Cooperatives should be nucleus to enhance value chains

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong emphasised the crucial role of cooperatives, saying they should act as a nucleus to connect more than six million farmers with large firms to create a closed production cycle, resulting in higher agricultural value chains.

Deputy PM Vuong Dinh Hue and other delegates visit a vegetable production model of Tan Tien cooperative in Da Lat (photo: VGP)
Deputy PM Vuong Dinh Hue and other delegates visit a vegetable production model of Tan Tien cooperative in Da Lat (photo: VGP)

The minister made his remarks during a teleconference held in Hanoi on August 18 on the implementation of the Government Resolution 98 on encouraging the linkages in agricultural production and consumption and the Government Decision 461 on the project of developing 15,000 cooperatives and cooperative alliances by 2020.

The event was co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister VuongDinh Hue and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong.

Minister Cuong said that the domestic production capacity for agricultural products is very large but there is a lack of linkages between farmers and the market, resulting in unstable consumption.
“Therefore, promoting linkages is an urgent need based on the voluntary effort of cooperatives, enterprises and farmers to create mutual benefits for all sides while creating favourable input and output services with competitive prices,” Cuong noted.

He added that if cooperatives are established and developed in the right direction, they will act as an important factor for agricultural restructuring.

Vice Chairman of Lam Dong provincial People’s Committee Pham S said that the synchronous development of cooperatives will help to enhance the export value chains to US$50-US$60 in the coming years. He also recommended the completion of related policies to facilitate cooperatives in accessing to bank finance.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam, the country intends to improve the performance of more than 4,400 existing cooperatives and facilitate the establishment of more than 5,200 new cooperatives in localities nationwide by 2020.