More power and strength for collective economy

La Bang Tea Cooperative (La Bang commune) is one of the units supported by the Provincial Industrial Promotion Fund to implement the Project on applying machinery and equipment in tea processing.

From small-scale production to standardization

Recently, livestock farming in Thai Nguyen province has been shifting strongly from small-scale to concentrated, industrial, and high-tech. According to statistics from the Department of Agriculture and Environment, in the old Thai Nguyen province, there were more than 1,520 livestock farms, mainly pigs and chickens, supplying over 50% of the province's fresh meat output.

Of these, 183 facilities are VietGAP certified, 42 facilities meet disease safety standards and more than 1,200 facilities ensure biosafety. The northern region of the province (formerly Bac Kan ) has 29 buffalo and cow farms and 45 small and medium-sized pig farms, with 42 livestock chains. This shows that livestock farming is a prominent advantage in the rural economic structure.

Mr. Nguyen My Hai, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, commented: The development of the farm system not only ensures a stable supply but also creates a chain of links, increases added value, and becomes a prominent advantage of the rural economy .

One of the bright spots in farm development is that the whole province has more than 150 livestock farms certified with VietGAP, which is considered a "passport" to help local agricultural products access modern supermarket systems and distribution chains.

However, behind the bright colors, there are still difficult-to-untangle knots, such as escalating material prices, unstable consumer markets, and the situation of "good harvest, low prices" that has not been overcome.

Many farms face difficulties in land and limited access to long-term loans to invest in technology and expand scale. This reality shows that to go far on the path of standardization, farms cannot go it alone. They need a "support" of connection and support to turn advantages into sustainable competitiveness and expand the market.

Viet Cuong Vermicelli Cooperative (Dong Hy commune) specializes in producing vermicelli for domestic consumption and export.

The cooperative network is expanding.

If the farm is the “nucleus” of production, then the cooperative is the pillar to reorganize agriculture in a sustainable and competitive direction. As of July 2025, the whole province has 999 agricultural cooperatives (318 in the field of cultivation, 174 in livestock, 9 in forestry, 5 in aquaculture, 3 in rural clean water, 490 in general services). The revenue of cooperatives in the whole province reached over 680 billion VND.

Notably, the province has formed 7 cooperative unions with 50 members and a charter capital of nearly 40 billion VND, marking a step forward from discrete linkages to joint efforts, creating a closed value chain.

In addition, the province has supported cooperatives with preferential loans, machinery, technology and management training courses, helping many cooperatives become "bridges" for farmers to access markets, reduce costs and improve competitiveness.

Implementing Resolution No. 01/2022/NQ-HDND of the Provincial People's Council on a number of policies to support the development of commodity agricultural production and enhance the capacity of the collective economic sector, Bac Kan province (old) has supported 17 cooperatives to build factories and 14 other cooperatives (each cooperative 300 million VND) to build greenhouses and buy agricultural processing machinery.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Minh, Director of Tan Thanh Agricultural Cooperative (Bac Kan Ward) said: The unit received support from the Provincial Cooperative Union with over 4.6 billion VND from the APIF Fund to invest in factories, machinery and develop raw material areas for growing turmeric with the participation of 260 households. Thanks to that, the Cooperative has become the leading turmeric processing unit in the province, its turmeric starch products have achieved 4-star OCOP and are present in many supermarkets. Each year, the Cooperative consumes 5,000 tons of turmeric, creating jobs and increasing income for local people.

This effectiveness is also clearly reflected in other localities. Ms. Bui Phuong Thao, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Vo Tranh Commune, said: Vo Tranh Commune has 35 cooperatives operating in the fields of agriculture, processing and services. Thanks to capital support, training, application of science and technology and trade promotion, many cooperatives have expanded their scale, invested in processing machinery, improved tea quality and affirmed their brands in the market. At the same time, cooperatives have also become a bridge in consumption, creating jobs and income for many local workers.

Farm raising native black pigs and wild hybrid pigs associated with Boc Bo Cooperative (Bang Thanh commune).

