Vietnam, FAO promote hi-tech farming, create livelihoods for farmers

Hanoi, September 16 (VNA) – The Vietnam Farmers’ Union (VNFU) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) on September 15 exchanged views on the results of FAO’s Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) in the country and discussed future cooperation directions.

At the meeting in Hanoi, VNFU Vice Chairwoman Bui Thi Thom highly valued FAO’s role in supporting Vietnam’s sustainable agricultural development, particularly through the FFF, which has helped secure stable livelihoods for farmers.

She expressed her hope that FAO will continue to accompany Vietnam in promoting high-tech and environmentally friendly agriculture, delivering tangible benefits to farmers.

She suggested that FAO further assist the country through specific activities such as improving the VNFU’s capacity, strengthening cooperatives and cooperative groups, improving production and business management skills for these entities, documenting effective models and sharing knowledge, and enhancing the union’s service delivery capacity through product branding, geographical indication development, input supply, credit access, and market development.

Thom also proposed that FAO support the union in building linkages between cooperatives, cooperative groups, enterprises and partners, increasing communications on forest management and development associated with sustainable farm models, promoting access to the carbon market, researching and replicating successful models within the VNFU system, and building the post-2025 phase of the FFF programme.

Sophie Gabrielle G. Grouwels, regional coordinator of the FFF, for her part, spoke highly of the union’s efforts in supporting cooperatives, particularly those in northern mountainous areas, to improve their management capacity and farmers' livelihoods towards sustainability.

She noted that agricultural cooperatives and farming households have been able to develop forestry and agricultural products adapted to climate change, thereby boosting incomes and reducing poverty.

In recent years, the FFF has contributed to establishing value chains that generate higher income for cooperative members while also documenting exemplary models. To further build on these achievements, she expressed her wish that both sides will continue to cooperate to scale up successful value chain models.-VNA