More than 26,000 farming households in Hau Giang province will be helped to practice sustainable agriculture under the VnSAT project (Photo: VNA) Hau Giang (VNA) – A project partly funded by aWorld Bank loan is being carried out in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang,aiming to help more than 26,000 farming households adopt sustainableagricultural production practices.
The Sustainable Agriculture TransformationProject for Vietnam (VnSAT) has a total investment of more than 300 billion VND(12.9 million USD), including nearly 190 billion VND loaned by the World Bank.
The project is being run from 2015 to 2020 insix district-level localities with 32 communes. It aims to help increase netprofit on each hectare of rice production by 30 percent while raising the areaof sustainable rice cultivation under contracts with businesses to more than7,000 hectares.
It also aims to have some 10,000 hectaresapplied with the practices of “three decreases – three increases” (decreasingthe amount of seeds cultivated, pesticide and fertiliser; increasing riceproductivity, rice quality and economic efficiency) and “one must – fivedecreases” (must use certified rice varieties; and decrease the amount of seedscultivated, pesticides, fertiliser, water and post-harvest loss).
At a meeting on April 10, Vo Minh Phuc, DeputyDirector of the province’s VnSAT management board, said Hau Giang will press onwith this project so that by 2020, more than 26,000 farming households and atleast 16 farmers’ organisations and cooperatives are supported in terms ofinfrastructure and equipment to practice sustainable agriculture.
Under the project, farmers will be instructed touse by-products of rice cultivation, rotate crops, produce certified varietiesand follow Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices (VietGAP).
Tran Hoang Nho, Director of the Danh TienCooperative in Xa Phien commune of Long My district, said the cooperative’smembers have participated in many training courses under the project. Byadopting sustainable practices, they have reduced the amount of seeds neededfrom 20kg every 0.1 hectare to 10kg as well as fertiliser while riceproductivity remains unchanged, leading to higher profits.
Vice Chairman of the provincial People’sCommittee Truong Canh Tuyen said Hau Giang will step up communications to raisefarmers’ awareness and boost connectivity among State agencies, scientists,businesses and farmers.-VNA
VNA
