Farmers are no longer alone in the fields
For more than 10 years, Tin Phat Agricultural Cooperative (Ke Sach commune, Can Tho city) formerly belonging to Ke Thanh commune, Ke Sach district, Soc Trang province has become a solid support for rice farmers, making an important contribution to the development of the collective economy, stabilizing production and improving people's income.
Mr. Le Van Son, a cooperative member, said that before joining the cooperative, farmers were completely dependent on traders, so prices were unstable, many households farmed rice all year round but income was still unstable, with some crops being almost unprofitable.
In the past, every harvest season was worrying. Rice is ripe but not sure to sell at a good price, sometimes being forced to bear it. Now we only focus on farming, on harvest day, the cooperative takes care of machinery, labor, and transportation to the warehouse, we just need to receive money," Mr. Son said.
Mr. Son said that the Cooperative also organizes production according to the large field model, unifying the crop schedule, rice varieties and farming processes. More importantly, the Cooperative signed linkage contracts with businesses to guarantee the consumption of all products, helping farmers no longer worry about output, stable selling prices and often higher than the market.
Cooperative member Bui Cong Minh said that when production started, there was already a cooperative "standing at the forefront of bearing the sao", farmers were no longer alone in the fields. "From rice seeds, scheduled planting, pest and disease prevention, there are technical staff to guide. When the harvest season comes, there is no worry about hiring harvesters or finding traders. The story of "farmers knowing how to do but not knowing how to sell" is no longer there," Mr. Minh said.
Taking trust as the root
Mr. Nguyen Van Dam - Director of Tin Phat Agricultural Cooperative said that the Cooperative was established in 2005 with 40 members, and has now grown to 320 members, with a cultivated area of about 520 ha, rice output of over 2,000 tons/year. Rice yield reaches an average of 7 - 7.5 tons/ha/crop, profit of about 40 - 45 million VND/ha/year. The continuous goal of the Cooperative is to help cooperative members increase profit by at least 20% in each rice crop.
Every year, the cooperative supplies members and farmers in the region with 5,000 - 6,000 bags of fertilizer and pesticides. Thanks to buying together in large quantities and closely linked with businesses, the input costs of cooperative members are reduced by 20-25%. In addition to being able to buy materials on installment without interest, cooperative members are also entitled to a 3-5% discount on the total purchase value.
Regarding output, the Cooperative proactively builds relationships with many businesses inside and outside the locality to consume fragrant rice and high-quality rice. Each year, the Cooperative signs contracts to guarantee consumption for farmers of more than 2,000 tons of rice. The difference is that the contracts are implemented seriously, without "breaking deals", without price gouging when the market fluctuates. Usually, the purchase price is about 200 VND/kg higher than the market.
The Board of Directors of the Cooperative always thoroughly grasps that members take the word "tin" as the root, true to the name of the Cooperative, Tin Phat. When rice prices rise, businesses share additional profits, and when prices fall, the Cooperative and members share difficulties. Only then can the linkage be sustainable," Mr. Dam emphasized.
According to Mr. Dam, thanks to a methodical production organization, the lives of workers in the cooperative have improved significantly. Currently, male workers participating in production and harvesting stages have an average income of 10-12 million VND/month; female workers participating in planting, warehousing, and drying rice reach 8-10 million VND/month. This is a stable income compared to the rural labor level, helping many families have conditions to raise their children to study, repair houses, and accumulate for the future.
Mr. Dam said that the Cooperative also maintains an internal support fund, lending to cooperative members at no interest to rotate production, improve livelihoods, and limit the situation of black credit borrowing. Thanks to the cooperative's companionship, farmers are assured to stick to the fields, produce stably and stick with rice for a long time.
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