Regional Linkages: Enhancing Agricultural Product Consumption Efficiency

Implementing the directives of the Party and State on reorganizing agricultural production, many localities are connecting smallholder producers, establishing concentrated raw material areas, and forming value supply chains. Across diverse production regions, numerous cooperatives and enterprises are also intensifying linkages to diversify products and expand consumer markets. This serves as the foundation for enhancing production efficiency, boosting competitiveness, and fostering sustainable agricultural development.

Tu Xa Safe Vegetable Cooperative in Phung Nguyen Commune implements regional linkages to diversify products, expand consumption markets, and boost income for its members.

Major Linkages on Small Fields

To improve economic efficiency on the same unit of agricultural production land, Thanh Thuy Commune has actively supported local Agricultural Service Cooperatives in introducing new crop varieties into production. From two-crop rice fields with low yields, farmers have transitioned to cultivating the ST25 rice variety within linked chains. Consequently, high-quality rice farming models complying with VietGAP standards and achieving OCOP product targets have emerged and grown vigorously. Simultaneously, cooperatives have established linkages with localities featuring strengths in large-scale production through large-field models—sharing crop timing, varieties, contiguous plots, and harvest schedules to meet market demand.

Mr. Nguyen Van Trung, Director of the Doan Ha Agricultural Service Cooperative in Thanh Thuy Commune, stated: “Establishing large-scale concentrated production areas created favorable conditions for our cooperative to introduce mechanization into the fields. Through the large linkage model, farmers gain access to advanced farming processes, step-by-step shifting their production mindset from growing rice solely for household food and livestock to cultivating rice as a commercial commodity. Currently, our cooperative’s average rice yield reaches 6.0–7.0 tons per hectare. Furthermore, the nutritional and commercial value of ST25 rice is higher than conventional rice, giving farmers great peace of mind in production.”

To maintain and ensure the sustainability and high economic efficiency of the linkage chain, the cooperative participates in the production process right from the start of the season through a closed-loop system: from variety selection, input supply, technical guidance, and field management to harvesting and product consumption. Thanks to this, issues such as uneven product quality, volatile prices, or buyers breaching contracts are minimized.

The results achieved in building value linkage chains have contributed to the successful implementation of the province’s agricultural sector restructuring project. This has helped maintain the province’s annual growth rate of total agricultural, forestry, and fishery products at a high level, ranking among the top in the region and nationwide. In 2025, the added value (at current prices) in the agriculture, forestry, and fishery sector reached VND 45,409 billion, with GRDP growth reaching 3.3%, contributing 0.37 percentage points to overall growth and accounting for 12.5% of the total added value across all economic sectors in the province. In the first 6 months of 2026, sector growth reached 3.6% compared to the same period in 2025; among which crop cultivation is projected to grow by approximately 1.3%, livestock by 5%, forestry by 4%, and fisheries by 5%, with the quality and value of key provincial products continually rising.

The Key to Sustainable Agricultural Development

Da Bac Agricultural Service and Food Supply Cooperative in Da Bac Commune supplies over 300 tons of vegetables, roots, meats, and other foods annually to institutional canteens across communes and wards in the former Hoa Binh area. Beyond its own production land, the cooperative has signed linkage contracts with 22 local households to expand its production area. Furthermore, the cooperative has established linkage chains with households in neighboring communes to diversify products and guarantee supply for partners, generating nearly VND 5 billion in annual revenue.

Ms. Dinh Thi Thuong, Director of the Cooperative, shared: “In modern agricultural production, implementing linkage chains—especially regional linkages—opens up sustainable growth opportunities for cooperatives and businesses. Within a linkage chain, each production facility possesses key products that other regions cannot produce as favorably. Thus, they support one another in product supply to meet market demands across different regions, benefiting producers, supply enterprises, and consumers alike.”

Currently, the entire province boasts 686 concentrated crop areas for key, advantageous products spanning 82,800 hectares, initially attracting enterprises and cooperatives to invest in industrial processing for key items such as timber, tea, bamboo shoots, fruit trees, and bananas. The province has also rolled out 207 safe food supply chains for key, signature, and OCOP products; 75 facilities apply VietGAP, HACCP, and ISO standards, while 132 facilities have been granted food safety eligibility certificates with the participation of 65 enterprises, 122 cooperatives and cooperative groups, and 20 individual business households.

It can be affirmed that cooperation and linkage in agricultural production and consumption represent an inevitable trend in commodity agriculture today. However, preventing chain disruptions remains a persistent concern for every participant, requiring effective solutions.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tung, Deputy Director of the Provincial Agricultural Extension Center, noted: “To prevent production linkage chains from breaking and to maximize their effectiveness, proactive involvement from both citizens and businesses is crucial. Localities must actively promote awareness so that residents understand the importance of complying with contractual terms. Regular assessments and market supply-and-demand forecasts are also necessary to help chains adjust production and business directions appropriately. Enterprises, cooperatives, and producers participating in chains must adhere to the principle of balancing interests, strictly complying with contract terms, and sharing both benefits and risks during production and consumption. Additionally, managerial capacity must be enhanced, with sound production plans and market connections built for cooperatives to act as effective intermediaries between farmers and enterprises.”

To continue developing linkage chains, including regional linkages, localities across the province need to deploy several key solutions: executing effective planning to form concentrated production areas and large-field models; publicly disclosing agricultural land use plans while encouraging land consolidation and accumulation; and synchronously implementing solutions to attract all economic sectors to invest in production, processing, distribution, and consumption chains. Supporting enterprises in chain-linked production will enable them to capitalize on opportunities to boost both domestic consumption and export of agricultural products.

Quan Lam