Continuing the success of VnSAT

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has recently been collaborating with the World Bank (WB) in Low-carbon Agriculture Value Chain Development Project. The project development objective is to promote the value chain and sustainable low-carbon, green agroproduction in the project areas. Speaking at a meeting with the World Bank on March 31, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh said that the new project will help answer the question: "After VnSAT, what will we do?"

According to the leader of the agriculture sector, implementation units need to do well in these three issues.

The first issue is the summary of the experiences and successes gained from the VnSAT Project.

Over the past seven years, VnSAT has helped Vietnam's agriculture transform towards a sustainable direction and orient the people to many technological advances such as "1 must 5 decrease" (1P5G) and "3 decrease 3 increase" (3T3G). The project results in an outstanding increase in rice yield while lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

"VnSAT has deepened its influence by spreading more inherent technical advances. In terms of rice, Vietnam has made a strong transition to producing high-yield rice varieties and specialties. As for coffee, those are the agroforestry and coffee landscape models, helping to integrate multiple values. More importantly, farmers already know how to perform good agricultural practices. They have attained basic and sustainable farming measures in response to climate change or problems concerning seedlings and agro-inputs," said Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh.

The second issue concerns the “2021 - 2030 Strategy for Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development - vision to 2050” which the Prime Minister recently approved. This is an important factor in the production orientation work when Vietnam rapidly transitions from agricultural production to agricultural economy, practicing ecological and green agriculture on the basis of increasing technology content and new farming methods.

The third issue is that the implementation units need to put into consideration the “net-zero emissions by 2050” declaration of the Prime Minister at COP26.

Specific division for each area

Nguyen The Hinh, Deputy Head of the Central Project Office, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (CPO-MARD), said that the Low-carbon Agriculture Value Chain Development Project has a total estimated expense of USD 390 million. The implementation would occur in six years from 2023 to 2029. The loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) was USD 300 million, the Government’s counterpart capital was USD 60 million, and the non-refundable capital was USD 30 million.

This project consists of three parts: Sustainable low-carbon and green agriculture; Strengthening of climate risk management; Increase carbon market access and market development for green and low-carbon agro-products.

At central level the CPO-MARD proposed a number of tasks: Construction of a national digital portal on farmer registration through farm ID; Establishment of national and regional agricultural monitoring stations and centers to collect and keep track of data on climate, water and soil; Development of a carbon fund and a mechanism to divide benefit from carbon credits for participating farmers and agribusinesses.

At local level, the main categories include infrastructure repair and upgrade; assistance for laboratories, research centers and service providers to innovate crop varieties and serve as a technical focal point for the people; development of digital platforms to register farmers using farm ID; establishment of demonstration sites and field workshops to replicate green, low-carbon technologies in the production of rice and key crops; support for cooperatives and agribusinesses to access the carbon market.

"After COP 26, the public, as well as foreign support organizations, have turned their attention to Vietnam. With a project lasting six years, the more specific we can be, the better. We cannot think of this as a simple matter. The low-carbon agricultural value chain not only lies in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in crop intensification, or in large-scale livestock production but also in developing carbon storage services and raising awareness to localities so that they can be proactive and ready to implement the project," said Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh.

Ms. Dina Umali-Deininger, Food and Agriculture Practice Manager, East Asia and Pacific Region, World Bank, congratulated Vietnam on the successful implementation of VnSAT and expressed her delight upon listening to the commitments of Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh regarding the Low-carbon Agriculture Value Chain Development Project. Based on discussions with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the World Bank will develop a separate strategy for each project implementation area.

In addition to the World Bank’s funding, Ms. Dina noted that Vietnam should make full use of non-refundable funds from international organizations such as the Global Environment Fund.

Translated by Samuel Pham