On March 4th, Ben Tre Green Pomelo cooperative held the ground-breaking ceremony for a new factory on March 4th, 2021 to boost their marketing - production capacity toward a complete agricultural value chain with the attendance of Leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ambassador of Canada to Vietnam, and other agencies.
Built on an area of more than 4,000 m2 in the centre of the Chau Thanh town, Chau Thanh district, Ben Tre province, the complex will include a display showroom, a preliminary processing area, a processing area, a packaging area, a cooling zone, a warehouse, an input shop, and a cooperative office. All facilities would serve Coop’s members who are producers of pomelos and other fruits. This is one advanced step after being settle down the safety production at farm household level (no pesticide residue with VietGAP/ GlobalGAP certifications), which satisfied the fresh fruit markets, to utilize the full volume of members’ farms. The processing complex would follow a “Zero waste” orientation under strict appliance of HACCP standard, to ensure every element of fresh products would be used and transformed into healthy food and environmentally friendly by-products.
Nguyen Quoc Bao - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ben Tre Green Pomelo Cooperative said, this multi-functional complex will help the coop to complete our agricultural value chain, boost production and profits. Not only it will serve their members but also increase opportunities to collaborate with other cooperatives by providing them with input materials such as organic and chemical fertiliser and purchasing their outputs (fresh and process products).
The complex is the next step in the plan to upgrade facilities and enhance the competitiveness of cooperatives supported by the VCED project since 2015. Gaby Breton, Co-Director of the Project believes this will be a great push for the development of a new cooperative model in Ben Tre province, in particular, and across the country as a whole.
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"After years of improving agriculture techniques that integrate climate change adaptation measures, we believe, Ben Tre Green Pomelo Cooperative can bring more benefit to thousands of farmers-members in the future with this new factory. The processing plants would transform safe fresh fruits into healthy juices with the Mekong flavours. We hope that VCED’s national stakeholders like MARD and MPI can use this as a business case for replicating in other provinces throughout the country in the path of developing the cooperative economy in Vietnam.” - said Gaby Breton, Co-Director of the VCED Project
It’s another milestone for the Canadian cooperation in Vietnam. The ground-breaking ceremony will be honoured by the attendance of the Ambassador of Canada to Vietnam. During this two-day visit, H.E. Ambassador Deborah Paul will have meetings with some farmer-households of the Ben Tre Green Pomelo Cooperative and with representatives of ministries and agencies to strengthen the bilateral relationship between Canada and Vietnam.
“Over the last two decades, Canadian expertise has helped support Vietnam’s cooperative sector and improve inclusive economic growth. With Canada’s support, the Green Pomelo Cooperative in Ben Tre is better integrated into global value chains, and has improved its governance. This new complex will help lay the foundation for the cooperative’s future development, and, in turn, help improve the livelihoods of men and women farmers in Ben Tre.”– said H.E. Deborah Paul, Ambassador of Canada to Vietnam
Ben Tre Green Pomelo Cooperative is among five cooperatives supported by the VCED project, which is funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada, jointly implemented by SOCODEVI and School of Management for Agriculture and Rural Development II (CMARD II) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.