An Son Commune (Thuan An Town) to facilitate the development of cooperative economy

With a large area of ​​agricultural land (nearly 379 hectares / 577 hectares of natural area), An Son commune has the largest orchard area of ​​Thuan An town. In recent years, in the economic structure of the commune, agriculture and urban services have been major contributors to the local socio-economic development.

 An Son commune focuses on expanding production models in the direction of urban agriculture. In photo: Representative of An Son Commune Farmers' Association learned about the output of orchids in Pham Thi Hong Yen household in An My hamlet.

 To create opportunities for gardeners

Identifying the importance of the development and value heightening of agricultural sector, An Son commune has facilitated farmers' participation in farm production by launching models, the establishment of cooperatives of orchards, ornamental plants, orchids ... In addition, the commune Farmer's Association has cooperated with branches and organizations to strengthen seedling support, timely implement provincial policies of restoring orchards, support fruit growers to apply scientific and technical advances into production ... in order to preserve fruit quality and fruit tree growing areas. As a result, many gardeners in the commune have an opportunity to develop in a common direction. 

In the joy of receiving support money for her gardens (in 2016) from the province and Thuan An Town, Vo Thi Thuy, in An Hoa hamlet, An Son commune, said that the orchard of her family had an area of over 2,000 m2, with mangosteen, blueberry, and got good yields in recent years. Owing to the improved intra-field water system and dykes supported by the State, in the orchard has. Therefore, orchards of her family and other families in the commune have got back stable income.

The commune has identified the program of consolidating, building associations and developing members participating in cooperatives and cooperative groups as a key task. Accordingly, the commune has strengthened its propaganda for membership development, as it is one of the channels that has been a long-term job creation and has opened the way of poverty elimination in the region. In addition, An Son commune is always interested in economic models to encourage and support the development of farmers, cooperatives and cooperative groups.

At present, An Son commune has 1 cooperative with 7 members and 10 cooperative groups with 115 members, operating in fields of cultivation, ornamental plants, raising of eels, gardening. In addition, Farmers' Association of the commune also has clubs of high quality fruit trees, farmers, farmers with the law... Bank of Social Policy, AgriBank, Farmer Assistance Fund… have created favorable conditions for these clubs to borrow loans and develop production and business, change the structure of plants and animals...

Loan support

Ms. Pham Thi Hong Yen, in An My hamlet, An Son commune, said that she had begun flower cultivation very accidentally. When visiting floricultural models, she noticed that cut branches of Mokara orchid not only made money but also beautified the life. She learned experiences of orchid gardens, read books, and was supported by the local government. After five years, with over 5,000 Mokara orchids on nearly 1,000m2 at home, she has harvested over VND10 million per month. According to Ms. Yen, it takes less time of her on caring this flower, but she earns much more than other flowers...

According to Nguyen Thi Cam Nhung, Vice Chairwoman of An Son Commune Farmers’ Association, besides the achievements, the development of cooperative economic models in the commune still faces many difficulties. First of all, cooperative groups are formed on a small scale.  Thus, in the operation, cooperative groups are lacking in connection, support within the system to organize production and business. On the other hand, although there is a policy to support the development of cooperatives, the expansion of production models is still limited, due to high input costs, unsure outputs...

Therefore, the commune needs the attention and support of Thuan An town and functional sectors in loans, seedlings, seeds compatible with the locality. In addition, training courses on science and technology transfer will help farmers in the commune have more conditions as well as more experiences in cultivation and husbandry to develop their family economy, improve the quality of 19 standards of new rural communes that the commune has achieved.

Reported by Thanh Hong – Translated by Ngoc Huynh