30 years of ACIAR–Vietnam partnership

ACIAR supported decade-long initiatives to successfully support smallholder farmer households in northwest Vietnam to establish agroforestry systems on their sloping lands. More than 600 farmers have benefited from training to manage their agroforestry farms and produce high-quality seedlings to reduce cost and minimise chemical use. Some ethnic minority leading farmers have established cooperatives to improve their production and market linkages.

The research highlights how incorporating trees into farming landscapes can improve profitability, improve soil fertility and minimise soil erosion. The project has also provided evidence for Vietnam’s local and central authorities to consider wider agroforestry development.

ACIAR-funded project SMCN/2010/083 focused on creating profitable and climate-resilient rice–shrimp farming systems in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, addressing challenges like high salinity jeopardising rice productivity. The project empowered farmers to employ smart soil management techniques like removing mud from shrimp ponds and using lime to reduce soil salinity enhancing rice productivity. Furthermore, utilising shrimp farming mud as rice fertiliser could minimise environmental impacts and cut costs, improving sustainability in saline-affected regions. The farming techniques tested by the project have been widely adopted in other Mekong provinces with large rice–shrimp farms, including Bac Lieu, Ca Mau and Kien Giang.

ACIAR is investing in a 5-year project to help Mekong Delta farmers replace saline-affected rice production with profitable crop alternatives.

The project has successfully tested crops with higher salt tolerance, efficient water usage, and shorter harvest periods to enable farmers to harvest before saline intrusion. By using protective mulching on the new crops, the farmers are very excited about the productivity and the corresponding yield income: red beet triples, watermelon quadruples and maize increases 1.5 times compared to crops without mulching.

The project also introduced the Chameleon Soil Water Sensor, an affordable electronic soil water sensor, reducing water usage by 40% for upland crops, further contributing to increased productivity and farming income.

ACIAR-supported projects (AGB/1998/005 and AGB/2007/187) have successfully produced and commercialised fruit-fly bait using yeast from beer production. 

Before the project, Vietnamese farmers could lose up to 90% of their crops to fruit flies because there was neither local knowledge nor practical tools to combat the pest. Using pesticides would be problematic in a landscape where open water is used for farming and domestic water supply.

The project developed a low-cost bait for specific fruit-fly species, which was safe for users and the environment. ACIAR also supported product commercialisation through brewery companies in Hanoi and in the Mekong Delta. The protein bait is derived from the brewery's leftover yeast, providing both a commercial benefit to the brewery and a low-cost fruit-fly control for farmers.

ACIAR has invested more than A$10.5 million to improve the livelihoods and capacity of beef cattle smallholder farmers, especially those from ethnic minority communities, in Dien Bien Province – one of the poorest provinces in Vietnam. 

The latest project has helped farmers adopt new and effective intensification techniques to increase income and start their new community-based businesses. Around 400 smallholder families have benefited from the project’s research and capacity-building initiatives that have helped strengthen their intensive production and business market links. 

After 10 years of joining the two-phased project, Dien Bien’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has improved its livestock management capacity and successfully developed a 5-year program with a budget of 29 billion VND (A$1.7 million) for a market-oriented livestock development program for the province.

An ACIAR project empowered smallholder women vegetable farmers in Lao Cai Province to better engage with high-value markets through participating in farmer business schools. The project successfully identified the specific needs of the women and ethnic minority smallholder farmers, then assisted with improving farming practices and growing diverse crops to take advantage of market opportunities. Farming techniques introduced by Vietnamese researchers also helped farmers reduce farming time and labour, enabling them to enjoy various livelihood benefits. Their families also benefited from nutritional improvements from crop changes, particularly indigenous vegetables.

A recent independent evaluation has found that many participating Vietnamese women have improved their product quality and price thanks to participating in value chains.

Researchers on a project supported by ACIAR and the Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have analysed a suite of tools to promote fair treatment of Thai ethnic minority women cultivating Arabica coffee in northwest Vietnam.

Tools such as the 24-hour activity clock, role playing, problem tree analysis, couple dialogues, storytelling and drawing activities shed light on women’s extensive labour. One participant, viewing his wife’s clock, acknowledged that he needed to change and support her with housework.

The project's success lies in demonstrating how tailored tools enhance gender relations, empowering women in both the household and on the farm.

The new vegetable industry is a major employer of women and ethnic minority groups. In Moc Chau and Van Ho districts, 55% of the farmers are women and are fully engaged in running businesses, planning, decision making and marketing.

In Van Ho district, most women have been participating in vegetable production, substantially contributing to an increase in family income and resulting in women being more economically empowered. Women have improved their knowledge and skills and have become more confident to communicate with people outside their kinship group.

One compelling success story is that of Ms Dinh Thi Xoa, a 61-year-old farmer from Van Ho. As a pioneer in the project, she established the Van Ho Safe Vegetable Cooperative, guiding 7 household members through the unfamiliar process of growing and supplying safe vegetables.

Despite initial challenges, the cooperative persevered and expanded, cultivating VietGAP vegetables on almost 15 hectares. Ms Xoa's group successfully sold over 230 tonnes of vegetables to major supermarkets, earning nearly 2 billion dong (around A$160,000) in 2018.

The vegetable project in northwest Vietnam has had a profound impact on the community, particularly in empowering ethnic minority farmers to elevate their agribusiness.

