Vietnamese cooperatives boost profits through value-added agricultural processing

Agricultural cooperatives in Vietnam are implementing value-added strategies to increase income from traditional crops. In Lao Cai, the Thanh Lam Agriculture and Forestry Cooperative has adopted a “short-term to support long-term” model by planting sandalwood alongside native Gu Huong trees. While sandalwood timber takes over a decade to harvest, the cooperative generates significant annual revenue by processing sandalwood leaves into high-quality tea products, including pure bud tea and tea bags.

Similarly, the Bau May Agriculture-Trade-Tourism Cooperative is elevating its pepper production by moving beyond raw material sales. By developing diverse products such as milk pepper, salted green pepper, and seedless pepper, the cooperative has expanded its market reach. Following GlobalGAP and ISO standards, Bau May pepper is now exported to various international markets, including Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, the US, Canada, Russia, the UK, and France, with the goal of achieving a 5-star OCOP certification.