Nghe An: Many cooperatives still operate in the style of 'old wine in new bottles'

(Baonghean.vn) -Many cooperatives have transformed but their operating methods have not changed much, this is a common concern at the 3rd Conference of the Executive Committee of the Nghe An Provincial Cooperative Union held in...gAugust 23rd

The above conference of the Executive Committee of the Nghe An Provincial Cooperative Union, term V, 2016 - 2021, aimed to evaluate the economic cooperation situation and general activities in the first 6 months of the year, tasks and solutions for the last 6 months of 2017; review the implementation of the 2012 Cooperative Law; inspect the first 6 months of 2017 and sign a program of coordination of activities between the Provincial Cooperative Union and relevant departments and branches.

Overview of the conference. Photo: Xuan Hoang

The report of the Provincial Cooperative Union shows that in the first 6 months of the year, 32 new cooperatives were established. Up to now, the province has 430 agricultural cooperatives, 127 non-agricultural cooperatives, and 59 people's credit funds.

Agricultural cooperatives have tended to link together in production as well as product consumption; there have been many positive changes in expanding production, creating commodity products and investing in developing many industries, however, they only focus on simple business services such as irrigation, supply of materials, plant varieties, plant protection, and veterinary medicine.

The establishment of the Cooperative Union has created an important link in implementing the agricultural product consumption chain for agricultural cooperatives and a number of processing cooperatives.

Non-agricultural cooperatives operate stably in production and business with many forms of production, business and service. Recently, some new models have appeared that are effective in both economic and social aspects such as: environmental cooperatives, market cooperatives, and craft village cooperatives.

The People's Credit Fund operates in 150 communes of 13 districts, cities and towns, attracting 83,162 members, with a total mobilized capital of VND 5,235 billion. The Funds have met the needs of depositing money and lending to members to develop household and farm economies, contributing to hunger eradication and poverty reduction.

Comrade Le Phuc An - Chairman of the Provincial Cooperative Union said that the State has had land policies for cooperatives, but because local departments and branches have not really paid attention, cooperatives have not accessed the State's policies. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Up to now, the Provincial Cooperative Union and districts, cities and towns have evaluated, surveyed and selected to build 119 cooperative models, gradually improving the operational efficiency of cooperatives, of which 53 cooperatives have been upgraded from weak to average, and 66 cooperatives have been upgraded from average to good.

Besides the achieved results, there are still shortcomings, such as limited internal capacity of cooperatives, low operational efficiency, not many profitable cooperatives, most cooperatives still have difficulty accessing loans from credit institutions, additional capital contributions from cooperative members have not received attention, especially the output market has not been opened up...

Comrade Nguyen Xuan Duong - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee visited the mushroom growing model in Nam Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district. Photo: Document

Discussing at the conference, members said: Many units after converting to the new Cooperative Law but the form of operation has not changed much. Some cooperatives have not done a good job of propaganda; the team of cooperative management staff has not focused on professional qualifications...

It is recommended that the Cooperative Union direct districts to focus on promoting training for the team of directors; based on the strengths of each locality, the Cooperative Union needs to act as a bridge for cooperatives to choose suitable crops to produce goods to supply raw materials for businesses.

Chairman of the Provincial Cooperative Union Le Phuc An received the opinions of the members and said that in the coming time, he will strengthen the advisory work for relevant levels and sectors, organize training and model tours for the cooperative management team. In addition, he will organize fairs well for cooperatives to sign contracts for production and consumption of products; strengthen propaganda and training for the cooperative management team.

Xuan Hoang