Diverse services, leisurely cooperative members

In Tan Binh commune, Thanh Binh district, Dong Thap province, farmers joined Tan Binh Agricultural Cooperative (Tan Binh commune, Thanh Binh district, Dong Thap province), using agricultural services provided by the cooperative for many years. In particular, many members entrust their fields to the cooperative to manage and take care of through the cooperative's agricultural service provision groups. With this method, the cooperative provides many services to members, freeing farmers from daily rice care, free time to do other family chores, high profits, and benefits for both members and the Cooperative.

Cooperatives provide a variety of services and leisurely members

Tan Binh Cooperative headquarters is located on a rural road surrounding the island, which is also a pretty solid dyke to protect production. According to Mr. Ta Van Bong, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director of Tan Binh Cooperative, previously, this area had 3 agricultural cooperatives but on a small scale. By early 2003, it was merged into one as it is now. The scale covers the entire area of Tan Binh commune and the number of farming households in the commune, with 1,034 members. The agricultural cultivation area is 712 hectares, of which the rice production area is 600 hectares/crop. The rest are fruit trees and vegetables...

With self-investment in equipment procurement and receipt of funding sources and projects from the agricultural sector, the cooperative now has a tillage machine equipped with a laser device to level the field surface for effective operation, creating a smooth surface. It is flat and convenient for production.

Irrigation pumping service has 12 electric pumping stations distributed in 5 production teams, serving irrigation for the entire production area, reaching 100% by electric pumps. In particular, Tan Binh is the first cooperative in Dong Thap province to invest in 10,000 meters of concreted in-field ditches for irrigation and drainage pumping, helping to reduce losses, reduce costs, and be cheap. In addition, Tan Binh Cooperative also contributed capital of VND 1.2 billion to invest in an inter-regional pumping system, meeting the water drainage needs of the Cu Lao Tay region.

Another strength of Tan Binh Cooperative is plant seed services. Regarding rice seeds, the cooperative has a regularly operating Seed Club with 21 members and an area of 18 hectares. Every year, the Chairman of the club contacts Institutes and Schools to find good seed sources to allocate to members to produce certified seeds and provide them to members and producers.

In addition, Tan Binh Cooperative produces vegetable seedlings and invests in net houses to produce disease-free seedlings, mainly chili and some leafy vegetables. Seedlings are of guaranteed quality, so more and more people come to order them. In 2023, the cooperative will be able to produce and supply more than 1 million seedlings, serving the seedling needs of Cu Lao Tay and neighboring communes...

Credit services in cooperatives are very successful and bring benefits to members. The cooperative lends members VND 10-15 million/1,000 m2 for production. This is a fairly high lending level for a cooperative's credit. The opening of internal credit services is to help members borrow money easily to purchase machinery and equipment for production and family life.

Cooperatives are the center of the link chain

Promoting the strength of the community and the advantages of a cooperative economy, Tan Binh Cooperative is focusing on building a sustainable rice production chain, aiming to expand the area and number of rice production members according to SRP sustainable quality standards.

Accordingly, the cooperative provides all services to members, from seed investment, credit, materials, mechanics, care, harvesting, and consumption. The cooperative takes care of all stages in the rice production process, from land preparation - sowing - care - harvesting - consumption... Farmers wait until the end of the season to settle service payments with the cooperative and earn profits, with plenty of time to do other things.

From effective activities for the community, Tan Binh Cooperative has been supported by the Green Innovation Center project - GIC Vietnam with a mixer to make organic fertilizer from straw and agricultural by-products. It has produced Successfully provided the first batch of organic fertilizer to members.

The cooperative aims to produce safe rice according to SRP standards, aiming to produce rice with low carbon emissions. By 2025, safe rice products will be released to the market, moving towards building the brand "Cu Lao Tay Agricultural Products" in the following years...

Currently, Tan Binh Cooperative has expanded negotiations with many input and output businesses, building linked fields to produce high-quality rice according to SRP standards (sustainable rice production standards), associated with contracts to consume safe and hygienic food products and continue to replicate on a larger scale.

With good application of technical advances in production, members of Tan Binh Cooperative have had 5 consecutive rice crops without using pesticides, only pesticides to kill pathogens. Thanks to that, production costs are reduced by about 30%, helping to increase profits.