A typical example of cooperatives transforming production thinking

The cooperative has many rice varieties that sell at high prices

Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director of Dinh An Agricultural Seed Cooperative (Dinh An commune, Lap Vo district, Dong Thap province), said that the cooperative came into operation with 17 members, charter capital of VND 250 million, the main business of the cooperative is scientific research to breed new rice varieties towards nutrition and health. Trading and trading rice seeds and coconut seeds. Linking rice consumption, fertilizer quality testing, and production technical services. Labor services with agricultural teams to sow, fertilize, and spray chemicals for cooperative members. In addition, the cooperative also turned its field area specializing in research and rice seed production into a school tourism and experiential tourism destination for students and interns.

After over ten years of operation, Dinh An Agricultural Seed Cooperative has successfully bred many promising rice varieties accepted by the market. Among them, Director Nguyen Anh Dung is the author of many rice varieties with quite impressive names. Typically, the Ngoc Do Huong Dua variety is being contracted by three companies, Hoang Kim Group Saigon, Hong Tan Food, and Quoc Anh Hau Giang, for a period of 5 years (from 2023 - 2027), at a fixed price of VND 9,000/kg. Huyen Ngoc Dinh An variety is exclusively purchased by Co May Company for five years (from 2023 - 2027) for VND 9,500/kg. Ngoc Sen Hong variety, ordered by Hoang Kim Group Saigon Company for the winter-spring crop of 2023 - 2024, with an expected price of VND 10,000/kg or more.

Make the production process transparent

Currently, in addition to the area specializing in rice seed production, Dinh An Agricultural Seed Cooperative also has an area affiliated with members with a total area of 110 hectares, producing commodity rice according to business orders. Director Nguyen Anh Dung said: "Participating members/farmers will be provided with rice seeds at a price VND 1,000/kg cheaper than the market, loaned until the end of the season and supported with material costs of VND 5 million/ha. Signing a contract to sell rice at a fixed price to businesses from the beginning of the season, receiving deposit capital, the cooperative used this capital to re-grant members of VND 5 million/ha with 0% interest rate to invest in production."

The cooperative guides members to use many microbial organic fertilizers and gradually reduce chemical fertilizers. The cooperative contracts to harvest multiple combine harvesters simultaneously, requiring the machine owner to run the mower 50% slower than usual. The cooperative accepts to pay cutting wages to machine owners higher than VND 100,000/work.

The cooperative's rice selling price is much higher because the cooperative makes all rice farming activities transparent through electronic production logs, helping businesses monitor the entire production process from land preparation, seeding, water pumping, What fertilizer to use, dosage, and type of pesticide used will be photographed and posted on the diary.

All activities are recorded explicitly by the cooperative, which is responsible for the published information to make the production process transparent and create trust with the business. With how the cooperative is organized and operated, members' profits reach at least VND 45 million/hectare of production land with two crops/year.

This is also one of the knowledge cooperatives receive training and support from the project "Research and propose solutions to build and perfect a new model of effective agricultural cooperatives in Dong Thap province" implemented by the School of Public Policy and Rural Development.

To ensure the rice cultivation process meets the requirements, Dinh An Cooperative has a very good profit-sharing method and a way to bind and encourage farmers to implement effectively. Director Nguyen Anh Dung shared: "With the contracted price of VND 9,500/kg, of which VND 500 will pay for rice variety copyright, farmers enjoy the full VND 8,000/kg. The remaining VND 1,000 will be spent on management and will give farmers an additional VND 500 - VND 600/kg if they do a good job recording production diaries. The cooperative will regularly check with the business; if any member does not keep complete records, they will not receive benefits. With a rice yield of about 7 tons/ha, the additional benefit from keeping a complete diary is from VND 3.5 to VND 4.2 million/ha, so no member neglects to keep a diary."