VIETNAM, January 28 - HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is planning to establish 1,600 new cooperatives this year, bringing the total to 22,500.

Among a series of measures set to boost the growth of the group in 2023 is forming cooperative units and farms with links to enterprises for production, processing and sales. The ministry will offer assistance for such connections toward the formation of value chains applying high technologies and certificated production processes.

Attention will also be given to the promotion of the role of related associations in policy making, market management, and linking producers to firms; and to the development of concentrated production areas with improved processing and branding works serving exports.

The operation of agricultural cooperatives will be overhauled and policies to encourage their development will be completed in terms of human resources, land, finance, credit, science-technology, market, and infrastructure.

According to the ministry, Việt Nam now counts 94 unions of agricultural cooperatives and nearly 21,000 cooperatives of this kind.

There are close to 2,300 cooperatives establishing enterprises, 145 directly involved in import-export activities, and 1,200 participating in the production of goods under the One Commune One Product (OCOP) programme. The cooperatives own some 40 per cent of OCOP products nationwide. VNS