The spread of cooperatives and cooperative unions after the merger is evident in both the quantity and quality of their operations. Agricultural cooperatives have shifted strongly to output services, connecting consumption, e-commerce and export. This is the “lever” that helps the collective economy gain strength, making an important contribution to the new rural development program and bringing local agricultural products far and wide.

Cooperatives - the piece that needs to be strengthened

If cooperatives and farms are considered the “pillars” of the collective economy, then cooperative groups are the fundamental, indispensable piece. The province currently has 950 agricultural cooperative groups, spread across many fields such as cultivation, livestock, aquaculture and services.

Unlike cooperatives, cooperative groups are small in scale, voluntary and flexible. They join together to contribute capital, share human resources, apply new techniques, and consume products together. From this seemingly simple “handshake”, many cooperative groups have gradually matured and become strong enough to develop into cooperatives, paving the way for more professional production.

With the attention and support of the FFF II Program Management Board (Central Vietnam Farmers' Union), in recent years, the northern region of the province has established 4 new cooperative groups, including: Phieng Phang cassava starch production and processing cooperative group; Yen Duong fragrant green squash cooperative group; Phieng Phang cattle and buffalo breeding cooperative group (Thuong Minh commune); and Organic rice growing cooperative group (Yen Phong commune).

Through the activities of cooperative groups, the Coordination Board has granted PGS organic product certification to products such as organic Nep Tai rice with a cultivation area of 10 hectares and organic fragrant squash with an area of 13.48 hectares.

Cooperatives and forest product processing facilities in Dinh Hoa commune have developed quite strongly, creating jobs for many local workers.

Ms. Trieu Thi Man, in Phieng Phang village, Thuong Minh commune, said: My family and 11 other households in the village were supported to implement the organic Nep Tai rice growing model on more than 1 hectare in the form of a cooperative. Thanks to the correct production process, Nep Tai Phieng Phang rice has achieved 4-star OCOP certification and has been granted an organic agricultural certificate by the General Department of Quality Measurement. This is an important milestone, opening up opportunities to expand production towards commodities, while helping us increase income from this specialty product.

However, if it only stops at spontaneity, cooperatives will hardly develop sustainably. Realizing this, localities have implemented many synchronous solutions: reviewing and making statistics of all cooperatives and cooperatives after the merger; supporting machinery and equipment for processing key agricultural products; guiding the branding and promotion of OCOP products.

Along with that, training courses, policy dissemination, digital transformation for officials and trade promotion activities inside and outside the province help products find more stable output. When cooperatives are properly supported and have the opportunity to transform into cooperatives, the collective economy will truly have a solid "tripod": the pillars are cooperatives and farms, and cooperatives are the complementary pieces, nurturing resources from the grassroots.

Breakthrough orientation from collective economy

Overall, the collective economy in Thai Nguyen is developing both in quantity and quality. When cooperative union models are widely replicated, VietGAP products affirm their brands in the market and cooperative groups boldly transform into cooperatives, the collective economy will truly become a strong force, contributing to the construction of green, safe and sustainable agriculture.

Pig farm of Bac Kan Agricultural Development Investment Joint Stock Company (Thanh Thinh commune), with a scale of 2,400 sows, total investment capital of more than 50 billion VND.

“If we do not develop the collective economy, local agricultural products will remain small and spontaneous, making it difficult to compete in the market. If we want the countryside to be rich and beautiful, and farmers to be prosperous, the collective economy must become the foundation and key to bringing agriculture into the modern and integrated orbit,” emphasized Mr. Nguyen My Hai, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment.

From cooperatives, cooperative groups to standardized farms, the collective economy in Thai Nguyen is taking shape clearly with many positive signals: VietGAP and OCOP products are available in supermarkets, large-scale livestock farms bring in billions of dong in income...

The orientation for the period 2025-2030 sets out clear requirements: Cooperatives must become a support, farms must be standardized production centers, and cooperatives must be flexible links in the value chain. This is the path to realizing the goal of building advanced new rural areas, bringing Thai Nguyen agriculture firmly into integration.