Vietnam - Country Office

1. Overview
2. Country Strategy
3. Priorities
4. Key Program Managers
5. Current Projects
6. Concluded Projects
7. Achievements
8. Relevant Publications
9. Country News and Stories
10. Project Locations
11. Country Office
12. Country Portfolio
13. AusAid and Other Briefs
14. Fellowship Statistics

Country Office

Key indicators and performance for 2006-07

Indicator: Linkages between ACIAR-funded research and AusAID-funded development continues to be maintained in least four CARD projects

Performance: Direct linkages between ACIAR projects and seven new AusAID CARD projects selected for commencement in 2006-07.

Indicator: Surveillance and diagnostic systems and manuals developed for plant pest and diseases

Performance: Manual developed on surveillance for plant and used in courses conducted throughout Asia.  A second manual covers the collation of disease information, illustrations and training notes used in disease diagnosis from many ACIAR projects.

Indicator: Adoption of fruit fly management technology and commercialisation of protein baits in north and south Vietnam

Performance: Adoption of fruit fly management technology by tropical fruit growers in southern Vietnam has spread to low chill stone fruit growers in northern Vietnam. Joint venture established to commercialise the baits.

Indicator: Increased emphasis on animal health and biosecurity issues commensurate with the rising concern of Avian Influenza and Vietnam as an Asian epicentre

Performance: Several projects help Vietnamese farmers to manage biosecurity threats, including avian influenza, pest fruit flies, citrus greening, stored grain pests and brown plant hopper and viruses in rice.

Indicator: Continued emphasis in aquaculture and fisheries with new projects on shrimps and oysters initiated

Performance: A project to assist with the development of a profitable small-holder based marine mollusc culture industry in Vietnam will start in July. Vietnam is also a key partner country in an ACIAR funded NACA mediated regional network which will be established to promote the development and broad application of best management practices in shrimp culture through the timely sharing of experience and information.

Indicator: 40 per cent of new projects designed to have significant farmer or policymaker impacts within five years of completion

Performance: Four of six projects developed (two standard projects and four small R&D activities) were deemed to have these potential impacts.

Achievements from the 2006-07 Annual Report

During 2006–07 new project opportunities were taken up in selected areas of agricultural development policy and economic analysis, animal sciences and fisheries. As well, a number of current projects across all program areas were extended to increase the uptake of results by farmers and also incorporate them in the policy process. The program was divided into the following themes:

• Increasing market competitiveness of Vietnamese agricultural and fisheries products
• Optimising water and soil management for sustainable production, particularly on degraded lands

ACIAR has contributed a sustained effort to develop better policy interventions for meeting market specifications and opportunities. A project to strengthen agricultural marketing activities in Vietnam has undertaken case studies on fruit marketing in the northern mountainous regions. These studies were later discussed at a workshop attended by Department of Agriculture and Rural Development scientists, district extensions officers, People’s Committee officials, and several fruit farmers. The discussion revealed the need to give more emphasis to markets, particularly when developing policies supporting supply expansion. During the project Vietnamese economists had the opportunity to observe and learn from a field trip to Australia. They visited ABARE, the Productivity Commission, and the Economics Division of the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, as well as several Universities. Another visit of significance was to the Sydney Fish markets. The trip introduced them to some institutional design concepts that are being incorporated into Vietnam's new Institute for Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development.

Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) supplies agricultural and forestry produce to domestic and international markets, and the region is also the leading coffee producer. Government policies have intensified agriculture and forestry and population has also risen in the past three decades. Groundwater consumption has now reached unsustainable levels, with droughts in 2003 reducing agricultural production and threatening domestic water supplies. A project is undertaking biophysical and socio-economic assessment of groundwater access. The project team is calculating long-term water availability, conducting a social cost-benefit analysis, and then guiding the development of a cost-effective institutional framework to encourage improved water use. Data gathered from extensive surveys have enabled researchers to estimate household water demand and environmental flow values. As well, farm survey results have helped to estimate the water crop production function for dry season irrigated rice. The findings reveal substantial scope for increased irrigation efficiency in rice production, which will actually improve economic returns to rice farmers. This increase in efficiency will reduce volumetric demand for water, making more available for other uses.

