VnSAT project - Rice quality and farmers income improved

After 5 years of implementation, the project "Sustainable agriculture transformation in Vietnam" (VnSAT) of Long An province in the period of 2016-2020 has changed farming practices, contributing to improving economic efficiency for farmers.

VnSAT project contributes to increase economic efficiency of farmers in the project area

Great investment in agriculture

VnSAT project in Long An province has been implemented for the past 5 years and has shown very positive results on rice. The project contributes to reducing production costs, increasing profits for farmers and towards developing sustainable agriculture. In Long An, the project was implemented in 23 communes of 5 northern districts of Dong Thap Muoi region of the province including Tan Hung, Vinh Hung, Moc Hoa, Tan Thanh and Kien Tuong town, with a total area of over 49,000 hectares.

According to the report of VnSAT Project Management Unit of Long An province, the project's target is to have more than 60,000 beneficiaries, increases the profit per hectare of production land to about 30 percent, increases the rice area applying the process "3 decreases, 3 increases", "1 must, 5 decreases" to over 29,000 hectares. At the same time, to expand the area of applying sustainable farming methods, which are sold by the contract with the enterprise to about 6,000 hectares per crop and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in rice cultivation over 133,333 tons. In addition, the project also aims to help rice farmers to access and apply sustainable farming methods and techniques and link the value chain from production to consumption with businesses and cooperatives and increase income.

In the 2016-2020 period, the VnSAT project in Long An province organized 523 training courses for 11,835 farmer households (without overlapping), with 34 pilot places on the production process under "3 decreases, 3 increases"; 418 classes for 10,866 farmer households (without overlapping), with 21 pilot places for the production process according to "1 must, 5 reduces". In addition, the project also opened 55 classes with 1,588 participants in training about the contents such as guiding on growing mushrooms, producing certified rice seeds, producing rice according to VietGAP, etc. The project has also supported to establish 17 cooperatives and strengthened the operational capacity of 10 cooperatives before the project. The project currently has 27 cooperatives, with 3,818 members, corresponding to the rice production area of 11,702 hectares.

Deputy Head of Division of Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) of Moc Hoa district - Le Van Tung said: “The whole district has more than 790 hectares of rice in the VnSAT project area of the province. Over the past time, the district paid much attention to implementing the VnSAT project because this is an opportunity for the district to accelerate the restructuring of the agriculture sector; at the same time, it helps farmers reduce input costs and increase income in rice production”.

According to Chairman of the Board of Directors of Huong Trang Cooperative (Moc Hoa district) - Tran Van Sua, when participating in the VnSAT project, the cooperative was supported with technical training on "3 decreases, 3 increases", "1 must, 5 decreases", growing mushrooms, cultivating rice towards VietGAP, and so on for more than 270 members. Through training courses, members have improved their production knowledge, they have gradually changed their farming practices, gradually shifted to production according to high-tech, environmentally friendly processes, oriented towards to sustainable farming.

“In addition, the project also supports the construction of 2.2 kilometers in-land traffic roads and rural traffic bridges on the east bank of Go Ong Trang canal. Thereby, it has made the transportation, trade and travel of people easier and more convenient. In addition, the project also supported the cooperative with 1 sowing machine combined with spraying. This machine has quickly shown practical effectiveness, helping farmers to reduce the source of seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides in accordance with the program "3 decreases, 3 increases", "1 must, 5 decreases" of the agriculture sector”- Mr. Sua shared.

Over the past 5 years, the project has supported a total of 11 sub-projects for 11 cooperatives, including 3 warehouses, 11 pumping stations, 16 transformer stations, 9 in-land traffic roads, 2 bridges, 1 culvert, and so on with a total cost of over 72.5 billion VND.

Continuing to improve efficiency

At the Conference on summarizing the period 2016-2020 and implementing the 2021 plan for the recent VnSAT project, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee - Nguyen Minh Lam emphasized that the VnSAT project has been built and implemented and performed from the end of 2015 on rice, one of the key commodities of the province. Up to now, the project has brought about many positive effects. In 2021, the province continues to ensure reciprocal capital to promptly respond to the project's implementation in localities.

According to Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development - Nguyen Thanh Truyen, farmers have better applied advanced techniques in rice production after 5 years of implementing the project, the amount of seeds used has decreased. Previously, many rice farmers used 170-200 kilos per hectare, now it has decreased to 80-100 kilos per hectare. Many lists of infrastructure and equipment have been invested in construction, serving the needs of production and people. It can be said that thanks to VnSAT project, many farmers in the province have conditions to promote the application of technical advances in rice production with high efficiency, helping to reduce production costs and increase profits. The lives of people in rural areas are also improved.

“Promoting the achieved results, the VnSAT Project Management Unit of Long An province continues to strengthen coordination in training and guiding in the coming time so that farmers can apply the contents of the project in their fields; at the same time, it reorganizes production in the direction of concentration, supports to develop farmer organizations, cooperatives meeting project criteria to strongly develop the collective economy. In which, the province prioritizes to support investment in specialized farming areas, developing large-scale fields in order to facilitate good coordination between businesses and farmers. At the same time, farmers will be mobilized to continue participating in cooperative groups and cooperatives to build effective production models, supply materials and consume products” - Mr. Truyen added./.