On October 19, 1993, the People's Committee of Son La province issued Decision No. 620/QD-UB, recognising the establishment of the Provisional Council of Cooperatives in Son La province. After 30 years of construction and development with six congresses, the provincial Cooperative Alliance has well performed its task of representing and protecting the legitimate interests of its members.

It has supported and gave consultancy on the establishment of cooperatives while accompanying and supporting cooperatives to tap the local potential and strengths to develop production and business, affirming the role and position of the collective economy and cooperatives in the province’s economic and social development.

To date, the whole province has 953 cooperatives and six cooperative unions, with an average annual revenue of 2 billion VND (81,720 USD) and a profit of 200 million VND per cooperative. They create jobs for about 10,000 local workers. Many products of the cooperatives have been recognised as typical rural agricultural products with One Commune One Product (OCOP) certification of 3 stars or higher.

They have contributed to building and maintaining 245 chains, including 32 vegetable chains, 160 fruit chains, 11 tea and coffee chains and 17 seafood chains. The province boasts 145 establishments applying VietGAP and GlobalGAP processes and 281 planting area codes, with a total area of more than 4,600 hectares for export to Australia, the UK, the US, France, Japan, the Republic of Korea and China.