Báo cáo nghiên cứu khoa học " Enhancing smallholders’ access to Agribusiness in the Central region of Viet Nam " potx

Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development
(CARD)
Program
64
THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF AGRIBIZ PROJECT
Project title:
Enhancing smallholders’ access to A
gribusiness in the Central region of Viet
Nam
Project c
ode
: CARD 055/04 VIE
Author(s):
Assoc. Prof.
Dr. Mai Van Xuan
1
,
Dr. Sandra Martin
2
, Stewart Pittaway
2
Project Implementing organisations:
1
Faculty of Economics and Development Studies, Hue College of
Economics
2
Lincoln University, New Zealand
1.
Introduction
This project, implemented from 2005 to 2009,
aiming at developing the agribusiness capacity

of the Faculty of Economics and Development
Studies (FEDS) at Hue College of Economics
(HCE) so that
they can act as a strategic
resource for rural development in the Central
regions of Vietnam. The lack of agribusiness
skills of smallholders and the provincial
extension staff leads to constraints in livelihood
improvement for the smallholders. The proje
ct
methodology is to let the Australian partner,
Lincoln University, develop the agribusiness
and applied research skills for the FEDS staff in
a 3
-
year period. The capacity building program
includes 3 major phases: i) Survey to determine
the agribusiness
needs of smallholders and
provincial staff in 4 Central region provinces:
Nghe An, Thua Thien Hue, Kon Tum, Quang
Ngai; ii) Development of training courses for
them and the development of an agribusiness
program curriculum at HCE; iii) Delivery of the
trai
ning courses for smallholders and provincial
agencies including the development of the
capacity of the provincial agencies to deliver
effective agribusiness training courses for
smallholders. Project outputs will include: i)

FEDS with an improved agribusin
ess teaching,
research and consultancy skills, HCE with an
improved agribusiness curriculum; ii)
Provincial agency staff with enhanced
agribusiness skills and able to deliver courses
for smallholders then they with better
agribusiness skills and supported
by more
effective provincial agencies; iii) Smallholders
with better agribusiness skills and supported by
more effective provincial agencies in order to
improve their livelihood.
Overall goal of this project is enhancing
smallholders’ access to Agribusines
s Services
in the Central Region of Viet Nam in way of
providing smallholders necessary skills in
Agribusiness so that they can improve their
livelihoods.
The expected outputs of the projects are (1)
FEDS with improved applied research skills
and agribusin
ess training, teaching, research
and consultancy skills; (2) FEDS with an
improved agribusiness curriculum; (3)
Provincial agency staff with enhanced
agribusiness skills and able to deliver
agribusiness training courses for smallholders;
and (4) Smallholde

rs with better agribusiness
skills and supported by more effective
provincial agencies.
2.
Approach and Methodology
2.1.
Approach
Our approach is based upon lessons learned
from the partners’ previous and current rural
development and capacity building w
orks in the
Central Regions as well as Lincoln University’s
experience in other capacity building projects.
Capacity building projects need to be based
upon a sustained program of activities. The
implementation of these activities should be
flexible to res
pond the various challenges that
arise during implementation.
CARD 0
55/04 VIE
–
Agri
-
business
65
A key part of the overall approach is to gain a
good understanding of agribusiness skills and
knowledge needs of the sector especially of
smallholders (including ethnic minorities and

women) and
the provincial extension and
service agencies. This will provide the basis for
the development of subsequent project
activities. Our overall approach has the
following features:

Development of the farm agribusiness
resource at FEDS
–
through staff trainin
g
and an associated training resource (course
curricula and notes etc);

Curricula must be based upon an
assessment of the needs of the sector
stakeholders;

Project inputs are phased to allow ideas
and concepts to be absorbed;

Facilitation of FEDS project l
eadership
through mentoring by Lincoln University
(LU);

