Professionalization through association with businesses

At the 7th National Farmers Forum, Mr. Ngo Tien Dung, Deputy Director of TH Group Food Chain Joint Stock Company, said that many farmers could not determine what to produce to sell to businesses. Meanwhile, businesses also want to build a material area that ensures quality and transparency. The problem is to create a sustainable link between farmers and companies.

Bai lien quan 3.6 million good households are the backbone of the professional farming workforce Preserving farmland to the greatest extent possible and putting priority on credit

“The business side cannot connect with individual farmers but must connect through cooperatives. However, there is a fact that when implementation, many farmers are afraid and lack confidence when participating in cooperatives. The core problem is how to build a new type of cooperative and show the benefits when farmers join the cooperative”, Mr. Ngo Tien Dung analyzed.

Mr. Le Van Nghi, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance, said that it is necessary first to cooperate with many farmers. It will certainly not be effective if people produce small and fragmented production.

"The scale of agricultural production needs to be large enough to determine the market's supply, demand, and prices. This is the inevitable law of the market economy. Producing according to the rules of the market is the most professional production direction", emphasized Mr. Le Van Nghi.

Secondly, the representative of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance said that there must be high science and technology, there must be mechanization, automation, digital technology, etc. to reduce input costs.

“The lessons from Israel best demonstrate this. Their formula is high science and technology combined with the cooperative model that will bring success. Therefore, we must apply mechanization, apply new science and technology to aim for professional production and create professional farmers", said Mr. Le Van Nghi.

Thirdly, Mr. Nghi said that the current era is the era of brands. If there is a brand, the product value can increase 10 or 20 times. To have a brand, it is necessary for association with businesses for geographical indications, traceability...

“Fourth, the link between farmers and businesses is still not very effective. It is necessary to be more professional, to respect the contract, and to be responsible for its commitments", the Vietnam Cooperative Union representative stated.

According to Ms. Hoang Thi Chap in Coc San commune, Lao Cai city, Lao Cai province, many households suffered heavy losses during the livestock feed price storm in the locality. However, if large-scale livestock farmers have contracts and long-term business relationships with businesses, costs have been significantly reduced, thereby minimizing losses for farmers.

Mr. Johan Van Den Ban, General Director of De Heus Vietnam, said that De Heus's experience in Europe and the world always share experiences, knowledge, and techniques to help people. Independent breeding develops better and more efficient production.

In Vietnam, during the stressful period of the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnamese farmers have faced many difficulties, especially in 2021; farmers will suffer heavy losses because of difficulty in consuming agricultural products, and the selling price was meager.

At that time, De Heus was participating in a chicken production chain in the Southeast region. The enterprise provides colored chicken breeds and industrial chickens for local people and buys feathered chickens to supply to slaughterhouses.

Vietnam has many opportunities to export high-quality livestock products. Still, if farmers do not gather and do not link production in chains, producing synchronous, high-quality products that meet export standards will be difficult.

Do smart agriculture

According to Mr. Hong Sun, Vice Chairman of the Korean Business Association in Vietnam, currently, Korea is "smarting agriculture". The Korean Government has many support programs for farmers and businesses.

However, Mr. Hong Sun analyzed that the "smarting agriculture" process requires a significant capital investment, 4-5 times more than conventional agricultural production.

In addition, the reality in Korea shows that one of the barriers that make it challenging to implement "smart agriculture" is that many elderly people are not interested in intelligent agriculture because it is challenging to access advanced technologies and science.

"I think this is also the problem Vietnam's agriculture faces. Therefore, we need to invest more in training early, from the beginning, and must be very organized," said the representative of the Korean Business Association in Vietnam.

Along with that, Mr. Hong Sun said that the land policy in Vietnam is still limited, especially the priority issues for foreign enterprises investing in agriculture: "My friends of Korean entrepreneurs want to invest in agriculture in Vietnam, but they can't negotiate when renting land because the price is too high."

Authors: Pham Hieu - Huy Binh

Translated by Ha Phuc