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.

Overview of the conference

Up to now, the whole province has 457 agricultural cooperatives, of which 380 are general service cooperatives, 42 are specialized in seedlings, 13 are salt cooperatives, 9 are livestock cooperatives, 9 are aquaculture and fishing cooperatives, 3 are forestry cooperatives and 1 is a 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, 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 of 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 Chairman 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 field of agricultural cooperative development has not received due attention, so the quality and efficiency of agricultural cooperatives' operations 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 2012 Cooperative Law took effect, the province had 60 newly established agricultural cooperatives, and 13 agricultural cooperatives converted to operate under the Cooperative Law. As of August 31, 2015, the province had 74/457 newly established agricultural cooperatives and reorganized agricultural cooperative operations under the 2012 Cooperative Law, reaching 16.2%. The remaining 383 agricultural cooperatives are in the review phase to complete procedures for re-registration, dissolution or conversion to other types of organizations.

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 to replicate 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 well perform 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