Hanoi (VNA) – The International Finance Corporation (IFC), amember of the World Bank Group, will help Vietnamese smallholders farmersimprove the safety of their products like poultry, fruits and vegetables in anew project.

The project is expected to unlock new market opportunities and increaseincome for the smallholder farmers, thus contributing to better food security,the IFC announced during an event to launch the project in Vietnam on June 22.

The project, Farmer Advisory Component, is a component of IFC’s broader Vietnam Food Safety Programme, which waslaunched in July 2017 in partnership with the Slovak Republic, aiming toaddress food safety standards and practices in the country.

The annual food consumption in the domestic marketaccounts for roughly 15 percent of Vietnam’s GDP, with an average annual growthrate of approximately 18 percent. But, inadequate safety standards can inhibitthe sector’s growth potential, jeopardising consumer health and reducing marketopportunities for local food producers in the modern food value chain. 

“Implementing internationally accepted food safetypractices and systems is essential for the sustainable growth of Vietnam’sagribusiness sector. This will improve competitiveness and help increase salesfor farmers and food producers,” said Kyle Kelhofer, IFC Country Manager forVietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. “IFC’s work in Vietnam builds on our experience inother countries around the world where we helped local players grow and createnew and better opportunities.”

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Over the next three years, IFC, in partnership withNew Zealand, will raise awareness of increased food safety standards anddeliver customised training programmes to about 1,000 smallholder farmers basedon the basic level of GlobalGAP requirements and other relevantstandards. The project will also provide a more intensive package ofsupport to up to 20 small-scale farms, helping them acquireGlobalGAP certification — an internationally recognised set of farm standardsdedicated to Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) or equivalent standards.

It will also identify opportunities to connect thetrained farmers with potential retailers and agribusiness firms who are lookingfor internationally certified products. 

“Improving food safety standards in order to accessnew markets is key to achieving Vietnam’s 40-billion-USD agricultural productexport target in 2018 and beyond,” said New Zealand Ambassador to Vietnam WendyMathews. “We are very pleased to support IFC's efforts to connect smallholderfarmers with growing domestic and international markets. Promoting betteragribusiness practices and food safety standards will benefit Vietnam’sfarmers, businesses and consumers.” 

Under the IFC Vietnam Food Safety Programme, the IFChas helped 40 poultry houses of two independent downstream poultry farms whichsource breeding chickens from Bel Ga JSC – a leading poultry breeding firm –acquire the GlobalGAP Certification within just a year. 

By establishing a system for GlobalGAP, whichfocuses on hygiene and biosecurity, antibiotic reduction, and traceability,among others, these two farms — from Binh Phuoc and Dong Nai provinces — havebeen able to supply about 3 million GlobalGAP-certified broilers or 6 millionkilogrammes of chicken meat to the domestic market and export to Japan over thepast year.-VNA