ICS Training at Our Farmer Cooperative – Truecoop

ICS Training at Our Farmer Cooperative – Truecoop

Human resource development is one of the crucial activities undertaken by Truecoop, playing a significant role in the cooperative’s growth. It serves to enhance and maintain the quality of human resources, facilitating the implementation of new scientific and technological advancements, as well as organic agricultural knowledge, into cooperative management. Importantly, it creates a competitive advantage for the cooperative in the market.

As a result, Truecoop organizes regular training workshops on Organic cashew production management every year. These training sessions are conducted by experts and the cooperative’s team of engineers. Additionally, all members of the ICS representing various groups of farmer households managing organic cashew material areas in Truecoop’s focus districts: Ninh Son, Thuan Bac, and Bac Ai, Ninh Thuan province, Vietnam actively participate in these training sessions.

Figure 1: A snapshot of Truecoop’s training team during their regular training session on 23^rd September 2023.

At Truecoop Organic Cashew Cooperative, all staff members are equipped with knowledge and detailed guidance on implementing the organic standards of the United States (USDA), Europe (EU), and Japan (JAS) in organic cashew cultivation to standardize inputs and outputs according to the requirements of organic certification organizations. This is aimed at meeting product quality standards, ensuring social and environmental sustainability, and increasing income for farmers.

Our training courses and workshops also instruct staff members on practical techniques for organic cashew farming, including:

• Avoiding the use of pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers in cashew farms.

• Not using genetically modified crops.

• Refraining from using growth-enhancing substances.

• Identifying buffer zones adjacent to conventional farming areas to prevent external contamination.

• Applying microbial technology in agricultural production and agricultural waste management.

• Utilizing locally available resources for producing organic fertilizers, organic plant protection products, bio-fertilizers, and transitioning to organic agriculture practices.

In addition to providing new techniques and knowledge, our courses also focus on combining knowledge with hands-on experience right on the farm. The Truecoop engineering team collaborates with ICS managers responsible for identifying GPS coordinates, buffer zones, and mapping farm plots for groups of farmers participating in organic cashew production.

Figure 2: Training on farm for the famer, conducted by ICS team of Truecoop.

Furthermore, the Truecoop team receives additional training to rejuvenate aging, low-yield cashew farms by interplanting and grafting high-yield, pest-resistant cashew trees. Alongside the knowledge imparted, the Truecoop engineering team collaborates with each ICS member to establish practical farm rejuvenation models for farmers in the three districts. This approach aims to facilitate rapid comprehension, encourage questions when needed, and employ a hands-on, farmer-friendly teaching style. Farmers can put what they’ve learned into practice immediately after completing the training on their own farms.

Training course are a vital component in transferring fundamental knowledge of organic agriculture, conveying requirements to farmers, and inspiring them toward a sustainable agricultural future. These sessions enable farmers to recognize and seize opportunities for value chains and higher ecological standards for agricultural products, thereby increasing their income and affirming Truecoop’s agricultural sector and cashew brand internationally.