Spreading Momentum and the Aspiration to Reach Further

Throughout the development journey of the Land of the Hung Kings, cooperatives have increasingly affirmed their role as one of the important pillars contributing to the transformation of agriculture and improvement of people’s livelihoods. Under the close guidance and support of the Provincial Cooperative Alliance, the collective economy is generating new momentum and contributing to local socio-economic development.

Tu Xa Safe Vegetable Cooperative invests in production facilities and grows various types of mushrooms with high productivity and quality.

During the 2020–2025 term, under the close leadership and direction of the Provincial Party Committee, Provincial People’s Council and Provincial People’s Committee, together with the orientations of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance, the Provincial Cooperative Alliance proactively introduced innovations in both thinking and action. With a strong sense of responsibility, its staff have served as a bridge, bringing the Party and State’s policies and guidelines closer to local residents and cooperative members.

During the term, 577 new cooperatives were established across the province, hundreds of new members were admitted, and hundreds of training courses were organized to improve the capacity of tens of thousands of officials and staff. Numerous trade promotion activities were also carried out. These results demonstrate the increasingly important role of the Provincial Cooperative Alliance in supporting and accompanying the collective economic sector.

Through cooperatives, farmers in Tu Xa have become “agricultural workers.”

The development journey of Hung Lo Rice Noodle Cooperative is a clear example of the role that the collective economic model can play when properly organized. From a traditional craft village where residents once produced on a small scale and faced difficulties in product distribution and value enhancement, the establishment of Hung Lo Rice Noodle Cooperative has contributed to transforming production methods. People in Hung Lo have worked together to “change their mindset and transform their way of doing things,” moving away from fragmented production toward greater cooperation and linkage.

The cooperative boldly invested in modern equipment and machinery while combining them with traditional production techniques, standardizing its products according to standards such as HACCP and ISO 9001:2015. As a result, Hung Lo rice noodles have continuously improved in quality, reaching major supermarket chains across the country and gradually entering demanding markets such as Japan. This success belongs not only to Hung Lo but also symbolizes the spirit that “to go far, we must go together.”

Hung Lo rice noodles displayed on supermarket shelves in Japan.

Sharing the cooperative’s development journey, Cao Dang Duy, Director of Hung Lo Rice Noodle Cooperative, said that the mindset of cooperation and experience sharing within the collective economic model had helped the cooperative solve the scale-related challenges that individual households could not address on their own. By working together and standardizing production, they have been able to create products with consistent quality and flavor while building sufficient capacity and strength to reach larger markets. Timely support from the Provincial Cooperative Alliance in strategic orientation and trade promotion has also served as a lever helping the products strengthen their brand and confidently enter international markets.

In practice, the collective economy plays a role not only in organizing production but also in providing a foundation for farmers to cooperate and improve their competitiveness. Through cooperation and linkages, individual producers who once worried about market access and technical issues can gradually become actors capable of participating more deeply in value chains. Cooperatives are also places where knowledge and experience are shared, technology is applied and product value is gradually elevated to a new level.

Models such as Hung Lo Rice Noodle Cooperative not only provide stable incomes for their members but also create a ripple effect, encouraging other localities to participate and develop together, thereby building a cohesive and sustainable economic community.

Entering the new 2025–2030 period, the Provincial Cooperative Alliance faces new opportunities as well as significant challenges. The goal is not merely quantitative growth; more importantly, it is to improve the quality and operational efficiency of cooperatives and make these the focus of sustainable development.

The Provincial Cooperative Alliance has identified digital transformation and the application of high technology in production as key priorities, with a view toward developing the circular economy and promoting the green transition in response to global trends. This direction is also intended to increase the value and competitiveness of local specialty products and gradually enable agricultural and other products from the Land of the Hung Kings to reach wider markets.

With the goal of raising the charter capital of the Cooperative Development Support Fund to VND200 billion and having more than 50% of operating cooperatives apply digital transformation, the Provincial Cooperative Alliance has demonstrated its determination to continue accompanying cooperatives in brand building, expanding linkages and participating more deeply in global value chains.

With support and favorable conditions from the province, together with the continued assistance of the Provincial Cooperative Alliance, cooperatives across the province are expected to gradually strengthen their capabilities and better adapt to market requirements through bold thinking, decisive action, proactive innovation and stronger cooperation.

In this way, each cooperative will not only serve as a place for production and business, creating jobs and increasing workers’ incomes, but also become a bridge enabling farmers to participate more deeply in value chains, thereby generating new momentum for Phu Tho’s socio-economic development in the new period.

Le Hoang