There should be no target for establishing cooperatives for localities.

Comrade Cao Thi Hien - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council as head of the monitoring delegation. Photo: Mai Hoa

According to the report of the People's Committee of Nam Dan district, the district currently has a total of 52 cooperatives; including 39 agricultural service cooperatives, 7 non-agricultural cooperatives, and 6 people's credit funds. Of that total, through review and evaluation, in addition to 5 cooperatives awaiting dissolution and 11 newly established cooperatives in 2017 that were not evaluated, there are 14 cooperatives operating effectively; 13 good cooperatives; 8 average cooperatives and 1 weak cooperative.

However, based on the analysis of total revenue of cooperatives in the district within 4 years (2013 - 2017) only increased by more than 37 billion VND and profit increased by 409 million VND; compared with the attention and direction of the Party Committee and government from the district to the grassroots, especially with many policies affecting cooperatives, some members of the monitoring team were concerned about the effectiveness of cooperative operations not being proportional to the investment.

Just for the policy to support the establishment of new cooperatives, the province supports 50 million VND/cooperative and the district 20 million VND/cooperative; not to mention many other integrated policies.

Mr. Dinh Xuan Que - Chairman of Nam Dan District People's Committee admitted that some cooperatives are not operating effectively. Photo: Mai Hoa

Acknowledging the fact that some cooperatives are not operating effectively, however, according to Chairman of Nam Dan District People's Committee Dinh Xuan Que, the effectiveness of cooperatives must be assessed from the perspective of whether the service quality is good or not and whether the service price is high or low. And when the service quality is good but the price is low, the revenue and profit will certainly be low.

According to the Chairman of Nam Dan People's Committee, currently the operation of agricultural cooperatives is facing many difficulties, so it is recommended that the State should have a separate mechanism for this type of cooperative, associated with binding obligations and responsibilities of those participating in production, to overcome the current situation of farmers not wanting to join cooperatives.

The Chairman of Nam Dan District People's Committee also expressed his opinion that there should be no competition to establish cooperatives and accordingly, the province should not set targets for establishing cooperatives for localities, avoiding the formation of formal cooperatives.

Processing cassava products of Nam Anh cassava and turmeric starch processing cooperative. Photo: Document

Concluding the meeting, Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Council Cao Thi Hien highly appreciated the leadership and direction of the Party Committee and authorities from the district to the grassroots level for the activities of cooperatives in the area; especially the orientation to convert a number of cooperatives operating in a formal manner into specialized service cooperatives in safe vegetable production, processing and trading of agricultural products..., bringing practical results.

On the basis of pointing out some limitations in cooperative management, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council requested the People's Committee of Nam Dan district to continue directing the completion of post-conversion procedures for a number of cooperatives; at the same time, focus on dissolving procedures for inactive cooperatives.

Regarding the orientation to create operational efficiency for cooperatives, Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Council Cao Thi Hien suggested that the District People's Committee and the agencies pay attention to directing cooperatives to select service stages that people need and businesses have not reached, such as selecting production plants and animals, linking with providing seeds and taking care of product output. At the same time, it is necessary to open up directions to develop environmental sanitation services and link agricultural production in chains.

In terms of State management, the district also needs to pay attention to providing guidance on financial and asset management of cooperatives; at the same time, it is necessary to closely monitor and evaluate to replicate new effective models, promptly remove difficulties of cooperatives. The district also needs to strengthen the work on the role and effectiveness of cooperatives among cadres and people, ensuring conditions for cooperatives to operate effectively.