The co-operative sector needs to give priority to structural reform as well as stimulate renovation to improve operational efficiency, adapting to current market conditions and the international integration process.

Deputy Director of the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s (MPI’s) Co-operatives Department Bui Nghi made the statement during a seminar held by the MPI on Thursday in Ha Noi.

“Co-operatives were formed and developed in Viet Nam long ago. However, the country’s socio-economic situation has changed, requiring co-operatives to renovate accordingly in order to operate more effectively,” Nghi said.

The 2012 Law on Co-operatives facilitated co-operative development in line with the country’s economic development, associated with the process of international integration, he said.

However, he added, each co-operative should itself improve competitiveness and mobilise synergistic resources, applying advanced technology as well as improving management effectiveness combined with branding and marketing.

Co-operatives should be restructured and transformed into modern models, expanding the scale of production and developing production toward specialisation and professionalism, generating products of high quality and added value, meeting domestic requirements as well as joining the global value chain, he said.

Foreign experts said Vietnamese co-operatives should also learn from international practices, including a number of co-operative development models of developed countries such as Canada, the Netherlands and Germany.

Co-operatives should be built on a voluntary basis, mobilising resources from each participant and distributing profits according to agreement reached between participants, the experts said.

Viet Nam has more than 19,500 co-operatives operating in various fields, from agriculture, fisheries, forestry, transport, credit and handicrafts. However, only one third are assessed as operating efficiently

At a conference workshop, Tran Van Cung, chairman of the Co-operative Alliance in the southern province of An Giang, gave examples of co-operation on rice production between farmers and businesses in the province.

Co-operatives represented farming households, receiving seeds, chemicals and fertilisers from enterprises and then providing them to farming households, he said. Co-operatives received commissions according to agreements reached with farmers. In addition, co-operatives and technical staff supervise and support farmers in the production process, he said. — VNS