Diseases of fruits and vegetables affect many crops in Vietnam, including coffee, pepper, watermelon, sugar, citrus and durian. Diseases, especially soilborne fungal diseases, are a concern in the central provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Tri and Hue. Earlier ACIAR-supported research with the Hanoi Agricultural University (HAU) built molecular diagnostic capacity, and now a project is focusing on building capacity in diagnosis of soilborne diseases in these three provinces. To date the research team has established diagnostic laboratories in each province and surveys are under way. So far the team has identified the pathogens causing quick wilt of black pepper, pineapple heart rot and peanut root rot. Fungal diseases identified in Quang Nam include a key disease of short and tall beans and three pathogens of chilli (a major crop). Bacterial wilt was diagnosed in a range of crops such as tomato, bitter melon and tobacco, indicating that this pathogen is of significant economic importance. An initial survey of coffee decline indicates that the problem may be a consequence of termite damage of the bark on the upper tap root and lower stem. This facilitates infection by fungal pathogens which then develop a slowly spreading root rot. Trials are now in progress to evaluate control measures for all the identified pathogens.

Although the small temperate fruit industry in the northern Vietnamese uplands is the subject of much research, outcomes will be limited without improved postharvest fruit handling and effective disease controls. Up to 25 per cent of fruit was lost and marketed produce often small and immature. A project has focused on identifying and implementing feasible improvements. The initial strategy has been to conduct experiments in commercial orchards, prove the management techniques under Vietnamese conditions then use the results as extension tools. As a result fruit quality has already improved in experimental orchards across three North Vietnamese peach and plum production regions, largely through simple management techniques costing little to implement. Vietnamese project staff learn the techniques and pass them on to farmers. The addition of fertilisers, mulches, canopy management, fruit thinning and pest management has led to larger, better quality fruit and farmers are now receiving better prices for their produce.

During 2006–07 there was continued emphasis in aquaculture and fisheries. The adjacent box gives details of progress with reservoir aquaculture. Other projects addressed issues of culturing mud crabs, spiny lobster, shrimp, finfish and molluscs. Results from feeding experiments with mud crabs in intensive culture systems at Research Institute of Aquaculture at Nha Trang showed that the highest final weights were obtained with crabs fed a diet containing 43% crude protein and 15% lipid. Furthermore, it was shown that up to 25% of fishmeal in formulated diets could be replaced by either krill meal or soybean meal without significantly reducing growth performance. Pilot pond trials were then conducted at Nha Trang to determine if diets developed using the intensive culture systems could be applied to semi intensive pond culture systems typically used in commercial crab culture in Southeast Asia. The studies showed that growth equivalent to that achieved using trash fish can be obtained with the formulated diets. Significantly the final weights of crabs grown in pond environments were 8-10 times higher than those grown for an equivalent period in the intensive culture systems. Apparently additional natural nutrition available in pond environments promotes the higher weight gain, and the scientists are now studying how they can obtain growth equivalent performances from the intensive culture.

Lobster aquaculture in Vietnam relies on the collection of wild seed (eggs), but they have high rates of mortality in caged grow-out facilities. An extensive study is revealing much about the ecological impact of lobster seed collection and seasonal incidence of breeding in caged lobsters. Studies are under way to determine how to reduce post-capture losses of these seed lobsters, to develop less polluting methods for cultured lobster grow-out, and to optimise lobster feeds and feeding schedules.

Small-scale aquaculture of freshwater species in the Mekong regions in Vietnam (and also Cambodia) is a potential important source of income for villagers. But costs associated with feed and feeding, along with limited availability of suitable feed ingredients have limited development. A project to identify prospective feed ingredients has collected a range of samples for an ingredient database. The digestible value of eight key ingredients has been determined, providing valuable guidelines for future feeding. This project will have the added bonus of making a major impact on the catfish industry in the Mekong Delta, where there have been rapid moves away from farm-made feeds to commercially extruded diets and from river-based cages to ponds. Total production of catfish is now approximately 415,000 tonnes/year—a yearly increase of more than 100,000 tonnes since the project commenced.

A new initiative is exploring the potential for culturing bivalve molluscs such as native clams, mussels and oysters. A project just under way is looking at how to better utilise this resource for Vietnam, which despite its 3000-km coastline trails its Asian neighbours in production. China has moved from gathering natural seed to hatchery-produced seed, and this project will attempt to emulate that success in Vietnam with a guided program of training and potential species evaluation to develop bivalve hatcheries.

