Illustrative photo (Source: VNA) Tien Giang (VNA) – Around 11,500 farmers in areas highly vulnerable to flood in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang are benefiting from the Vietnam Sustainable Agriculture Transformation project (VnSAT) implemented in the locality in 2018.
With an investment of 52 billion VND (2.28 million USD) for this year, the project provides local rice farmers with training courses on how to change behaviours in agricultural production and better cultivation techniques, thus improving economic efficiency from growing rice, said Vice Director of VnSAT in Tien Giang Le Thi Yen.
Over 7,600 ha of cultivation land will be applied sustainable rice cultivation solutions in the year, Yen said.
Along with transferring sustainable rice cultivation techniques, the project also helps credit institutions and cooperatives improve infrastructure and equipment, promote communications and training activities, and organise relevant workshops.
VnSAT has a total investment of 15.3 million USD, including over 9 million USD from official development assistance (ODA). It has been carried out between 2015 and 2020 in flood-prone Cai Lay and Cai Be districts and Cai Lay township, benefing more than 41,000 households.
Since its launch, the project has opened 442 short-term training courses for over for nearly 17,000 farmers.
Covering an area of over 27,000 ha, the project aims to support implementation of the new agenda in two sub-sectors, including high value rice production for export in the Mekong Delta and coffee in the Central Highlands.
It helps strengthen the ability of governmental agencies in research, design and transferring technologies to farmers, as well as implementing and supervising restructure, and renewal of the agricultural sector.
In addition, it has also provided direct support to around 140,000 households planting rice in eight Mekong Delta localities including Kien Giang, An Giang, Hau Giang, and Tien Giang, Long An, Dong Thap, Can Tho and Soc Trang, to access and apply advanced technologies.
The households benefiting from the project by being able to join the value chain from production to consumption. Their profits were expected to increase by 30 percent per hectare, bringing the total additional value between 40 million USD and 60 million USD a year for the whole region.
In the Central Highlands region, around 63,000 farmer households in five provinces of Lam Dong, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai, and Kon Tum, have had access to technologies of sustainable coffee planting and re-planting, with expected additional income of 20 percent a year and 50 million USD for the region. -VNA
VNA
