Starting from the area of ​​1.5 hectares of organic cinnamon production, with the effective support activities of the FFF program, Dao Thinh cinnamon collective group in Dao Thinh commune, Tran Yen district, Yen Bai province has formed a new direction on the development of organic cinnamon production with strong and effective linkages between collective farmer groups and enterprises. The Vietnam cinnamon and star anise cooperative was born from mentioned process between cinnamon collective groups in Dao Thinh commune  and Vietnam Samex exporting company.

On April 17^th 2017, Vietnam cinnamon and star anise cooperative held formal launching ceremony at Dao Thinh commune, Tran Yen district, Yen Bai province. Attended the ceremony, Mr. Hoang Huu Do, chairman  of Yen Bai Farmers’ Union; Mr. Pham Ngoc Huu - Vice President of the Provincial Cooperative Alliance; Tran Yen district leaders, Dao Thinh commune leaders.

At the launching ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Que Anh - Chairman of the Board of Director of Vietnam cinnamon and star anise cooperative introduced the process of forming cooperative, cooperative’s business plan in the coming time with VND 5 billion initial charter capital and 22 cooperative members, of which 18 members are household members of of Dao Thinh cinnamon collective group, 4 members are members of Vietnam Samex exporting company.

The Vietnam cinnamon and star anise cooperative will focus on building an organic cinnamon production area certified by international standards and cooperating with processing companies and exporting to high end markets to enhance the value of cinnamon production for local farmers. At the same time, to create regular jobs for more than 50 laborers and purchase cinnamon products for farmers in Dao Thinh commune and neighboring communes. As the estimation, if the cinnamon address the standard of organic cinnamon, the value will increase to 1.5 ~ 5 times (depending on the product). The cinnamon farmers will get 10 ~ 50% of value added after harvesting and preliminary processing in comparing to the traditional cinnamon production.
 

Sharing with the cooperative members, Mr. Hoang Huu Do,  Chairman of the Provincial Farmers’ Union  emphasized that this is a very new model, promoting value chain linkage and income generation in agricultural production. For organic cinnamon production, the farmers, besides having production, harvesting and preliminarily processing knowledge to follow the technical process, they should jointly control and ensure the quality of the whole production area. Guarantee quality from the production, harvesting and preliminary processing stage to ensure quality of deep processing, packaging, preservation and consumption can confirm the quality of organic cinnamon products. Thus, the most important when farmers participate in the value chain is to raise awareness of their roles in ensuring the production process, the quality of the product chain. He also suggested cooperative to organize training courses to improve technical skills, management and administration knowledge for cooperative members, monitor households involved in cinnamon organic production by training, granting periodic production certificates to each household, regularly strengthening cross-checking to ensure the standard of each production step in the coming time.
 

In the world today, in both developed and developing countries, the market demand for organic agricultural products is growing rapidly because the agricultural sector has become a "victim" of the explosion of chemicals and the chemical industry. That boom is causing both farmers and consumers suffer enormous health and environmental consequences. In addition, with the rapid development of science, crop productivity has grown highly. Therefore, increasing the productivity per area unit is now obsolete and is no longer the most important factor to increase the value per area unit.

Hence, authorities, departments and sectors at all levels have identified the construction, development and upgrading of value chains in agricultural production as the main solution for agricultural development. Promoting quality enhancement and increasing the value of agricultural products such as the formation of organic cinnamon in Dao Thinh commune, Tran Yen district, FSC plantation in Yen Binh district are typical models of  Yen Bai Farmer’ Union which contributing to restructure the agricultural sector of the province as well as participating in building new rural areas.

Organic agriculture is an agricultural form that avoids or eliminates most of the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, plant growth regulators, and additives in animal feed. Farmers cultivating in the form of organic agriculture rely heavily on seasonal rotation, agricultural by product, animal dung and mechanical farming to maintain soil productivity for the supply of nutrients. Nursing for plants, and control of weeds, insects and other pests. The primary goal of organic agriculture is to maximize the health and productivity of independent communities in terms of livelihoods, crops, livestock and humans.

 
Tran Thanh – Social-economic Dept, Yen Bai FU – By Y Voan