing the programs and plans to support the development of collective economy and cooperatives in the province, relevant levels and sectors quickly started to deploy specific work contents. Mr. Lieu Xuan Du, Chairman of the Provincial Cooperative Union, said: One of the first and important goals in the program to support the development of collective economy and cooperatives is to develop new cooperatives. To develop new cooperatives, in recent years, the Provincial Cooperative Union has coordinated with relevant agencies and units to promote propaganda, mobilize, and guide founders to establish cooperatives. Specifically, from 2021 to present, the Provincial Cooperative Union has coordinated with the People's Committees of districts, associations, and unions to organize 104 conferences to propagate the Law on Cooperatives and guide the establishment of new cooperatives with nearly 10,000 participants; Coordinated propaganda of nearly 200 columns, news, and articles related to the development of collective economy on mass media... Thereby, many households and founders have more information and knowledge to establish cooperatives.

Ms. Vy Thi Chu, Director of Chu Tinh Organic Cooperative, Hoa Binh Commune, Chi Lang District, said: After being promoted by the Provincial Cooperative Union and related agencies about the cooperative model, in April 2024, the cooperative was established with 9 members. Up to now, in addition to 9 members, the cooperative has linked with 90 households growing chili and this year's chili crop, the cooperative has planted 18 hectares. Because the cooperative is the focal point for coordinating the project implementation with another unit, when participating in the association with the cooperative, households are trained in techniques, supported with 30% of the cost of seeds and materials (worth about 700,000 VND/sao) and the cooperative consumes the products. The establishment and operation of the cooperative has initially created a value chain in production, while promoting the role of a bridge to support additional resources for people to develop production.

Along with Chu Tinh Organic Cooperative, through the propaganda and mobilization work of relevant levels and sectors, many cooperatives in the province have been established. Specifically, from 2021 to now, the whole province has established 257 new cooperatives, bringing the total number of registered cooperatives operating in the province to 557. The number of newly established cooperatives every year has reached and exceeded the set plan.

Along with the development in quantity, the quality of cooperative activities is also constantly improved.

Improve the quality of cooperative operations

In addition to developing new cooperatives, in recent years, relevant levels and sectors of the province have implemented many solutions to accompany and support the improvement of the operational efficiency of cooperatives in the area. Mr. Duong Huu Phong, Head of the Finance - Planning Department of Bac Son district, said: Implementing the program to support the development of collective economy and cooperatives in the period of 2021-2025, the specialized department has coordinated with relevant units to promote propaganda and guide cooperatives to access support policies. As a result, from 2021 to present, relevant agencies and units in the area have supported 17 newly established cooperatives; 3 young intellectuals to work at cooperatives; supported 5 cooperatives to borrow capital with interest rate support, develop brands... From the State's support resources and the efforts of cooperatives, up to now, cooperatives in Bac Son district have had clear changes in their operations. Currently, there are 73 registered cooperatives in the district, of which the number of good and fairly good cooperatives accounts for over 26%; the average revenue of each cooperative reaches 1.85 billion VND/year, 2 times higher than in 2021; the average income of workers reaches 6 million VND/month, an increase of 1.5 million VND compared to 2021.

Together with Bac Son district, implementing Program 19 of the Provincial People's Committee, all levels and sectors have focused on implementing solutions to support and remove difficulties and obstacles for cooperatives. Specifically, from 2021 to now, relevant units have supported 65 members of 21 cooperatives in the province to borrow preferential loans from the fund with an amount of 6.5 billion VND to invest in production and business development; guided cooperatives in the province to borrow 4 billion VND from the Vietnam Cooperative Development Support Fund; supported 850 million VND for members of cooperatives from the National Employment Fund.

Also from 2021 to present, relevant levels and sectors in the province have organized 34 training courses for 2,500 leaders and members of cooperatives with contents related to digital transformation, cooperative management and operation skills, control and accounting operations; guided and supported 143 newly established cooperatives with a budget of nearly 2.9 billion VND; supported young intellectuals to work at 30 cooperatives with a support budget of nearly 5 billion VND; supported 11 cooperatives to build linkage chains and consume products with a budget of over 2.6 billion VND; supported 9 cooperatives to implement production models according to VietGAP standards with a budget of over 2.2 billion VND... At the same time, each year, relevant units support 5-10 cooperatives to participate in fairs to promote and introduce products; organize 2-4 meetings and dialogues with cooperatives to grasp difficulties and problems to find solutions.

Thanks to the close attention of all levels and sectors and the proactiveness and efforts to overcome difficulties of cooperatives, the economic and cooperative sectors in the province have had clear changes. In 2024, the average revenue of cooperatives in the province reached 1.35 billion VND/cooperative/year, an increase of 22.7% compared to 2021; the number of cooperatives operating well and fairly accounted for nearly 25% of the total number of cooperatives in operation; the average income of members and employees in cooperatives reached from 4 to 8 million VND/person/month, an increase of 30% compared to 2021.

With the results achieved in recent years, it is believed that in 2025, the field of collective economy and cooperatives in the province will continue to have more clear development steps, thereby contributing to the overall socio-economic development in the area.

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