The Danish-funded project on Vietnamese ethnic minority development was signed by the Agricultural Development Denmark – Asia organization (ADDA) and the Vietnam Farmers’ Union (VNFU) on June 1 in Hanoi.
This project is expected to be carried out for 3 years in the 6 northern and central provinces of Hoa Binh, Son La, Lai Chau, Dien Bien, Nghe An and Ha Tinh.
During the signing ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung from the VNFU said that the model project would be carried out first in 3 communes in 3 districts of each province. He added that 60 chiefs of farmers unions at grassroots levels had been trained to teach 14,000 farmers how to sustainably cultivate crops.
Representative of the Danish Embassy in Hanoi, the project consultant Ole Sparre Pedersen, said the project had created using Denmark’s experience in developing agricultural cooperatives and communities.
The project is aimed at improving ethnic minority people’s living standards by increasing their knowledge on sustainable agricultural production in mountainous areas, thus increasing their productivity. It will also help them choose effective methods of production suitable for their living conditions. The project will also help Vietnamese farmers increase their knowledge of nutrition, health, infrastructure building and education.
The VNFU and ADDA established relations in 1996. Over the past 10 years, the two sides have carried out 4 projects on providing training on safe vegetable production for farmers in Hanoi, upgrading the information system for VFU branch in Lang Son province, and developing organic agriculture production and marketing in Vietnam. These projects have helped raise farmers’ knowledge of farming, reduce poverty and improved VFU officials’ capacities to implement projects.
