Cooperative members care for plants.

These days, Thuan Chau has 58 cooperatives, including 53 agricultural cooperatives, with over 1,000 members. The activities of the cooperatives have positively impacted supporting the development of household economy, production, and processing according to VietGAP and organic standards, as well as participating in the program "One commune, one product" -OCOP. So far, the district has 8 OCOP products with 3-star or more, including the Pha Din Top tourist destination; Thu Dan Oolong tea, Da River tilapia fillet; Chieng La smoked grass carp; and Trong Nguyen tea. Maintaining 10 product development linkage chains, 26 safe agricultural product supply chains, 27 safe food and seafood supply chains, and ten (10) planting area codes, with 182 hectares, increasing the area certified according to the VietGAP process to more than 600 hectares.

Accompanying cooperatives, the district's specialized agencies have transferred science and technology, guiding farmers to care for crops, and linked production between farmer households and cooperatives with enterprises in the chain. In 2023, the district supported perfecting documents and procedures to request VietGAP certificates for agricultural cooperatives: Cha May, Cat Lot Coffee, Ban Bay General Agriculture, and Tu Tai Cooperative, supporting product traceability for Cat Lot Coffee Cooperative and product packaging for Thuan Chau Green Agriculture Cooperative, creating conditions for cooperatives to participate in fairs and conferences to display, exhibit, introduce, and promote OCOP products, typical agricultural products, and other products of cooperatives. Coordinated with the Provincial Cooperative Union to organize six (6) conferences to propagate the founding members of cooperatives for 300 people in Ban Lam, Chieng Bom, Pa Long, Co Tong, Phong Lang, and Chieng Pac communes.

According to the National Criteria for New Rural Communes in the province for the period 2021 - 2025, to achieve criterion 13 on the form of production organization and rural economic development, communes need to meet 03 criteria, including Cooperatives operating following the provisions of the 2012 Law on Cooperatives; having a production linkage model associated with sustainable consumption of pivotal agricultural products, implementing traceability of the commune's main products attached with building raw material areas and being certified by VietGAP or equivalent. Thuan Chau district has disseminated the Law on Cooperatives and agricultural development programs and built New Rural Areas for cooperatives. Encourage cooperatives to consolidate their apparatus, develop production plans, invest in machinery, and apply scientific and technological advances. Strengthen linkages and cooperation with businesses; create jobs and stable income for workers. Up to now, the district has 11/28 communes meeting criterion 13, of which 5 meet New Rural Area standards.

In the coming time, the district will continue to promote production and consumption linkages according to the value chain in a sustainable manner, encouraging people to change crop structure, promoting commodity production according to the value chain, and calling for and attracting businesses to invest in the rural agricultural sector. At the same time, propagate and mobilize households to establish cooperatives to create quality products and increase competitiveness in the market. Cooperatives have changed traditional farming practices to apply science and technology, proactively link, seek markets for product consumption, produce according to the chain, ensure product output, and bring stable income to member households.

                                                                                                                       Hong Le

                                                                                Translated by Tuan Minh Dang