Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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Access to knowledge and applied technologies for horticulture.
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The lack of suitable locally available improved vegetable varieties.
- The need of a certification system for safe vegetables. Farmers were not
rewarded by the market if they produced safe vegetables, because people
do not believe them. In Vietnam the current certification system is not
functioning and consumers have no faith in it.
Quantification of the low performance of the local horticulture systems. With
small changes large improvements can be achieved both in financial, agronomic
and environmental performance.
The results of the monitoring studies demonstrate how much officially forbidden
pesticides are used by the farmers and how easily they were to get.
The application of the pesticide leaching model in China predicts high concen-
tration of pesticide residues in groundwater, upon which many farmers depend
for their drinking water.
In Vietnam, the transformation of old style cooperatives into new style cooperatives
does not result in better functioning cooperatives. The approach remains top
down. Although very small, farmer producer groups are much more successful.
Our study of vegetable retailing in Hanoi shows how important the traditional
retail sector is as an income generating activity for the poor. The current strengths
of the traditional retail sector are expected to maintain its dominant position in
the total retail sector. Supermarkets now have a share of 2% of vegetables sold to
consumers in Hanoi, this share is expected to grow slowly, but at a slower pace
than the total growth in demand for vegetables. But based on experiences in
neighbouring countries, it is important for the traditional sector to innovate as on
the long run supermarkets will become more important. Most important: innova-
tion is needed in guaranteeing consumers vegetables which are safe to consume.
Through cooperation with farmer groups, a few wholesalers and a group of
traditional retailers, this should become feasible.
Our study of sourcing practices by supermarkets in Chengdu (Sichuan province,
China) shows that small scale farmers are not necessarily excluded from the
supermarket procurement system. Innovative institutions (such as associations
and co-operatives) and local governments could facilitate this transition.
3) What are the outputs in terms of capacity-building and partnerships?
Farmers
124 farmers were trained in record keeping. All of them received reports in
Vietnamese/Chinese with an analysis of their farm, benchmarked with the
average of the whole sample. Several training sessions were given to train the
farmers in understanding the reports.
15 farmers were selected for the Participatory Technology Development process.
On farm trials were executed with them. At the start, halfway and at the end of
the trial, field days were organized to invite all other farmers in the village to
monitor the trials and understand the results.
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