Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
the Chinese market. They are very interested in using the tools which were
developed and tested by Alterra in the VEGSYS, MAPET and MAMAS projects.
•
Interaction with Dutch policymakers were limited to the Dutch Embassy in
Hanoi and the agricultural councillors in Bangkok (responsible for Vietnam) and
Beijing.
5) Which insights were gained by employing a multi-disciplinary methodology that
would have been missed by disciplinary research?
•
The insights which were gained during the Rapid Diagnostic Appraisal were
based on the work of multi-disciplinary teams.
•
During the VEGSYS project proposal design a mistake was made by not putting
enough attention on agronomy. Thanks to the involvement of PPO, the crucial
knowledge of vegetable agronomy became available and was of very big impor-
tance for the design of improved production technologies.
•
The marketing research linked the farmers to markets where consumers are
willing to pay for safe vegetables, which is an important incentive for the farmers to
use the improved production technologies.
G) Unfinished business and future challenges
1) Which important things remain to be done that could not be achieved by the
project?
•
All original project objectives have been achieved but so much more needs to be
done to improve vegetable production and marketing.
•
It would be very useful to evaluate one year after the project ended if the deve-
loped technologies are being used by the farmers.
•
Development of clear guidelines for which crops, pest/disease combinations
what pesticides (which can be bought on the local market) are the least harmful
to use and the specific GAP for that pesticide, crop-pest/disease combination.
•
Developing a science-based system for pesticide admission in China and Vietnam.
2) Which important challenges in the area of RDSA in the tropics are there in the
near future (say 5 to 10 years)?
•
For both the research sites in China and Vietnam the challenge will be how all
these smallholders can continue to grow out of poverty. Their small landholdings
(0.27 ha per farm), makes it difficult to increase income. The coming 5 years
there are still enough improvements which can be made, especially developing a
sustainable system of year round vegetable production. But for the longer term it
will be important to see how the government can create an enabling environment
for good farmers (innovative, entrepreneurs). How can they grow? How can they
obtain more land and capital? Land consolidation policies will be very crucial.
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