Over 7 million euros to support green production of rice and mango in the Mekong Delta

Rice production following the process and standards for export

The German Development Cooperation Organization (GIZ) has recently coordinated with Germany-based GFA Consulting Company and An Giang Sub-Department of Rural Development to organize a delegation and examine the actual production situation of cooperatives operating in An Giang province. This is one of the activities under the project "Green Innovation Centers" or GIC for short, jointly implemented by GIZ and the Department of Cooperatives and Rural Development under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The project will be implemented in 6 provinces and cities including: An Giang, Kien Giang, Hau Giang, Dong Thap, Can Tho city, Soc Trang. The goal of the project in An Giang is to promote the introduction and replication of innovative models and solutions through various agricultural products, in order to contribute to sustainable rural development in the entire province.

Namely, GFA Consulting Company will be in charge of 2 components in An Giang province: Capacity building training for 17 agricultural cooperatives in the province and business training for farmers. These components primarily focus on the following skills: Cooperative management, production and business planning, financial management, marketing and market management.

Vinh Binh Agricultural Cooperative located in Chau Thanh district, An Giang province was selected to participate in the Green Innovation Centers project in Vietnam sponsored by the German Development Cooperation Organization.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tac, Chairman of Vinh Binh Agricultural Cooperative said that: "We are currently in the era of international integration, so the farming processes must be creative and adaptable to climate change to be profitable. I hope that Vinh Binh Cooperative will have 1,000 hectares of rice with 112 members all applying 4.0 technology; so that farmers can sit at home and manage remotely via smartphones, gradually replacing manual labor such as spraying, fertilizing, sowing, and so on with drones. I also hope that monitoring systems will be installed in the fields so farmers can access the status of irrigation water source, the pH levels, salinity, etc. using mobile devices anytime, anywhere. They can also grasp the situation of pests, as well as the change of weather to proactively handle timely". 

Although Vinh Binh Cooperative is relatively young, it is quite developed, offering multiple types of agricultural services within the province. On the other hand, thanks to the determination of cooperative leaders to guide members in applying scientific and technical measures, the income from rice production is always 5 to 10% higher compared to producers outside of the cooperative. In terms of product output and consumption, linkages with businesses are established so rice farmers in the cooperative are assured.

Mr. Tac shared that out of the total 1,000 hectares cultivated by the cooperative, 100 hectares of rice production according to VietGAP have been granted a planting area code and 50 hectares of rice production are following the SRP standards. With the fields of rice production following safety standards, the cooperative hopes to be recognized by the Government for rice products that meet the provincial 3-star OCOP standard in the future.

Tay Phu Agricultural Cooperative in Thoai Son district, An Giang province currently has 200 hectares of rice cultivation with 15 active members, offering 4 different types of services including supply of agricultural materials, irrigation pumps, rice consumption linkage and rice seed production. Mr. Nguyen Van Hiep, Director of Tay Phu Cooperative said that: the cooperative has all of its area producing rice in compliance with SRP standards to meet businesses' orders and export to the Europe. With this approach, farmers can reduce their input costs by 15 to 20% compared to traditional rice production as well as increase their income by over 30%.

“Although the cooperative is developing strongly, we will always have to learn and improve the capacity of leaders in the cooperative in terms of management, production and business planning, financial management, communication skills and market management among many other skills; so that the cooperative has enough knowledge to re-train its members and improve their techniques in rice cultivation, resulting in production with higher efficiency", Mr. Hiep Ky expressed his hopes for the cooperative's future.

Training cooperatives and farmers in business operation

Ms. Kamila Tovbaeva, Coordinator of the Component Coordinator of Capacity Building for Cooperatives and Farmers under GFA Consulting Company commented: The main objective of the component is to improve the capacity of cooperatives, giving them access to modern advanced technologies as well as conduct business training for farmers so they can improve their cultivation techniques.

The project aims to help farmers access technology at the input and output stages in rice cultivation to produce high quality rice for export. Consequently, it will provide rice farmers with knowledge to link or join cooperatives and implement the "buy together, sell together" approach. This will generate a larger output, help the cooperatives negotiate with businesses and sell at a better price.

Furthermore, it also helps farmers grow rice as an additional form of business. Namely, farmers can utilize the by-products, mushroom straw, rotted straw to create organic fertilizer for the crops. This a cyclical livelihood model adapting to climate change that can increase families' income.

According to Ms. Kamila Tovbaeva, GFA will provide assistance to 90 cooperatives selected in the Green Innovation Project located in 6 provinces across the Mekong Delta as well as provide business training for nearly 8,000 farmers until 2023.

Mr. Truong Kien Tho, Deputy Director of An Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that: An Giang is one of the 6 provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region, along with Kien Giang, An Giang, Dong Thap, Hau Giang, Soc Trang and Can Tho city, selected to participate in the project "Green Innovation Centers - GIC". The project has a total investment capital of 7 million Euro, funded by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany in the form of non-refundable ODA capital. An Giang Provincial People's Committee committed to arrange reciprocal funding of at least 1.9 billion VND to participate in the project implementation in its localities.

The project will be implemented from 2021 to 2025. The project focuses primarily on rice and mango production. With this project, An Giang's agricultural sector wants to to improve the farming efficiency and quality of farmers' agricultural products; gradually develop sustainably in the rice and mango value chain; implement various models of innovative solutions in farming to minimize environmental impacts, improve product quality as well as increase competitiveness in domestic and export markets.

The project aims to help farmers reduce water usage by 40%, agrochemicals by 25%, greenhouse gas emissions by 40% and pesticides on rice by 60%.Consequently, farmers participating in the project can increase their income by 15% in the rice value chain and 20% in the mango value chain.