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However, lack of capital to expand production is a barrier.
Lack of capital affects production
In recent years, cooperatives in Hai Phong have not only stopped at linking farmers and fishermen in production but also participated in processing and consumption, contributing to the formation of a closed and sustainable value chain.
In An Truong commune, Truc Trang Organic Agriculture Cooperative is currently cultivating 40 hectares of dragon fruit with 300 member households, with a yield of 12 - 15 tons/ha/year, and income from dragon fruit is 3 - 5 times higher than that from rice. Thanks to dragon fruit, many households have escaped poverty and stabilized their lives. However, according to Mr. Hoang Van Vien, Deputy Director of the cooperative, the biggest difficulty now is the lack of capital to invest in processing and preservation systems, which makes products easily damaged, affecting output.
Similarly, the Bach Dang Clean Agricultural Products Production and Trading Cooperative (Bac An Phu Ward) also suffered after the 2024 Yagi storm. The storm destroyed more than 24 hectares of dragon fruit and 8,000 square meters of grape greenhouses. Up to now, the cooperative has only been able to restore 10 hectares of dragon fruit and 8,600 square meters of grapes, because many members do not have enough capital to reproduce. "The cooperative's assets are not enough to mortgage, forcing members to mortgage their family assets, so many people are reluctant to borrow," said Mr. Nguyen Van Thuan, Director of the cooperative.
According to the Hai Phong City Cooperative Alliance, cooperatives are small in scale, have little capital, and low competitiveness. Their products and services are not diversified, their linkage activities are limited, and they are difficult to adapt quickly to the market. Meanwhile, the city does not have its own mechanism to support cooperatives, but mainly integrates other capital sources.
Development needs
Despite facing many obstacles, the desire to expand production is still burning in many cooperatives. The Lo Cuong Rice Paper Production and Packaging Cooperative (Tu Minh Ward) is planning to invest 3 billion VND by the end of this year to equip a modern machinery line. “There are still many difficulties in capital sources, but I am determined to access preferential loan packages to both preserve the traditional profession and build a sustainable brand for Lo Cuong rice paper,” said Mr. Vu Van Thuong, Director of the cooperative.
Meanwhile, May Sanh Flower Cooperative (An Phong Ward) has built 13 hectares of greenhouses, net houses, and installed cold storage for flower preservation. Each year, the cooperative earns about 3 billion VND in revenue, creating stable jobs for 10-15 workers. With confidence in the market, the cooperative aims to expand by 7.5 hectares by 2025, bringing the total area to more than 20 hectares.
The common wish of cooperatives is to have access to preferential credit and have a credit guarantee fund to qualify for bank loans. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen training and help cooperative staff build feasible business plans and financial transparency to create trust for credit institutions.
In recent times, the Hai Phong City Cooperative Development Support Fund has become an important support for many units. By 2024, the fund will lend 21 cooperatives 20 billion VND, with an interest rate of 0.6%/month. In the period of 2021 - 2025, the fund will directly support 14 cooperatives to access many other capital sources, contributing to improving productivity and creating jobs in the locality. On average, each year, the fund disburses about 19 - 22 projects, with loans ranging from 100 - 150 million VND/project. However, this amount of capital is still too small compared to the actual needs to expand production.
Mr. Vu Duc Cuong, Head of Credit Department of Cooperative Development Support Fund of Hai Phong city, said that many cooperatives do not have stable headquarters and have not been granted land use right certificates, so they are not eligible for mortgage; financial records lack transparency, production and business plans are not feasible, making it difficult to borrow capital from banks.
According to Mr. Cuong, to remove this "bottleneck", in the period of 2025 - 2030, the city needs to add an additional 30 billion VND in charter capital to the fund, raising the total capital to 50 billion VND to increase the capacity to support cooperatives.
MINH NGUYENSource: https://baohaiphong.vn/hop-tac-xa-khat-von-521016.html
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