The event was co-hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

On the occasion, consultations were held with the provinces of Dong Thap, Kien Giang and Tra Vinh regarding the selection of district-level locations and models for the implementation of the project this year.

Nguyen Do Tuan Anh, Director of the MARD’s Department of International Cooperation, said the project has a total funding of nearly 4.2 million EUR (4.66 million USD), funded by the European Union (EU) through FAO. It was approved by the MARD in April 2023 and launched in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang province on December 13, 2023 at the Vietnam-Hau Giang International Rice Festival.

Carried out from 2023-2027, the project consists of three components, including supporting the enforcement of policies related to the transformation of smart food systems in climate change, supporting the development and improvement of ecological agricultural value chains, and enhancing the adaptive capacity of stakeholders in monitoring and evaluating the transformation of food systems, promoting innovation and creativity. This encourages equitable, healthy, sustainable agricultural value chains that are climate and environmentally friendly.

Partners of the project include the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD), the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Can Tho University.

The project aims to help improve production, business administration and marketing capacity for at least 24 cooperatives and cooperative groups, and establish 8 cooperatives of youth, women and ethnic minority people. It will also assist 15 agricultural SMEs to access green financial sources, build three support packages for innovative agricultural schemes and eco-agricultural models.