Linkages with rural development
initiatives in the Central Region.
The project’s communication strategy will

ensure that the target groups and stakeholders
are regularly updated on project activities.
2.2.
Methodology
The project methodology consists of:

Training of FEDS staff in applied research
approaches and farm agribusiness
methods;

Pilot survey of farm agribusiness needs of
Thua Thien Hue province
–
farmers,
service sectors etc;

Survey of the o
ther three project provinces;

Analysis of data gathered and development
of farm agribusiness training courses for
stakeholders;

Delivery of training courses
–
developing
master farm agribusiness trainers in the
provincial extension staff of Department of
A
griculture and Rural Development

(DARD);

Development of the FEDS agribusiness
curriculum;

Presentation of findings at regular
seminars and workshops as well as through
publications.
The original methodology has been modified. It
was decided by both partne
rs to make the
survey of Thua Thien Hue province into a pilot
study before committing significant staff and
financial resources to the survey of the 3 other
provinces. The survey method and results were
evaluated in association with Lincoln
University staf
f in November 2005. This
evaluation included a workshop and as result
the surveys in the other 3 provinces were
modified.
3.
Research results and discussions
According to the objectives and methodology of
the project, activities classified into 4 areas:
i)
building capacity for FEDS staff in research
and training about agribusiness; ii) Training
need assessment (TNA) about agribusiness of
extension staff and farmers of 4 target

provinces Nghe An, Thua
Thien Hue, Quang
Ngai, and Kon T
um; iii) Developing tr
aining
modules; and iv) Delivering training modules
for farmers and extension staff and TOT.
Project has gained main achievements as
follows:
3
.1
Improving FEDS staff capacity in
research and training
In Viet Nam, Agribusiness is still a new
concept and f
ield. So far, very few universities
have Bachelor training program in agribusiness.
In addition, most of training programs for
extension staff and farmers delivered by
organizations in provinces have focused on the
technical aspect of agricultural producti
ons.
Therefore, most of extension staff lack of skills
and knowledge of agribusiness. Hence,
improving FEDS staff capacity in research and
training is one of the most important objectives
of the project. FEDS as a training unit, where
supply human resource
having skills and
knowledge about agribusiness for DARDs,

organizations and companies… that is way in
order to transfer skills and knowledge on
agribusiness into farmers. The following are
main activities of the project to gain this
objective.
Mai Van Xuan,
Sandra Martin & Stewart Pittaway
66
3.
1
.1
Deve
loping agribusiness curriculum
in the FEDS is an important issue
The study visit to Lincoln University, New
Zealand (February 2006) was an important
capacity building activity that occurred just
prior to the reporting period. The FEDS staff
that joined the
visit have learned much
knowledge and skills in agribusiness analysis,
curriculum and training course design and
training methods. They had a good chance to
visit farms and cooperatives activities in New
Zealand. Thanks to Lincoln University experts’
atte
ntions, the FEDS training curriculum was
revised and amended better.
3
.1.2

Carrying out training courses on
agribusiness
Many seminars, training workshops on the
several areas such as supply chain, value chain,
farm management; case study; cooperative
act
ive models were hold for FEDS staff.
Professors of Lincoln University have provided
invaluable lessons and experiences. Based on
the training courses, FEDS staff conducted
more than 30 case studies in 4 target provinces,
undertaken supply chain and valu
e chain
analyses.
These researches (case studies and supply chain
analysis) focused on key agricultural products
such as Pigs, Fish, Vegetable (in lowland
area); Rubber, Coffee, Banana, Sugar cane
(upland area); Shrimp, Rice, Pig (costal area)
or
main agribusiness activities of households.
These activities aimed to improve research
capacity in agribusiness, understanding better
farmer roles, relationship between farmers and
cooperatives, and rural market. FEDS staff have
been sent to study master
or PhD programs in
abroad, especially 3 staff have studied PhD on
Agribusiness at Lincoln University; more than
200 students took Bachelor degree in this area.

