The New Zealand’s International Aid & Development Agency (NZAID) – sponsored “Sustainable rural livelihood” project has been kicked off in the central province of Binh Dinh. It is aimed at linking rural producers to markets and value chains that are most relevant to their local context, capacities and opportunities and that will bring about real increases in their income.
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Farmers in Phu My district harvest pickled scallion heads. Photo N.Han
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Practical solution
The project has a total capital of 2.14 million USD, of which the NZ government finances more than 1.7 million USD and the province contributes the rest. Its four components will be implemented in seven districts in Binh Dinh.
The four-year-project will focus on 3 potential areas of market opportunity: safe vegetables, livestock (cattle and rabbits) and coconuts. The fourth component will address capacity development in key provincial departments to enable a more business orientated approach to supporting farmers’ linkages to markets.
Accordingly, the first component focusing on safe vegetables will be carried out in Tay Son district and Quy Nhon city. The second is expected to help poor households in districts of Phu My and Hoai Nhon increase their incomes from coconuts.
In the third component, livestock breeders in districts of Phu Cat, An Nhon, and Hoai An will have opportunities to improve their profits.
The project implementation is, thus, expected to help Binh Dinh to improve capacity for its agriculture business sector, thus bringing sustainable socio-economic benefit to poor households in the province.
Stable output for agricultural products
At the seminar on starting the project, most participants agreed that it will play an important role in creating a stable output for agricultural products.
“The output for agricultural products has been very unstable,” said deputy head of Hoai An’s Agriculture and Rural Development Division, Ho Cong Hau. “The project is, thus, believed to be effective when helping farmers link to markets.
“Rabbit raisers in Hoai An district will have more chances to increase their income when being supported by the project,” he added.
Binh Dinh had great advantages in livestock breeding; however, farmers have still faced many difficulties for markets were not unstable, said an official. Relevant bodies needed to closely coordinate with local authorities to help farmers improve their production.
The project will create favorable conditions for farmers when it is implemented in the coming time. The project management board will cooperate with local authorities to effectively carry out its components, increasing incomes for farmers, according to Phan Trong Ho, vice director of provincial Deparment of Agriculture and Rural Development.
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