Actively convert agricultural cooperatives to operate under the 2012 Cooperative Law

(Baonghean.vn) - On the afternoon of September 18, the Provincial People's Committee held a conference to evaluate the conversion of agricultural cooperatives operating under the 2012 Cooperative Law. Comrades: Dinh Viet Hong, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Vi Luu Binh, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development chaired the conference.

Also attending were representatives of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Department of Planning and Investment, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Provincial Cooperative Union... and agricultural cooperatives in the province.

Conference overview

Up to now, the whole province has 457 agricultural cooperatives, including 380 general service cooperatives, 42 specialized seedling cooperatives, 13 salt cooperatives, 9 livestock cooperatives, 9 aquaculture and fishing cooperatives, 3 forestry cooperatives and 1 farm owner cooperative, with a total of 227,893 members and 53,310 regular workers. The activities of agricultural cooperatives are mainly irrigation services, supply of materials, plant varieties, plant protection, veterinary medicine, internal credit, and general services. Since the Law on Cooperatives was amended in 2003, basically the old-style agricultural cooperatives in the province have been transformed and newly established agricultural cooperatives according to the amended law in 2003. The form of operation of agricultural cooperatives is in accordance with the Law and has made certain contributions to the economic and social development of the province, especially in the fields of agriculture, farmers, rural areas and new rural construction.

Mr. Tran Van Chuong, Executive Vice President of the Provincial Cooperative Union, reported on the implementation of converting agricultural cooperatives operating under the 2012 Cooperative Law.

However, the process of transforming the management mechanism and the development of agricultural cooperatives has not received due attention, so the quality and efficiency of agricultural cooperatives are increasingly declining, and they have not been able to perform the "midwife" function for member households. Most agricultural cooperatives are small-scale, have little capital, poor technical facilities and infrastructure for production, and the management capacity and qualifications of agricultural cooperative staff are still weak...

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dac, Chairman of Thanh Lien Agricultural Cooperative (Thanh Chuong) exchanged opinions at the conference.

After the Law on Cooperatives 2012 took effect, the province had 60 newly established agricultural cooperatives and 13 agricultural cooperatives converted to operate under the Law on Cooperatives. As of August 31, 2015, the province had 74/457 newly established agricultural cooperatives and reorganized agricultural cooperative operations under the Law on Cooperatives 2012, reaching 16.2%. The remaining 383 agricultural cooperatives are in the process of being reviewed to complete procedures for re-registration, dissolution or conversion to another type of organization.

Mr. Nguyen Van Sang, Chairman of Kim Lien 3 Agricultural Cooperative (Nam Dan) spoke at the conference.

Comrade Dinh Viet Hong, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee directed at the conference.

The goal is that by June 30, 2016, all localities must complete the conversion of agricultural cooperatives according to the 2012 Law on Cooperatives. To achieve this goal, Mr. Dinh Viet Hong, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, requested relevant departments, branches, local authorities at all levels and agricultural cooperatives to continue promoting propaganda, dissemination, guidance and implementation of legal documents on cooperatives; focusing on building a number of models of converting agricultural cooperatives as pilot models for replication throughout the province.

At the same time, focus on directing the good implementation of projects, plans and programs to support the development of cooperatives approved by the Prime Minister and the Provincial People's Committee; Strengthen inspection, direction and supervision of the implementation of cooperative transformation according to the 2012 Law on Cooperatives; Strengthen state management of collective economic development, especially focusing on the development of agricultural cooperatives; People's Committees of districts, cities and towns arrange full-time or part-time staff to perform well the functions and tasks of state management of agricultural cooperatives and organize dialogues on cooperative development policies with sectors to remove difficulties for cooperatives.

Quynh Lan