Inspiring the spirit of cooperatives through sustainable development

Rebuilding the cooperative value system and institutions

Statisrtics show that Vietnam currently has over 29,300 cooperatives, 125 cooperative unions and 71,000 cooperative groups. There are 19,500 cooperatives which operate mainly in the agricultural sector, accounting for 66.4% of the total number of cooperatives across the country. There are nearly 8 million people participating in the cooperative system, with over 5.9 million cooperative members, 851 cooperative union members and over 1 million cooperative group members.

Regarding the organization and operation of cooperatives, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan commented that Vietnam had only focused on the legal and regulation aspects instead of promoting the spirit of cooperation as the core. The Minister said that this is the most significant bottleneck in the branding of cooperatives in society. Additionally, this issue has not received enough attention in the cooperative communication process.

“If farmers engage in small-scale production on a limited area without support from cooperatives, they will have to face the challenges of high costs and volatile markets. More importantly, small scale and low output will prevent the sector from establishing commodity chains and creating added value for agricultural products." the Minister said.

Mr. Hoan suggeseted experts to cooperate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as other ministries and agencies to rebuild the cooperative value system and institutions. Furthermore, all agencies and units under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development must inspire a spirit of cooperation in the people.

“Local governments need to view the cooperative model as a way to boost the province's GDP and assist farmers in overcoming fragmented, small-scale and spontaneous production. It is also the solution to reorganize production and restructure agriculture," said Minister Le Minh Hoan.

Expectations for an ammended Law on Cooperatives

Mr. Nguyen Van Tien, former Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development under the Central Economic Commission, commented that the collective economic sector has undergone considerable transformation in recent years, despite the limited scale of cooperatives. Mr. Tien believes that the government must establish policies geared towards supporting cooperatives to develop in terms of service scale, number of cooperatives, and number of members participating in cooperatives.

"On the other hand, detailed regulations must be enforced to grant cooperatives, especially agricultural cooperatives, access to land, credit, science and technology to organize large-scale agricultural production," said Mr. Tien.

Ms. Chu Thi Vinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Economic Cooperation informed that the Ministry of Planning and Investment is currently finalizing the ammended Law on Cooperatives, with the aim of submitting to the National Assembly by May 2023.

Namely, the ammended Law on Cooperatives will feature new policies and contents to promote transparency in the organization and operation of cooperatives. The transparency will help build trust with cooperative members, farmers, customers and credit institutions.

According to Mr. Dao The Anh, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Law on Cooperatives has been revised multiple times in 20 years. As a result, farmers have to constantly abolish invalidated regulations and adapt to new ones.

“With reference to countries with developed cooperative initiatives around the world, their Law on Cooperatives is relatively simple. Contrarily, the Law on Cooperatives of Vietnam places a strong emphasis on administrative matters. In order to enable diverse business services in rural areas, the Law on Cooperatives must be able to establish a solid legal framework. Subsequently, cooperatives can achieve their full potential," said Mr. Dao The Anh.

"Regarding cooperative movements around the world, Japan utilize media including movies and books to inspire the cooperative spirit in agricultural cooperatives. Many Korean and Taiwanese agricultural technical service centers have actively introduced farmers to scientific and technical advances; they have also called on them to participate in the cooperative model. Consequently, the cooperative model has become a dominantly effective movement," Minister Le Minh Hoan.