Bac Kan needs to aim for sustainable agricultural and forestry production

For two days (May 9 - 10), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Vietnam had a working trip to Bac Kan province to understand and make recommendations on agricultural and forestry production and implement the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF).

FAO implements the FFF Program in Bac Kan province in 3 phases: Phase 1 (2014 - 2017) implemented in Chu Huong and My Phuong communes (Ba Be district); Phase 2 (2018 - 2022) in 3 Phuong Vien communes of Cho Don district and My Phuong and Yen Duong communes of Ba Be district; Phase 3 (2023 to 2025) in 5 communes in Ba Be, Cho Moi, Cho Don districts.

The FFF program aims at three goals: improving governance capacity and providing mechanisms and policies to link with cooperatives and information cooperative groups through multi-sectoral forums; Enhancing the business, market access and financial capabilities of Cooperatives and information cooperation through valuable business and company development services; Minimize and adapt to climate changes through raising environmental awareness, direct participation of cooperatives, and combining cooperation with synthetic biological solutions.

After conducting field inspections in some localities of Bac Kan province, the FAO Vietnam working group assessed that the program had achieved its goals, and cooperatives and cooperative groups have formed many agricultural production models sustainably, creating an apparent change in thinking, especially economic development models under forests.

The FFF program has helped cooperatives organize cooperative production plans, how to organize production, manage quality products, and follow-up markets. The program also connected people to environmentally friendly forests and the development of the farm economy.

Mrs. Ma Thi Ninh, Director of Yen Duong Cooperative, said that support from the program has helped the cooperative build an organic Tai sticky rice growing area of more than 20 hectares. The product meets national organic standards and is aiming to achieve Japanese organic standards. The FFF program also helps cooperatives in organizing production in association with the local community. People are directly involved in the value chain of products produced by the cooperative.

Mr. Rémi Nono Womdim, FAO Representative in Vietnam, was impressed with many agricultural products of cooperatives in Bac Kan, such as wild honey, green pumpkin tea, and arrowroot vermicelli. He believes that these products have clear regional identities, are meticulously cultivated and processed by people, and have eye-catching packaging. Many cooperatives have built organic and environmentally friendly planting material areas, and highly effective models of growing medicinal herbs under the forest canopy.

The Chief Representative of FAO in Vietnam thanked the leaders of Bac Kan province for the thoughtful welcome to the delegation and said that in recent times, FAO has sponsored many projects for Vietnam. FAO carries out many tasks, including focusing on sustainable development of the agricultural sector, sustainable transformation towards adaptation to climate change, to achieve the goal: Better production, good nutrition better environment and better life for farmers, no one is left behind.

At the meeting with the People's Committee of Bac Kan province, Mr. Rémi Nono Womdim proposed that the province continue to have policies to support the sustainable development of agriculture and forestry, linking the development of agricultural tourism and experiential tourism to generate income for people. In addition, Bac Kan province also needs to effectively integrate support programs and projects so that cooperatives and cooperative groups can best promote their advantages, creating competitive agricultural, forestry, and tourism products with local identity.

In the coming time, FAO will continue to carry out many programs to support cooperatives and cooperative groups in Bac Kan in developing agriculture and forestry. FAO will focus on supporting clean agricultural production models associated with the development of experiential tourism.

Bac Kan hopes that FAO will support the province to maximize the efficiency of the forest economy, especially supporting seeds and fertilizers for people to plant large timber forests and multi-purpose trees; Support household groups, cooperatives and businesses to prepare dossiers for FSC certification; Expanding the implementation area of the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF); Support Bac Kan province to build an experiential tourism model; Build and maintain effective chain links in agricultural and forestry production...

Bac Kan has over 374,000 hectares of forest, of which natural forests are nearly 272,000 hectares and planted forests are over 100,000 hectares. The province's forest coverage rate in 2023 reached over 73.3%, being the province with the largest forest coverage in the country. The province's agricultural and forestry production has contributed to gradually improving people's lives, especially the lives of forest workers, which are constantly improving. Currently, forestry production has become one of the important driving forces in hunger eradication and poverty reduction, building new rural areas, environmental protection, and local socio-economic development.