Opening a new direction for commodity agriculture
According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Son La province, the whole province currently has more than 1,000 cooperatives, mainly operating in the agricultural sector, with more than 38,000 members, creating regular jobs for about 11,000 local workers. Cooperatives become the core for developing commodity production, contributing significantly to the shift in economic structure and building new rural areas.
In Yen Chau commune, a land famous for bananas, mangoes, longan, and lonely garlic, the movement to develop commodity agriculture associated with the cooperative model is bringing clear results. Currently, the whole commune has 14 cooperatives with more than 120 members, creating jobs for over 400 local workers with a salary of 300,000 - 400,000 VND/day.
Each cooperative maintains regular employment for 5-10 employees, with an average income of 5 - 8 million VND/person/month. It also creates seasonal jobs for hundreds of workers in the fields of care, harvesting, preliminary processing, and agricultural packaging.
One of the typical models is the Tay Bac Cooperative (Huoi He village, Yen Chau commune), where members apply deep processing technology, bringing typical agricultural products such as black garlic, dried mango, and sticky-dried bananas to many large markets.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Yen Linh - Director of Tay Bac Cooperative - shared: "Every month, the cooperative produces about 3 tons of products, consumes in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Can Tho, Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa... Revenue reaches 2.5 - 3 billion VND/year, creating stable jobs for many workers with an income of 5 - 7 million VND/month".
Rural workers innovate thinking, increase production
Not only Yen Chau, many other localities of Son La are also changing strongly. Agricultural cooperatives help farmers access markets, new techniques and organize production according to standards, thereby retaining rural workers working on their homeland.
In Chieng Mai commune, Sang Na Tre Cooperative develops organic specialty coffee, helping local products have a strong position in the domestic and foreign markets. Currently, the cooperative has nearly 50 hectares of organic coffee and more than 200 hectares of satellite coffee, producing about 10 tons of specialty coffee per year, with a revenue of nearly 10 billion VND, creating jobs for 22 regular workers and hundreds of seasonal workers, with a salary of 300,000 - 500,000 VND/day.
Mr. Cam Van Hoang - Director of the Cooperative - said: "Coffee is carefully selected, naturally fermented, dried in a greenhouse to preserve the fragrance. The product is highly appreciated by customers in many major cities. The cooperative cooperates with processing and exporting enterprises to complete the value chain, aiming for international markets.
Not only stopping at production, many cooperatives in the province have also expanded to agricultural processing, developing eco-tourism and agricultural services, helping to create many new jobs, attracting young workers to stay with the locality.
According to the leader of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Son La, in the coming time, the province will continue to innovate the cooperative model, promote digital transformation, and apply technology in production and consumption of products.
Models such as Tay Bac Cooperative in Yen Chau or Sang Na Tre in Mai Son are showing the right direction in increasing the value of agricultural products, creating jobs, retaining rural workers, contributing to building new rural areas in a modern, effective and sustainable direction.
