The organizational structure has not yet met the practical requirements of the new cooperative model.

Accordingly, although the whole commune has more than 1,500 households, Nam Cat Agricultural Service Cooperative currently has only 34 members. According to Mr. Nguyen Dinh Trung - Head of Cooperative Development Department, Provincial Cooperative Union, the cooperative's operation orientation is community-oriented, attracting a large number of people to participate, creating a ripple effect in the community.

Comrade Cao Thi Hien - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council led the monitoring delegation. Also participating was Comrade Bui Dinh Long - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Secretary of Nam Dan District Party Committee. Photo: Minh Chi

Raising the issue, the current lowest capital contribution level of a cooperative member is 5 million VND/member, while for farmers, not every family has the conditions. According to Mr. Trung, is it because the capital contribution level for cooperative members is set high, the lowest is 5 million VND? Mr. Trung hypothesized, is this an obstacle to attracting cooperative members?

Explaining the issue that Mr. Trung was concerned about, Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee Nguyen Danh Nam said that in the initial stage of converting from the old cooperative to the new cooperative model, the contribution level was only 200 thousand VND/member. However, due to not fully understanding the role of the new cooperative and the fear of the cooperative's loss, most farmers were not interested in participating and the existing members were mainly motivated, on the one hand, to create jobs for themselves.

Nam Dan District Party Secretary Bui Dinh Long proposed that the Provincial People's Council Standing Committee should have solutions to remove difficulties for cooperatives. Photo: Minh Chi

Through supervision, the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council also wondered that although Nam Cat Agricultural Service Cooperative is the only unit assessed to have the most effective operations in Nam Dan district, its operational efficiency is still low.

Net profits mainly come from irrigation, fertilizer, and pesticide services; the remaining services are still low. For example, in 2017, machine plowing and transplanting services only made a profit of 2 million VND; or seed supply services also made just over 2 million VND; even seed purchasing services only made a profit of 1.9 million VND.

Mr. Phan Van Tuyen - Director of Nam Cat Agricultural Service Cooperative explained some issues of concern to the monitoring delegation. Photo: Mai Hoa

Analyzing the factors affecting the operational efficiency of cooperatives, the Secretary of Nam Dan District Party Committee said that the biggest difficulty of cooperatives at present is that the organizational structure has not met the practical operation of this new model.

On the other hand, some services that the cooperative performs are also being performed by other organizations and individuals, and they even perform better, such as seed, fertilizer, and plant protection services; their businesses have warehouse systems and distribution systems. That is, the infrastructure and mechanisms and policies are still inadequate and not suitable to reality...

The Secretary of Nam Dan District Party Committee suggested that the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council needs to review and evaluate the overall activities of cooperatives to find solutions with the mindset that good cooperatives should focus on investment and support for development, and weak cooperatives should be dissolved.

Producing tray seedlings at the Agricultural Service Cooperative of Nam Cat commune, Nam Dan. Photo courtesy

Concluding the monitoring session, Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Council Cao Thi Hien said that the current difficulty of cooperatives is that they operate according to market mechanisms like enterprises but are service-oriented.

In that context, according to Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Council Cao Thi Hien, cooperatives need to consider choosing key services to invest in, prioritizing the services that people need, especially acting as a bridge, creating chain links in agricultural production, from providing seeds, care techniques to finding consumption markets for farmers.

Regarding environmental services, the Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Council noted that the Cooperative should pay attention to collecting and treating pesticide packaging. Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Council Cao Thi Hien also requested the district to continue to pay attention to guiding and supporting the Cooperative to operate more effectively.