Overview
This project aimed to effectively and sustainably link vegetable suppliers in northern Vietnam with modern retailers.
Vietnamese people love vegetables but Hanoi's scorching summer temperatures mean local farmers cannot grow popular crops such as tomatoes, cabbage and beans. Instead, such produce is imported from China or brought in from the south.
The solution could be found in highland Moc Chau region, which is just 4 hours by road from Hanoi, sufficiently cool to grow temperate vegetables in summer, and has 40,000 hectares of good farming land.
Project staff worked with research institutes, regional government and private sector organisations to train farmers to engage effectively with retailers in Hanoi. As a result, 86 farmers participating in the project, from 4 villages in Moc Chau, supplied more than 1,240 tonnes of accredited safe vegetables to retailers in Hanoi.
The new industry benefits all sectors of the value chain, from farmers to consumers. Farmers could earn VND 300 million (AUD 18,000) per hectare from accredited safe vegetables, which is 150% more than from conventional vegetable cropping, and 14 times more than the VND 20 million (AUD 1,260) per hectare they could expect from growing maize or rice.
