Members of the Vietnam Co-operative Alliance delegation pick up vegetables sold at a farmers’ store in Obu, Aichi Prefecture, on Wednesday, June 19.
A delegation from the Vietnam Co-operative Alliance’s Institute of Co-operative Economy Development visited agricultural facilities in Aichi Prefecture on Wednesday, June 19, to conduct field studies on the production and distribution of agricultural products, as well as learning about businesses of agricultural cooperatives in Japan.
The delegation, invited by Aichi Chita Agricultural Cooperative (JA Aichi Chita), visited a JA group company which grows seedlings of flowers and vegetables, a sorting facility for greenhouse-grown mandarin oranges, a farmers’ store, a welfare facility and a processing facility for agricultural products. It is the first time for the JA Aichi group to invite a delegation from Vietnam.
Five members of the delegation, headed by Nguyen Thi Thuy Anh, the head of the institute, were particularly interested in joint shipments of agricultural products, and questioned how the prices are set and sale proceeds are divided. Anh asked how farmers divide the proceeds to avoid being unfair, if there are differences in the quality of products provided by each farm.
The delegation is scheduled to stay in Aichi until Monday, June 24, and plans to visit the fisheries cooperative, a rice milling plant, a meat processing facility, a sorting facility for chrysanthemums and other facilities.
“We appreciate the opportunity of communicating with foreign countries,” said JA director Kiyotaka Yamaguchi. “It is important for JA and the Japanese agricultural sector to foster global awareness.”
(June 20, 2013)