The Department of Cooperatives and Rural Development on Monday signed an agreement with the Cooperative Union of Agriculture Consumption to develop production and distribution linkages for agricultural products.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Tran Thanh Nam, said that increasing added values of farming products and reducing production costs were major problems in agricultural production, which required the development of a value chain.

In addition, it was also important to develop large-scale and stable raw material areas and improve awareness of the cooperatives’ members.

Le Van Tam, chairman of Lam Sơn Joint Stock Corporation, which had built a sugar production linkage with cooperatives and farmers since 1990s, said that enterprises should have stakes at cooperatives to enhance accountability. The preferential interests should also be provided to farmers, he said.

According to Ma Quang Trung, Director of the Department of Cooperatives and Rural Development, there were around 400 value chains established nationwide but the demand for cooperating between cooperatives and enterprises remained huge.

Both sides were still confused about the operation models and accountabilities, Trung said.

The Department of Cooperatives and Rural Department and the Cooperative Union of Agricultural Consumption completed a project on building and developing a value chain of Vietnamese safe agricultural products, which was submitted to the government for approval.

Under the project, regional and inter-regional centres connecting production and distribution of Vietnamese safe agricultural products will be established.

These centres will also supervise the product quality to ensure origin, food hygiene and safety.

This will also help promote a safe and transparent agriculture market, as well as exports of Vietnamese agricultural products. — VNS