Smallholder farmers supply 80 per cent of all pigs in Vietnam, but the long-term viability of production is threatened by the high cost of feeds, most of which are imported. A project is exploring the feasibility of feeding cheaper local feedstuffs. One possibility is meal made from rubber seed, but it contains considerable amounts of cyanide when harvested fresh. The project has developed a protocol that successfully removes virtually all the cyanide, but further testing is needed before digestibility and feeding studies of this highly nutritious product take place. Another possible source of feed is the residue left after processing cassava to remove the starch. The project team has visited a number of cassava-processing plants, and believe that once the matter of cyanide has been settled there is potential to modify the plants to commercially process the rubber seed. Pig feeding studies with cassava residue have provided information on the nutritional value of this by-product and the levels at which it can be effectively and safely used.

Demand for beef products is rising in Vietnam, and cattle rearing and finishing are considered the top priority for smallholders in Quang Ngai Province. A project is helping to establish year-round feeding options by cataloguing available feeds and their nutritive characteristics. Two feeding experiments have provided data on liveweight gain responses to different combinations of forage and locally available concentrate supplements. Verification of feeding options has involved working with farmers in Hanh Phuoc commune. A participatory approach has given those farmers involved a sense of ownership and increased their level of commitment. Results of this study indicate improved weight gains, with the farmers agreeing that the technologies are easy to implement and profitable for them.

In a related activity in Quang Nam Province, an ACIAR initiative is augmenting the World Vision Vietnam Area Development Plan by training World Vision staff and community leaders to administer and manage projects to improve cattle productivity. Extension staff in the district and communes are gaining technical and extension knowledge, so that they can help local people to adopt the more productive technologies.

Lack of water hampers agricultural development in the coastal provinces of central Vietnam; also sandy soils near the coast are highly permeable and infertile. An ACIAR project just commenced is designed to increase farmers’ incomes by improving the productivity of horticultural crops such as cashews. It is introducing technologies that enable efficient use of water and nutrients—nutrient management strategies can minimise leaching losses, particularly in areas with shallow groundwater. The project is focusing on getting the most from wet–dry seasonal climates. In particular it is trialling partial root zone wetting and drying (PRD), a highly efficient irrigation technology that to date has not been evaluated in wet–dry season climates. The project is also helping to build the technical capacity of the Agricultural Science Institute for Southern Coastal Central Vietnam, which is being developed as the main research and extension centre for central coastal Vietnam.

Case Study - Facing the future for Vietnam’s reservoir aquaculture

ACIAR has supported a suite of initiatives over the past decade that aim to improve fish production from inland water bodies in Asia and Australia. They have studied both larger perennial systems and smaller seasonal water bodies.

The first Vietnam project started in 1998. It highlighted several areas for potential research and led to the development of two new linked projects. One, a technical activity within the Fisheries Program, concerned culture-based and capture fisheries development and management in reservoirs in Vietnam, and focused on improving the fish yield from small-to-medium sized farmer-managed systems as well as larger reservoirs. The other, within the Agricultural Development Policy Program, focused on the economics of developing reservoir aquaculture in Vietnam and looked at how to help local fisher and farmer communities by increasing the economic value of such fisheries. 

The first project introduced local communities in northern Vietnam to knowledge-based management of cultured fisheries in small reservoirs. Outcomes included determination of best fish species combinations to grow in the reservoirs, effectiveness of staggered harvesting, and use of manures added to the water to increase yields.

The project team believes that the research results have led to attitude changes among stakeholders and more ready adoption of culture-based fisheries in reservoirs. Project members have also been instrumental in convincing Vietnamese government institutions to recognise fisheries resources as integral to reservoir functions, leading to development of line agencies for their management.

The project found little evidence of environmental impact of the present culture-based fisheries, which is not surprising since fish stocks are currently fed primarily on natural food with extremely low input of supplemental feed. The environmental impact of cove culture on capture fisheries in large reservoirs is less clear, because cove areas are important as feeding, nursery and spawning grounds for capture fisheries. The whole situation may change dramatically as the Vietnamese government works towards its target of lifting current production of 20,000 tonnes to 250,000 t by 2010. 

The second project emphasised the economic development path for reservoir fisheries in Vietnam, viewing reservoirs as a multiple-use resource that needed managing to produce the best outcomes for all groups in society. For instance, the importance of water use for electricity generation and farm irrigation could mean that decisions taken by those in charge of them would adversely influence growth of reservoir fish production.

A key element of the project has been the development of the BRAVO model of reservoir aquaculture in Vietnam. This model, which is underpinned by biological and economic data, has provided useful insights into the potential profitability of reservoir culture and the need to strengthen institutional arrangements for reservoir leasing and credit arrangements. The ‘risk’ version of the BRAVO model has already developed risk profiles of reservoir aquaculture and defined the scope to improve profits and reduce income variability.