Affirming youth energy

The Thanh Hai Livestock and Aquaculture Cooperative, established in 2023 in Luc Ngan district, boasts 90% of its members aged 28-35. Director Le Dac Vu (born in 1994) said that the cooperative has about 10 hectares for snail farming. Members realized that merely raising and supplying fresh snails wouldn't yield high profits or expand their customer base.

To overcome this, the cooperative has leveraged internal resources and favourable loans to upgrade their farming facilities, build a processing plant of over 100 square meters, and acquire machinery for deep processing of snail products, including oc nhoi ong nua (steamed snail paste in bamboo tubes) and cha oc (snail nuggets).

This year, the cooperative registered for OCOP (One Commune One Product) recognition with their steamed snail paste in bamboo tubes. With quality and promotion through social media, the cooperative’s market has been expanding. Annually, it harvests around 80 tonnes of commercial snails and sells over 100,000 breeding snails, generating revenue exceeding 2 billion VND (81,300 USD).

Other cooperatives in the locality also employ many young workers in positions such as managers, workers, accountants, and salespersons, most of whom boast skills and quick adaptation to science and technology, helping to address production challenges.

Notable cooperatives include Luc Ngan Xanh in Luc Ngan district, Bac Giang Youth Agriculture in Luc Nam district, Cao Lan Agriculture and Services in Yen The district, Happy Agriculture in Viet Yen township, Binh Minh Organic Agriculture in Hiep Hoa district, and Yen Dung Clean Vegetables in Yen Dung district.

Support mechanisms

According to the provincial Cooperative Alliance, the province currently has over 1,100 cooperatives (HTX) with more than 43,200 members. Preliminary statistics indicate that members aged under 40 make up only about 10%, primarily in agricultural cooperatives.

One of the reasons is that some cooperatives show small-scale production, unclear production strategies, limited management skills and low competitiveness. Moreover, there are more and more jobs outside cooperatives for youngsters.

Recently, Bac Giang province has implemented several support mechanisms in terms of vocational training, technology transfer, access to land and capital, development of OCOP products, and trade promotion in order to attract young workers.

The Chairman of the provincial People's Committee recently approved support for agricultural cooperatives under Resolution No. 14/NQ-HĐND, which outlines financial assistance for training members and young workers in cooperative economic organizations through 2025.

Eleven cooperatives across Tan Yen, Hiep Hoa, Yen Dung, Lang Giang, and Yen The districts, and Viet Yen township have been provided with nearly 780 million VND (31,733 USD) to bring 12 young workers to work in cooperatives, for a 12-month period (from January to December 2024).

Nguyen Duc Hien, Chairman of the provincial Cooperative Alliance, noted that the Cooperative Law 2023, effective from July 1, 2024, creates favorable conditions for comprehensive and sustainable cooperative development, including the rejuvenation and enhancement of high-quality labor for collective economic sectors.

The alliance is actively disseminating information about the new law and assessing the effectiveness of cooperatives’ activities while grasping the aspirations of young intellectuals to propose timely and appropriate support solutions.