Farmers sow the ongoing summer – autumn rice in Vĩnh Long Province’s Long Hồ District. The province is encouraging farmers to become members of co-operatives to increase production efficiency and incomes. – VNA/VNS Photo Lê Thuý Hằng

VĨNH LONG – Vĩnh Long Province is encouraging the development of the collective sector.

The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province plans to establish 14 new co-operatives and 25 co-operative groups this year, including three agricultural co-operatives that apply high technology for farming and selling their produce.

It also seeks to increase the average revenues of co-operatives by at least 10 per cent and help effective co-operatives expand their operations and attract more members and partners.

To promote the collective economy, Nguyễn Văn Liệt, deputy chairman of the province People’s Committee, instructed government departments to help co-operatives meet the criteria related to finance, management, capacity, members, and benefits to members and the community set by the Law on Co-operatives.

They should evaluate the effectiveness of support policies for collectives, assess their difficulties and problems and the effectiveness of the best models to find suitable solutions, he said.

They should help expand efficient co-operatives, strengthen trade promotion, develop links between the supply and demand sides, and secure loans on easy terms for co-operatives, he said.

Co-operatives needed to prioritise obtaining brand names, secure members’ benefits and adopt technology to reduce costs, he added.

Supportive policies from the province and Government have helped develop the collective economy, and the number of co-operatives has increased, especially agricultural ones.

Since 2021 44 new co-operatives have sprung up, taking the province’s total number to 199 with more than 9,000 members.

The co-operatives had average revenues of VNĐ1.2 billion (US$47,000) last year, up 10 per cent from 2022.

Of them, 29 agricultural co-operatives have linked up with companies to develop value chains for their products.

The operations of co-operatives, especially agricultural, have improved.

Nevertheless, they continue to face difficulties such as inadequate support policies, technologies and management capacity.

Lê Văn Dũng, deputy head of the province steering committee for the development of the collective economy, said in 2021-23 the province implemented various support policies such as agriculture and industry extension assistance and training co-operative members in vocational skills. The support policies also helped co-operatives develop brand names, buy machinery and other production facilities and access soft loans, he said.

The People’s Committee has approved support for 17 projects by 14 agricultural co-operatives for building infrastructure and production and processing facilities in 2021-25.

They will cost VNĐ21.3 billion ($840,000), with 90 per cent coming from the province’s coffers. – VNS