One compelling success story is that of Mr Vang A Sa, a Hmong farmer from Bo Nhang village. Through training and support, he established the Bo Nhang 2 cooperative, significantly increasing his family's income from around 10 million VND (A$610) to almost 100 million VND (A$6,100) annually.

Since its commencement in 2015, more farmers in the area are participating in developing and expanding the scale of VietGAP vegetable production, helping establish supply chains into Hanoi and accessing high-value markets to achieve higher incomes.

The agroforestry project in northwest Vietnam has significantly expanded the agroforestry community, benefiting over 600 farmers. 
Through extensive training, smallholder farmers successfully applied agroforestry, improving local livelihoods.

Leading farmers have formed cooperatives, enhancing production and market linkages, and contributing to the collective economic development. They have also improved teamwork, public speaking, decision-making and confidence in implementing agroforestry.

The project also focused on building business capacity of farmers, exemplified by nursery groups producing quality seedlings for agroforestry systems and seedling businesses. Notably, women actively participated in these capacity-building activities, developing skills and sharing knowledge within their communities.

Partnership and capacity building with local agricultural officers have been pivotal, creating trusted advisors for agroforestry adoption and policy development.

The project's comprehensive approach has garnered widespread support, creating a positive ripple effect on community development and environmental sustainability.

Since early 2000s, ACIAR has invested in research to enhance the competitiveness of ethnic minority households in northwest Vietnam’s temperate fruit markets. In 2020, ACIAR supported the establishment of the Son La Temperate Fruit Association, marking a crucial milestone for the industry.

With a modest investment, the Association developed an informative website offering the latest technical and market updates on plums, pears, peaches, persimmons and avocados. The Association also conducted trials for licensed Australian varieties. This strategic move, coupled with a commercialisation and royalty collection plan, aims to reduce reliance on limited temperate fruit types, preventing oversupply and subsequent price fluctuations.

Furthermore, ACIAR research encompassed processing facility audits and product evaluations. This comprehensive initiative positions the Son La Temperate Fruit Association as a key player in fostering sustainable industry development and long-term business ties between Australia and Vietnam.

The ACIAR-backed initiative in Dien Bien Province, northwest Vietnam, has fostered the formation of beef cattle interest groups and cooperatives, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and techniques in cattle production. This collaborative effort has not only strengthened relationships among stakeholders but also built social capital within the community.

The project’s impact extends to the economic empowerment of farmers, enabling them to diversify activities beyond livestock management. Four hundred households have benefited from training and trialling with crop-livestock systems. Among 10 farmer groups were established with the project support, some groups have raised funds from members to subsequently lend to those in need. Two champion farmers have established cooperatives to support the beef cattle farmers in their community with access to high-price market and trade equality.

Through enhancing beef farming efficiency, the project has significantly increased farmer income, contributing to broader community benefits such as improved education, healthcare and agribusiness investment.

In 2022, ACIAR and SunRice Group embarked on the largest public–private investment in ACIAR history. This 4-year project, co-invested by ACIAR and the SunRice Group, aims to establish a highly productive, sustainable, traceable, quality-assured value chain for tropical medium grain rice in the Mekong Delta, benefiting rice-farming households and meeting established SunRice market requirements. The project also enables SunRice to diversify its supply area for rice and source grain from the Mekong region.

The project will connect smallholder farmers in the Mekong Delta to high-value international markets, giving farmers an economic incentive to grow higher-value rice more sustainably.

The research is primarily focused on smallholder farmers, cooperatives and farmer groups, and private sector parties in An Giang, Dong Thap and Kien Giang Provinces and Can Tho City.

In 2017, ACIAR formalised its 10-year strategy (2017–2027) for collaboration in agricultural research with Vietnam by signing a Letter of Intent with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) of Vietnam.

The ACIAR–Vietnam strategy strongly supports the Vietnamese smallholder agriculture sector to commercialise, creating effective linkages between agricultural scientists, farmers and the private sector.

The strategy aligns with the shared goals of Vietnam and Australia, serving as a backbone of ACIAR investment in Vietnam and providing guiding principles for the collaborating partners in designing projects.

Since 1993, ACIAR has invested A$157 million in 243 agricultural research projects in Vietnam. Over the last decade, ACIAR-Vietnam collaboration has witnessed growth in bilateral and multilateral projects with a shift from purely technical to more social-integrated research, strengthening value chains and enhancing smallholder farmers' livelihoods.

Aiming to expand the Australia–Vietnam collaboration in agricultural research, ACIAR signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of Vietnam in 2018 to implement the ACIAR–Vietnam research collaboration strategy.

In a recent meeting (September 2023) between the Minister of Science and Technology of Vietnam – Dr Huynh Thanh Dat, and ACIAR CEO – Professor Wendy Umberger, the two sides discussed how to further agricultural research collaboration, promote innovation in agriculture and further capacity-building efforts for Vietnamese researchers.

ACIAR received the Friendship Order from the Vietnam Government in 2019. The Friendship Order is Vietnam’s most prestigious award for foreign organisations and recognises ACIAR–Vietnam partnership that has supported Vietnam’s agricultural and rural development.

Nominated by the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VAAS) for ACIAR’s significant contribution to Vietnam's agriculture sector, the Friendship Order was presented to then ACIAR CEO Prof Andrew Campbell by Vice Minister of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nguyen Hoang Hiep.