Harvesting rice in the Mekong Delta

With a total investment of 7 million Euros, Project Green Innovation Centres for the Agriculture and Food Sector Vietnam (GIC Vietnam) is the next technical service commitment package from the German Government, coordinated implementation by the Department of Cooperatives and Rural Development (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and government of 6 provinces including An Giang, Dong Thap, Can Tho, Hau Giang, Kien Giang and Soc Trang during the period of 2020-2024.

Project Green Innovation Centres for the Agriculture and Food Sector (GIC) Vietnam aims to support factors across the entire rice and mango value chain in the Mekong Delta in order to provide high quality products, generate revenue from exports, stabilize as well as create new jobs…

This project will help improve farming systems towards sustainability, thereby improving the efficiency of management and the use of natural resources while enhancing the adaptability and resilience to climate change impacts of two key agricultural value chains in the Mekong Delta: rice and mango.

During the five years of implementation, the GIC Vietnam Project will support 20,000 smallholder farmers to improve the quality of their products with a possible increase in their income of 15 to 20%. 12,000 smallholdings will be trained and can apply solutions to minimize negative impacts on the environment

The project will also focus on promoting the participation of the private sector, especially small and medium enterprises, cooperatives to create a link between manufacturers and businesses, and promote opportunities for direct cooperation based on the common needs and interests of value chain factors.

Enterprises and cooperatives participating in the project will be able to improve their capacity and improve production processes, hence improving some key business performance indicators. With priority given to women and young people, about 200 new jobs are expected to be created from models utilizing rice by-products such as straw.

Mr. Le Duc Thinh, Director of the Department of Cooperatives and Rural Development, expressed that Vietnam highly appreciates the continuous support of the German Government in helping to accelerate the transition to green development and sustainability in agriculture.

With the central goal of promoting the discovery of innovations as well as appropriate and feasible economic models to be deployed in the rice and mango value chains in the Mekong Delta region, Vietnam hopes to create positive impacts with the project to help improve quality, build the image and enhance the role of Vietnamese agricultural products in demanding markets such as the Europe or the United States.

GIC Vietnam is a part of the Program Green Innovation Centres for the Agriculture and Food Sector (GIC), included in the global initiative to combat poverty for ‘One World, No Hunger’ funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), conducted by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) in over 15 countries from Africa and Asia. Therefore, in addition to the goal of supporting sustainable growth for agricultural and rural development in Vietnam, GIC Vietnam also contributes to fulfilling the mission of this initiative.

Successful models, achievements and lessons learned from activities implemented in Vietnam will be gathered, assessed the impacts, documented and shared with other member countries of the GIC Program as well as other countries engaged in South-South or South-North cooperation through regional and international conferences, seminars, study trips, exchange of best practices and publications, products on knowledge management.