A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the re quirements for the degree of Master of Science in Regional and Rural Development Planning

Safe vegetable has been considering as an important component of agricultural development strategy as well as safe and hygiene fo od campaign. Promotion and support to the farmer{u2019}s groups or collective economy is one of the priority policies of Vietnamese government. Calling for supporting to farmer{u2019}s grou ps is lying down as a policy of development of cooperative as well as producing saf e vegetable. Support to enhancing consumers and members{u2019} awareness via workshops and exchange visits, training courses and materials for production to Na Chuong cooperati ve were done by local organizations with support from VECO (NGO). 51 cooperative member s from Na Chuong cooperative was surveyed using questionnaire. Moreover, group d iscussion with board management and interview with key informant were conducted. Na Chuong cooperative is small size of 69 members w ith main objective that is to improve members{u2019} life through increasing member households{u2019} income. The cooperative has not generated fund yet except very small fee from the o utlet used for cooperative running cost. As a result, sharing to board members was not imple mented as cooperative regulations. With inactive of board members on marketing functio n, collective activities were weak regarding product distribution and planning on mark eting that members was dissatisfied. The cooperative was not implemented independently a nd could not run without external organization. Regarding the marketing function and price, members sold safe vegetable product direct to end-users was major channel even though sold safe v egetable through the cooperative to the outlet brought many benefits. Price between saf e and conventional vegetable was not different in the market due to no clear signal and lack of consumers{u2019} trust. Recommendations are suggested for cooperative impro vement through cooperative fund raising and value added via label and package of sa fe vegetable. Supermarkets and outlets are recommended to make high and stable price for s afe vegetables.

Thesis (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2013