The establishment of Quyet
Chien Safe Vegetable Cooperative provides a push for chayote farming in Tan Lac
district and helped solve difficulties in marketing the local vegetable.
Since chayote was introduced in mountainous Tan Lac district, it has soon become the main crop in local poverty reduction effort. Quyet Chien has the largest area of under chayote with dozens of hectares cultivated every year. The local farmers now have more stable source of income thanks to chayote’s higher productivity than maize and cassava
However, difficulties in selling the vegetable have hampered the expansion of chayote production in the commune for many years. Fluctuation in selling prices has made many growers to hesitate to scale up production.
According to Chairman of the commune’s People’s Committee Bui Quang Dao, Quyet Chien Cooperative, set up in April 2017, has fixed the problem. It has not only become the key distributor of local chayote shoots but also created more competitive pressure on other traders, driving the price up.
"Over the past few years, farmers have struggled to bring safely-produced chayote to the market. My family shared the same concern about how to get access to the traders and the market, with higher prices”, said the cooperative’s director Dinh Thi Quyet.
"When the new Cooperative Law was launched, receiving support from other people, I decided to establish the commune’s safe vegetable cooperative. Now the cooperative has 12 members, most of whom are chayote growers in Bieng village”, Quyet added.
Quyet shared that the cooperative has faced many difficulties, particularly in terms of facilities and funding, at the beginning. Now its operation is on track, purchasing several tonnes of chayote from local farmers each day, she noted.
The cooperative buys chayote shoots at the price of 6,500 – 7,000 VND per kilo, higher than previous prices set by other traders.
"The cooperative has pressured other traders into increasing the prices, preventing price squeeze. There is a promising future for our chayote farming if the cooperative continues to work effective and expand distribution”, said Bui Thi Tan whose family cultivates over 3,000 sqm of chayote in Bieng village.
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