While positive results have been achieved getting people to work together as part of a cooperative, there’s still limitation in its development, said Vo Thanh Thong, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment.

A member of Hop Giang Agricultural Cooperative inspects mushroom embryos.
The cooperative is leading the way in mushroom production in Bac Kan
province’s Bach Thong district

He made the statement on October 9 at a conference held to review 15 years of implementation of the Party Central Committee’s resolution on continuing to reform, develop and improve the effectiveness of the collective economy.

According to Thong, over the 15 years since Resolution 13 NQ/TW was issued at the fifth session of the ninth Party Central Committee in 2002, the number of cooperatives has increased considerably and their quality also improved as well.

2,520 cooperatives were set up in 2018, up 1,551 against the year 2013.

Cooperatives, particularly agricultural ones, focus on supporting household economies through providing services or jobs for members.

The scale, capital and operation of cooperatives have been expanded and many cooperatives have expanded across the commune and district.

A lot of cooperatives have committed leaders who apply science and technology into production.

“Hundreds of cooperative models have been established, bringing about economic benefits to cooperative members,” Thong said.

“These are encouraging signals, showing that the collective economy and cooperatives are recovering and developing in the right direction.”

The number of cooperatives who operate effectively accounted for 57 per cent agricultural ones and 50-83 percent among non-agricultural since the Law on Cooperative took effect, said Nguyen Van Doan, General Director of the Department of Cooperatives, under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

He said the average turnover of a cooperative in 2018 reached nearly 4.5 billion VND (194,000 USD) per year, about 5.2 times compared to that of 2003.

Average yearly income of a cooperative member also increased from 15.7 million VND in 2003 to 36.6 million VND, up 133 percent.

While applauding positive results in the implementation of the economic model, Thong said the development of cooperatives hadn’t met its full potential.

Many still face challenges with poor facilities and backward technology. The capacity and skills of management staff in the cooperatives are limited, making it difficult to meet the demand of production in the market economy, he said.

Doan said the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance would organise two events including 2019 Cooperative Forum to collect opinions of cooperatives and members on the current production, obstacles as well as experience in developing new models.

A conference will be also held to review 15 years of implementation of the Party Central Committee’s resolution on continuing to reform, develop and improve the effectiveness of the collective economy. It would focus on pinpoint obstacles to be removed and set forth solutions to be adopted in the coming time.

The two events will be organised on the same day (October 14).