VNS
Nick Austin, CEO of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), spoke to Viet Nam News during his four-day working visit to Viet Nam last week.
What are your main objectives during this visit?
This is my first visit to Viet Nam and my first stop on a trip to several Mekong countries, including Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. During my visit, I have met with local partners of ACIARs research co-operation programmes in Viet Nam in order to get a clearer picture of priorities, policy orientations as well as agricultural development here.
Can you summarise the results of your visit?
The results are very encouraging. I had working sessions with officials from the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Both Viet Nam and Australia have very close alignments in terms of agriculture priorities, including food security, food safety and climate change. These priorities are very closely aligned with those of ACIAR. I also discussed with a number of directors of Viet Nam's leading agricultural research institutes from South to North on how to develop new projects that align with these high-level priorities.
You also took a field trip to the two Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces of Tien Giang and Soc Trang. What did you see?
The visit gave me the opportunity to see first-hand the impacts of climate change in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta on the production system as a whole and on individual farmers. It's particularly important in the delta because about seven million people, all who depend heavily on agriculture, are going to be significantly impacted by climate change. Our projects will target the needs of farmers, particularly in relation to poverty alleviation and food security at the individual farm level. They will take a close look at the impact climate change will have on rice-based farming, and what solutions can be used to ease the challenges posed by increasing salinity, salt water intrusion, flooding, changes in rain patterns and in water viability.
Exciting projects are on the horizon in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, the first being "Climate change affecting land use in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta: Adaptation of rice-based crop systems", an AUD$4 million (US$3.7 million) project which will start in July. The project will include a geospatial biophysical impact and vulnerability assessment, plant breeding for improved resilience to salinity and submergence, and development of integrated soil, nutrient and water management options.
Along with providing technical solutions to promote better agricultural practices, agribusiness, which is the marketing of agricultural products, is increasingly becoming a focus of ACIAR in Viet Nam. Can you tell us more about it?
While ACIAR will continue to work in forestry, fisheries, horticulture and livestock production, a new programme in Viet Nam will aim at agribusiness. Our programme will focus on how small-holders can gain access to the market. It will involve more Vietnamese institutions with the capability of understanding local economics in partnership with Australian organisations who will provide expertise in value chain and market analysis. We will look at things like market requirements for good agricultural practices, barriers keeping them from the market, and how we can assist small-holder production to begin moving towards better quality assurance and consistency of supply to meet market specifications.
ACIAR has been working with Viet Nam for nearly two decades. How do you evaluate the co-operation in that time?
We are working in a long-term partnership model. Our projects are typically designed to be implemented over three to five years and many of them have been extended. We have also invested in capacity building to help officials in Viet Nam's institutes to earn Masters and PhD degrees. I am glad to see they are now leading new projects in Viet Nam.
The other aspect is that our projects benefit both Viet Nam and Australia. We have the same challenges with climate change, hostile soils and similar crops. Vietnamese researchers are interested and working on similar research questions. Some of our studies demonstrate clear benefits back to Australia as well as Viet Nam. Our most successful projects have mutual benefits for both countries.
For example, food security is a priority of the Australian Government. At a high level, Viet Nam is a major exporter of rice, and at a high level, Australia has benefited from investing in improving and sustaining production and agricultural outputs. At the scientific institution level, there is a very clear benefit in knowledge transfer and common approaches to problems in both countries.
What are your main objectives during this visit?
This is my first visit to Viet Nam and my first stop on a trip to several Mekong countries, including Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. During my visit, I have met with local partners of ACIARs research co-operation programmes in Viet Nam in order to get a clearer picture of priorities, policy orientations as well as agricultural development here.
Can you summarise the results of your visit?
The results are very encouraging. I had working sessions with officials from the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Both Viet Nam and Australia have very close alignments in terms of agriculture priorities, including food security, food safety and climate change. These priorities are very closely aligned with those of ACIAR. I also discussed with a number of directors of Viet Nam's leading agricultural research institutes from South to North on how to develop new projects that align with these high-level priorities.
You also took a field trip to the two Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces of Tien Giang and Soc Trang. What did you see?
The visit gave me the opportunity to see first-hand the impacts of climate change in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta on the production system as a whole and on individual farmers. It's particularly important in the delta because about seven million people, all who depend heavily on agriculture, are going to be significantly impacted by climate change. Our projects will target the needs of farmers, particularly in relation to poverty alleviation and food security at the individual farm level. They will take a close look at the impact climate change will have on rice-based farming, and what solutions can be used to ease the challenges posed by increasing salinity, salt water intrusion, flooding, changes in rain patterns and in water viability.
Exciting projects are on the horizon in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, the first being "Climate change affecting land use in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta: Adaptation of rice-based crop systems", an AUD$4 million (US$3.7 million) project which will start in July. The project will include a geospatial biophysical impact and vulnerability assessment, plant breeding for improved resilience to salinity and submergence, and development of integrated soil, nutrient and water management options.
Along with providing technical solutions to promote better agricultural practices, agribusiness, which is the marketing of agricultural products, is increasingly becoming a focus of ACIAR in Viet Nam. Can you tell us more about it?
While ACIAR will continue to work in forestry, fisheries, horticulture and livestock production, a new programme in Viet Nam will aim at agribusiness. Our programme will focus on how small-holders can gain access to the market. It will involve more Vietnamese institutions with the capability of understanding local economics in partnership with Australian organisations who will provide expertise in value chain and market analysis. We will look at things like market requirements for good agricultural practices, barriers keeping them from the market, and how we can assist small-holder production to begin moving towards better quality assurance and consistency of supply to meet market specifications.
ACIAR has been working with Viet Nam for nearly two decades. How do you evaluate the co-operation in that time?
We are working in a long-term partnership model. Our projects are typically designed to be implemented over three to five years and many of them have been extended. We have also invested in capacity building to help officials in Viet Nam's institutes to earn Masters and PhD degrees. I am glad to see they are now leading new projects in Viet Nam.
The other aspect is that our projects benefit both Viet Nam and Australia. We have the same challenges with climate change, hostile soils and similar crops. Vietnamese researchers are interested and working on similar research questions. Some of our studies demonstrate clear benefits back to Australia as well as Viet Nam. Our most successful projects have mutual benefits for both countries.
For example, food security is a priority of the Australian Government. At a high level, Viet Nam is a major exporter of rice, and at a high level, Australia has benefited from investing in improving and sustaining production and agricultural outputs. At the scientific institution level, there is a very clear benefit in knowledge transfer and common approaches to problems in both countries.
1 comment:
We must learn from the Western world where people grow rise by using machines or harvest by machines etc. In Aust, we grow million of tonnes of wheat and rise without using much of water at all. I don't how but they did it but they did it really well. Therefore, khmer gov't needs to learn from their agriculture and their technique they used. Just remember this no one can help us much accept Aust as Aust has a common law to protect everyone equally doesn't matter who they are or where they come from. Aust believes that if other nation is in peace, Aust will also live in peace or otherwise we would have received more refugees and it will cause more chaos for us or for other nations abroad and this is true. In other words Aust is full of wisdom. God has blessed Aust soooo much because Aust are kinded people. Aust
Post a Comment