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Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development Project Progress Report

021/06VIE

Reducing pesticide resides, improving yield, quality
and marketing of vegetables crops in Northern
Central Vietnam through improved varieties, GAP
principles and farmer focused training MS8: Fourth Six-Monthly Report
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Table of Contents

1. Institute Information ___________________________________________________ 2
2. Project Abstract _______________________________________________________ 4

Nghi Kim,
Vinh city,
Nghe An province, Vietnam
Vietnamese Project Team Leader
Dr Chuong
Australian Organisation
Applied Horticultural Research Pty.
Ltd.(AHR) ACN 073 642 510
Suite 352 Biomedical Building
1 Central Ave
Eveleigh NSW 2015 Australia
Australian Personnel
Prof. Gordon Rogers
Date commenced March 2007
Completion date (original)
July 2008
Completion date (revised)
July 2008
Reporting period
Milestone achieved December 2008 3
Contact Officer(s)

AHR, Applied Horticultural
Research
PO Box 3114
Bundeena NSW 2230
Australia
Email: In Vietnam
Name:
Dr Pham Van Chuong
Telephone:
+84 (903) 221 612
Position:
Team Leader Vietnam
Fax:
+84(0) 38 851 981
Organisation
Agricultural Science
Institute for Northern
Central Vietnam.
(“ASINCV”)
Nghi Kim,
Vinh city,
Nghe An province,
Vietnam
Email:

Training was delivered on agronomy, supply and marketing of cabbage in preparation for the
coming winter crop in the form of Farmer Field Schools.
Crop supply scheduling tools were developed which can be used to assist farmers in
developing planting schedules to meet retail orders and also to monitor crop progress. This
helped with the expansion of the number from crops being supplied to Metro from Quynh
Luong from 2 to 5 to include carrots, tomatoes and chinese cabbage. There were two visits by
the Australian team to Vietnam during this time.
4. Introduction & Background
Vegetable growing in Vietnam is an important source of income for the country and accounts
for 9% of the total cropping including rice.

There is potential to increase these returns to growers by maximizing yield and quality of the
produce they grow. However, there are several aspects of the vegetable industry in Vietnam
which currently limit expansion and development of the industry and financial returns to
farmers, i.e.:

Vegetable farming in Vietnam can bring an attractive income of around 20-30 Million VND per
year which represents 80-90% of the average farming family income. There is potential to
increase these returns to growers by maximizing yield and quality of the produce they grow. This
project aims to improve the income of smallholders by encouraging them to adopt clean and
sustainable production practices. This will involve providing high yielding; disease resistant
varieties of watermelon and cabbage, providing information and training in Good Agricultural
Practice. The introduction of new varieties and GAP will be implanted using a participatory
approach with farmer field days and workshops lead by leading Australian industry consultants.
The highlight from this reporting period is the production of high quality cabbages using GAP at
Quynh Luong Commune and Hung Duong Co-operative and the enthusiasm from Metro Cash and
Carry to sell these products in the Hanoi store. This is a very positive step for developing an
alternative supply chain for these farmers which could be more reliable and profitable than the
existing ones they use. The use of IPM and the agronomic record books has also been an
important first steps for the adoption of a QA system for the growers.

o Participatory training
o Postharvest research and training
o Developing supply chain links

5. Progress to Date
5.1 Implementation Highlights
The main activities undertaken since the last six-monthly report (milestone 6) include:

(i) Review input from Mr Titley (visit June 2008) on problems with the previous
watermelon crop and address for the following crop.

(ii) Finding a new watermelon production site for next season as an alternative to Hung
Dong where the soil is too heavy. The new site is at Dien Phuong and has light
sandy soils with well developed infrastructure for vegetable growing.

(iii) Successfully supplied watermelons to Metro Cash and Carry in Hanoi, following up
the success of the previous cabbage crop. There were some issues with root
diseases, especially Fusarium sp. and this resulted in a lower than expected
delivery to Metro. The expected delivery was 100 tonnes, but only about 70% of
this was delivered due to poor yields from the Hung Dong Collective. 6
(iv) Study of the traditional marketing system for watermelons and cabbage undertaken
and compared to the supply chain for supermarkets. This report will be supplied
with milestone 7.

(v) Deliver training on agronomy, supply and marketing of cabbage in preparation for
the coming winter crop in the form of Farmer Field Schools. A report on training
activities in included with this milestone report as an attachment.

watermelon site. Deliver training on
Cabbage agronomy
Visit QL and DP sites
FFS at QL and HD

10-17
th

December
2008
Gordon Rogers
John Baker
Plan crop supply schedules.
Plan for supply of other vegetable
crops, especially from QL
Plan supply schedules
Review current cabbage
and other plantings 5.2 Capacity Building
Skills have been built in by providing training especially in the recognition and management
of root diseases in watermelons. It was also assisted through the development of computer-
based crop supply tools which simplify the process of supplying set amounts of produce on a
regular basis to meet supermarket requirements. Training was provided to farmers, ASINCV
staff and Metro on the use of these tools.

5.3 Publicity
No particular activities to report.


and post-harvest handling.

8. Conclusion
Will be covered in the project final report.
Attachments

Training and Marketing Report
Vegetable crop supply tools (Excel)