Promoting the role of cooperatives in rural economic development

(BP Portal) - "Loc Khanh Service Trade Cooperative is operating in 3 areas: Environmental services for waste collection, tourism, and rice trade. Defining its role as a focal point for agricultural product consumption and considering farmers as the center of the ecosystem, the Cooperative always strives to find better output for products, creating high income for farmers. Regarding environmental services, the Cooperative is collecting garbage from households in 3 communes: Loc Khanh, Loc Quang, Loc Thanh, and continues to expand the agreement with other communes in Loc Ninh, ensuring that in the second quarter of 2023, it will collect garbage in 6 communes, reaching 30% of garbage in the district" - Mr. Nguyen Phuc Truong, Chairman of Loc Khanh Service Trade Cooperative said.

BUILDING LOC KHANH RICE BRAND

Many farmers in Loc Khanh commune, Loc Ninh district, have recently actively changed traditional rice cultivation methods to organic ones. This direction is helping farmers create quality rice products and achieve high economic efficiency. Pioneering the transformation of organic rice cultivation in the locality, Mr. Lam Ken's family in Group 2, Cha Don hamlet, has entered the 3rd crop of ST24 rice cultivation in the organic direction on 1.7 hectares. Mr. Khe said that in 2023, the Commune Farmers' Union and Loc Khanh Service Trade Cooperative would coordinate seed support, technical guidance, and rice care processes for local farmers.

To ensure the quality of Rice, Mr. Khen's family uses organic fertilizers to kill pathogens and create soil fertility, helping rice plants grow healthy and with fewer pests and diseases. Adhering to the technique and fertilizing, spraying on the proper cycle helps his family's rice fields grow green. "I have been farming since childhood, so the process and technique of rice care are very convenient. In the past, rice farmers relied only on "water". When applying organic rice cultivation, the commune farmers' association guides the care process. Hence, the yield is higher than the traditional way. In particular, applying organic fertilizer does not affect human health. It is now the 3rd year that my family has grown ST24 rice. Although the yield is unexpected, we no longer worry about seedlings and product output. On the other hand, the purchase price of the Cooperative is high, so people are very excited" - Mr. Khen shared.

Also, one of the registered farmers to grow organic Rice, this season, Mr. Lam Nghe's family in Cha Don hamlet planted 1.1 hectares of ST24 rice variety in the organic direction. Mr. Lam Nghe said: The growing time of the ST24 rice variety is about 105 days, and the resistance to blast disease is good, giving a high yield. For Rice to achieve a high outcome, farmers must regularly visit the field, apply fertilizer, and spray at essential periods, especially when rice plants must get fertilized with potash and urea. In the first rice crop of 2023, Loc Khanh Trade and Service Cooperative, in collaboration with the Commune Farmers' Union, signed a contract to support investment in seeds, fertilizers, and technical guidance for 16 farmer households with an area of 20 hectares. Accordingly, each hectare of field land gets supported with 140kg of paddy. At harvest, the cooperative will procure Rice directly at the shore. In 2022, the cooperative bought 7,000 VND/kg of plain organic ST24 rice, while ST24 organic rice costs 10,000 VND/kg.

Chairman of Loc Khanh Service Trade Cooperative Nguyen Phuc Truong said: The Cooperative is aiming to develop the brand of organic Rice and Loc Khanh Rice. Therefore, the cooperative coordinates with the Commune Farmers' Association to support rice seed farmers and guide the process and fertilizer so that the products meet organic standards. According to Mr. Truong, for agricultural products to meet organic standards, the necessary and sufficient factors are fertilizer, water, and soil. Currently, Loc Khanh Service Trade Cooperative signed with Bom Bo Binh Phuoc Trading and Service Cooperative (Dong Xoai City) to sell products and aim to supply rice deep processing factories and join domestic networks cooperative alliances to sell products better.

Loc Khanh commune currently has about 200 hectares of rice land, and farmers are aiming to grow organic Rice. The positive results from ST24 rice production and the branding of Loc Khanh organic rice and Loc Khanh rice show that this is the "key" to helping farmers in the commune increase their income.

RAISING AWARENESS OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Loc Khanh Trade and Service Cooperative have nine members, all passionate about building and developing the local economy. In addition to developing rice trading services, the Cooperative also organizes garbage collection of households in 3 communes: Loc Khanh, Loc Quang, and Loc Thanh, with about 600 households/commune, priced at 15,000 VND/household and 30-50,000 VND/business household according to Decision No. 2222/QD-UBND in 2018 of the Provincial People's Committee. Accordingly, every two days, the cooperative collects garbage from families. On average, about 30 tons of waste per commune are collected at the gathering point of each locality, creating stable jobs for three young people in the area. "I work as a garbage collector, although hard, but have a stable income with a salary of 7 million VND/month. On the other hand, I see my work contributing to making the living environment of people in the commune greener - cleaner - more beautiful" - Mr. Lam Kim from Soc Lon hamlet, Loc Khanh commune shared.

"Since authority established a garbage collection team, people have also become more aware of environmental hygiene. My family puts garbage in the right place for the collection team to pick up, so there is no more littering. I see that the roads in the hamlet are also cleaner," said Thi Sarai from Ba Ven, Loc Khanh commune./.
 

According to: Radio - Television and Newspaper Binh Phuoc