Large Japanese-funded project launched to strengthen safe agricultural value chains in the north

ABO/NDO – A project to strengthen the safe agricultural value chains in northern localities has been jointly launched by the National Agricultural Extension Centre (NAEC) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The project, at total cost of 3 million USD funded by Japan's non-refundable official development assistance (ODA), will be implemented from 2022 to 2026, covering seven northern provinces of Hanoi, Ha Nam, Hung Yen, Hai Duong, Bac Ninh, Nam Dinh and Son La.

Illustrative image (Source: VNA).

Addressing a workshop to launch the project in Hanoi on June 6, NAEC Director Le Quoc Thanh said that the project aims to improve the quality of farm produce and ensure their food safety meeting Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) standards, thus enhancing the competitiveness of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables in the region and the world.

As part of efforts to give technical support to farmers, the NAEC will organise central and provincial project management units in the time to come, and send 18 officials from the units to Japan for training.

For his part, JICA Deputy Representative in Vietnam Murooka Naomichi said that to become eligible for joining the project, each cooperative must have at least 20 members and at least 1 hectare of farm.
JICA pledged to organise training courses for Vietnamese agricultural officials at all levels in carrying out the project.

This is the third project on strengthening safe farming value chains in the northern region of Vietnam that the NAEC and the JICA have worked together on. Earlier, the two sides successfully cooperated in building fundamental GAP and make it a technical procedure for safe vegetable farming in 2014 as well as developing selling channels for safe farm produce.

(Source: NDO)