In recent years, Ung Hoa District have been focusing on developing its collective economy and agricultural co-operatives, alongside promoting the restructuring of crop plants and domestic animals, building specialised farming areas.

Rice harvesting has been mechanised in Minh Duc Commune, Ung Hoa District. Photo kinhtedothi.vn

According to Nguyen Van Thanh, director of Hoa My Livestock - General Service Co-operative, a typical livestock breeding unit, following its establishment, the cooperative has linked nearly 40 members to build a pig production model according to safety standards with closed breeding facilities.
Currently, the co-operative has a production scale of more than 22ha with 3,000 sows and 70,000 pigs raised for meat per year. It earns more than VND200 billion (US$8.7 million) per year and creates jobs for 60 workers with an average monthly salary of VND5.5 million ($240) per person.
Meanwhile Minh Duc Agricultural Service Co-operative is one of the cooperatives to promote the efficiency of mechanisation services. Now it has more than a dozen machines for preparing the soil, combine harvester, rice transplanters and a chain planting rice seed in plastic trays.

Chu Van Trang, director of Minh Duc Agricultural Service Co-operative said the co-operative was established in 2015 with 100 per cent of new members. It supplies rice transplanters and irrigation services for many communes in Ung Hoa and some neighbouring districts.
Dang Thi Tuoi, head of the Economic Department of Ung Hoa District said the whole district now has 110 co-operatives, of which 97 are operating in the agricultural sector. All of the co-operatives were reorganised according to the Law on Co-operatives in 2012.
With the development of co-operatives, Ung Hoa’s agricultural economy has developed remarkably in recent years. This year, the average value of agricultural production is estimated at VND220 million ($9,500) per hectare, an increase of nearly 1.5 times compared to 2015. Specifically, the value of rice production reaches VND90 million ($3,900) per hectare, fruit trees VND260 million ($11,300) per hectare and aquaculture VND380 million ($16,500) per hectare.
In the coming time, Ung Hoa District will focus on selecting experienced and enthusiastic staffs and mobilising social resources to develop collective economy.
According to Tuoi, the district is continuing to study and issue a policy of restructuring the agricultural economy. It will support capital, crop plants, new machine and equipment, transfer of techniques as well as encourage co-operatives to apply scientific and technical advances to production and business.