dr Nguyen Xuan Ky, director of Quang Binh Seed Company, stepped to the edge of the field and sat down next to the maturing rice paddy. The golden rice flowers bend, pressing gently into every wind. “This is a rice variety SV 181, QS 88… selected by the company and made available to farmers in Le Thuy, Bo Trach and Quang Ninh districts to implement the production chain linkage model. Due to many harvests, the weather is sometimes not favorable, but the rice yield is still outstanding at 70 quintals/ha, and the farmers have a high income,” said Dr. Ky.

Golden dream in the fields

In the early days of the Quang Binh Seed Company shaking hands with the cooperatives as the farmers owned the fields, it was not a tale of “smooth sailing”. People wonder why the co-op’s contract with the company doesn’t necessarily force the business side to be responsible for them. There are stories of companies cooperating to consume farmers’ products with “white paper, black ink,” with a red seal, but when harvest comes, farmers just call the business “subscribers don’t contact.” Okay” is still there. People had to endure the sale, the sale to private traders.

Mr. Vo Van Thang, Chairman and Director of the My Loc Thuong Agricultural Cooperative (An Thuy Municipality, Le Thuy District), who is always a pioneer in introducing new varieties and new models in the field, is very satisfied with the model , but also disturbed. Mr. Thang said farmers’ worries about losing food and sleep are hitting the crops without traders coming to buy rice. Then, when the season is good, the price goes down again, and looking at the golden rice in the field makes me queasy.

For exploration, the first harvest shook hands with each other, the cooperative only signed a production alliance with the company for about ten hectares, after the second year the area was doubled. The meetings between entrepreneurs and cooperative leaders, with farmers, sometimes in the hall, sometimes on the sidelines of the conference, sometimes right on the edge of the field. No declaration of intent, but the issues and problems between the “triple group” of companies, cooperatives and farmers have been thoroughly resolved.

“When farmers ask, what if the market price of rice is low? We undertake to buy according to the signed contract. If the market price is higher than the price in the draft contract, we buy at the market price. We give short answers to the farmers,” said Mr. Thang clearly. In fact, over the past 5 years, 10 rice plants associated with farmers and businesses have never disappointed people. “It’s the confidence for us to lead the production, the link between corporate and farmer responsibility,” added Mr. Thang.

Along with more than a dozen directors of cooperatives in the ripening golden paddy fields of the city of Kien Giang (Le Thuy district), I asked if anyone was still afraid of companies “converting” again? Much laughter broke out, as if to drown out the sound of the combine harvesters gliding across the fields.

Mr. Do Trung Ly, Director of Thuong Giang Cooperative (Kien Giang City) explained, “Today only Mr. Ky (Director of Quang Binh Seed Company) is afraid of us! Hundreds of hectares of rice are currently being produced according to organic orientation with high yields. At the end of the harvest, farmers sell it to the company to be made into specialty rice branded as General’s hometown rice. If we cut rice and stop selling it to the company, where can we get rice from to supply the market for interested customers…” Many people came to hold Mr. Nguyen Xuan Ky’s hand, laughing: “It’s just for fun, but the connection is strong, but nothing like this will happen!”.

Visiting the rice fields in the link chain, Mr. Dang Dai Tinh, chairman of the Le Thuy District People’s Committee, said enthusiastically that the district has focused on building a chain of agricultural production links in recent years. From the link chain that has helped farmers to make big profits, the district creates the best conditions for companies to come and accompany them.

“From the first few tens of hectares to date, the area associated with product consumption by farmers has grown to over 500 hectares. We continue to support more companies participating in the value chain to increase the level of agricultural production in the region,” said Dang Dai Tinh.

Link for new process, new thinking

In conversation with us, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Ky said that as a seed production company, the company always promotes farmers’ income based on sustainable cooperation. Therefore, in line with people’s interests, the company started chain production, providing farmers with quality new seeds, organic fertilizers, technical agricultural procedures and product sourcing….

Each year, the company buys about 10,000 pieces of broken rice from farmers and produces rice under the brand name General’s hometown rice. “Currently, we deliver about 7,000 tons of quality rice to the market every year. General’s rice products are not only supplied to the provincial market, but also have been trusted by the markets of north-central provinces, capital Hanoi, etc. at first. Our direction is that the product will gradually approach the organic standards for export to the world market,” shared Mr. Nguyen Xuan Ky.

In the winter-spring harvest of 2022, Mr. Mai Van Long’s family in An Thuy commune (Le Thuy district) organically cultivates rice with the new rice variety QS88 supplied by Quang Binh Seed Company. Despite the unfavorable weather, the rice yield still reached about 68 quintals/ha, almost 8 quintals/ha more than other rice varieties in the adjacent field.

“Now we are doing a partnership model where farmers can implement the technical process that the company has provided with seeds and fertilizers themselves. By supporting the companies, our farmers feel safer. In terms of production value, it’s more effective because it increases productivity, increases sales prices, and cuts many production costs,” Mr. Long said.

Next to the freshly harvested field, father and son Mai Van Tan (Phong Thuy Municipality, Le Thuy District) load each bag of rice onto an agricultural truck to take it to the main road, where the company’s truck arrives. There, a representative of the cooperative turned out to weigh up buying and selling for the two parties. Money is also quickly paid out to relatives.

In the winter-spring harvest of 2022, Mr. Tan’s family cultivates 1 ha of field, the yield is about 70 quintals/ha. The purchase price of the company is 7.1 million VND/ton, nearly 50 million VND in cash. Meanwhile, the cost of seeds, fertilizers, services, labor… is only about 23-25 ​​million VND/ha. “Although the cost of fertilizers has risen very sharply this year, thanks to cooperation with the company, farmers still make a profit of about VND 25-27 million/ha. In the past, people only dreamed of harvesting rice that someone bought right on the field. It’s no longer a dream, but the company supports farmers every season. The dream in this field is coming true,” said Mr. Tan.

Mr. Do Xuan Thanh, manager of Le Thuy Seed Station (under Quang Binh Seed Company), walks back and forth in the field every time the rice harvest comes, to precisely guide the harvesting, purchase and transportation of the rice .

He said that besides providing good seed and quality fertilizer, they must always stand side by side with farmers in the field to monitor the occurrence of pests and diseases and take timely action. In a large area, the connection model is being built and distributed widely, so Mr. Thanh and other unit staff are always busy.

Mr. Thanh said: “Before, our mission was only to provide seeds. But now it really depends on the farmers, on the fields, on the seed preparation, on the fertilizer supply, on the production processes, on the care of the rice plants, growing through the periods, until every bag of rice is loaded, when the truck is transported to the drying factory, then you can rest easy.”

In 2022, in addition to the area connected with farmers in Le Thuy district, Quang Binh Seed Company expanded the connection area to Bo Trach and Quang Ninh districts with an initial area of ​​over 100 ha. Nguyen Xuan Ky said, “In the future, we will continue to expand the production model and network with other places. Gradually transition to organic production on that basis.”