Tien Giang (VNA) – The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development held a meeting inTien Giang on August 17 to review the progress of the Vietnam SustainableAgriculture Transformation (VnSAT) projects in the Mekong Delta over the lastseven months, as well as discuss tasks for the remaining months of the year.

The VnSAT has been largelyfunded by the International Development Association (IDA) under the World Banksince 2015. It has a total investment of 301 million USD, of which, 238 millionUSD is financed by the IDA, while the remainder is sourced from the VietnameseGovernment and private sector.

By 2020, it will beoperational in five Central Highlands provinces and eight in the Mekong Delta region,aiming to foster the use of sustainable farming practices and enhance the valuechains of coffee and rice production in these localities.

In the Mekong Deltaprovinces – namely Kien Giang, An Giang, Hau Giang, Tien Giang, Long An, DongThap, Can Tho, and Soc Trang – the project aims to support a large-scaleprogramme of improving agronomic practices and management, supporting privatesector investments in upgrading rice processing technology and facilities forhigh value and quality rice, and improving public service delivery.

The project isexpected to reach about 140,000 rice-producing households, cultivating around200,000ha of rice in the Mekong Delta and helping to increase those ricesmallholders’ incomes by 30 percent.

According to theproject’s management board, eight Mekong Delta provinces have been allocatedwith 390 billion VND (16.8 million USD) in funding for 2018. As of July, 50.8billion VND, or 13 percent, of the funding had been disbursed. Over the firstseven months, more than 115,400 farmers received training on the new ricecultivation technique ‘three reductions, three gains’ (3R3G), while over 53,000have learned about the ‘one must, five reductions’ (1M5R) method.

3R3G refers to reductionsin seed, chemicals, and water; and gains in productivity, quality, and economicefficiency. 1M5R means using registered seeds and reductions in seed, chemicalfertiliser, pesticide, water use, and post-harvest loss.

Speaking at themeeting, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh saidthe remaining workload that needs to be done by the eight Mekong Deltaprovinces this year is heavy and as such, by the year end, the provinces mustpay more heed to resolving issues to fast-track the project’s progress and atthe same time, make changes to the project plan according to the realsituation. Monthly disbursement plans should be outlined to allow bettermonitoring, he added.

He also urged theeight provinces to continue training farmers on 3G3G and 1P5G, encouraging themto apply Good Agriculture Practices (VietGAP), and supporting cooperatives andcredit institutions to improve capacity. –VNA