ORGANIZATION AND OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCES OF THE COOPERATIVES/FARMING CLUSTERS: A CASE STUDY OF SMALL-SCALE SHRIMP FARMING IN SOC TRANG PROVINCE, VIETNAM
Promotion of cooperative and farming cluster in aquaculture is to uplift farmers by providing better input services while linking output market. Therefore, this paper empirically investigates the organization regime and evaluates operation performances of shrimp cooperatives and farming clusters taking place in Soc trang province, Vietnam. By using in-depth interview of 8 cooperatives, 7 farming clusters and a mass survey of 180 intensive shrimp farmers (100 belong to cooperatives/farming clusters, 80 individual farmers), the study results show that shrimp cooperatives/farming clusters are operated legally and regulated at the Cooperative Law (2012) and Decree No. 151//2007/NĐ-CP. Shrimp farming under cooperative/farming cluster performed higher individual farms in financial term. Operational performances are evaluated in five dimentions. Of which, perfermance in technical dimension is the highest, and performance of farming clusters in social dimention is the lowest. The research results reinforce previous findings regarding collective production organizations’ role and how it works and operates in small-scale shrimp production.
Organization, Operational Performance, Cooperative, Farming cluster, Shrimp farming, Soc Trang