3.1.3
Research activities and publicity
FEDS staff have conducted many province and
ministry
projects, many papers have been
published on domestic and international
journals related to agribusiness area (more than
40 papers in which 30 in domestic and 10 in
international journals); participated in several
international conferences.
Developing s
kills and knowledge on
agribusiness for FEDS staff is among of
important achievements. Many FEDS staff are
invited to be consultants on agribusiness and
rural development for DARDs in recent years,
they have been conducting more than 15
consultancy contrac
ts and 9 projects funded by
international organizations.
Working with Lincoln University experts, 4
training modules for extension staff and farmers
have been completed, including: i) Training
farmer: course design and training methods; ii)
Farm analysis
; iii) Marketing and supply chain
analysis; iv) Farm agribusiness planning. These
training modules have been developed into 2
level, level 1 for extension staff and level 2 for
farmers. Thanks to good cooperation and

relations with DARDs of the target prov
inces
and Lincoln University experts the training
modules meet to extension staff and farms
demands and impact significantly in capacity
building for them in agribusiness area.
Obviously, these are first training materials for
extension staff and farmers i
n Vietnam on
agribusiness that were designed and prepared
systematically. These materials were considered
positively by Provincial DARDs and NGOs and
especially the Australian Ambassador to Hanoi.
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55/04 VIE
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-
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67
In brief, the project have impacted a
nd
improved significantly FEDS staff capacity on
the aspects:
-
Methodology on agribusiness,
developing training curriculum,
improving skills and knowledge on
agribusiness;
-

Carrying out researches and
publishing;
-
Conducting projects with provinces
and inter
national organizations;
-
Being
consultancy
in the field.
3.2
Improve skills and knowledge on
agribusiness for extension staff
In fact, extension staff of DARDs have been
well organized and well operated in long time.
Obviously, extension staff is an impor
tant
bridge that transfer skills and knowledge of
agribusiness to farmers. We carried out the
training need assessment of extension staff and
farmers in order to know their demands about
skills and knowledge of agribusiness. Based on
the survey results, we
developed 4 training
modules as mentioned above. Extension staff
of 4 target provinces have participated on
seminars, training workshops, conducted case
studies, built up farm agribusiness planning
with FEDS staff. In addition, they attended
many training

courses that delivered by FEDS
staff. Especially, the project has trained a core
group of 6
-
8 extension staff in each province.
These persons were sufficiently provided with
training materials and systematically trained so
that they have been able to cond
uct training
courses for other extension staff and farmers
(TOT
–
training of trainer). The training
method bought significantly results and was
well recognized as another important
achievement of the project. In total 78 training
courses for extension sta
ff and farmers with
more than 3000 participants, there were 45
courses delivered by FEDS staff and 33
courses delivered by extension staff. Recently,
though the project have completed, training
courses are still delivered for farmers by TOTs
of provincial
DARDs. All target provinces
have joined to adapt training modules to meet
their farmers and extension staff demands.
3.3
Enhancing smallholders’ access
to Agribusiness

This is one of the important goals of the
project. The project has provided farmers
with
Mai Van Xuan,
Sandra Martin & Stewart Pittaway
68
agri
-
business skills to help them estimate
resources, to analyse supply chain and to
design production plans. More than 3000
farmer participations, in which 25% of them
were women, around 3% were ethnic
minorities, were trained to become more
busines
s
-
minded. Farmers interviewed by
CARD evaluation team reported that through
making production plan and supply chain
analysis, they could calculate net benefit of
their production and know how to invest in
their businesses. Farmers trained by the
Agribiz pr
oject are now more capable in
controlling their farming systems as well as
their enterprises and gain more stable incomes.
The project also selected 12 farm households
(three households per province)
–

to establish
project’s models. The project not only
p
rovided them with training courses on agri
-
business analysis, marketing/supply chain
analysis and agri
-
business planning for
households, but also frequently supplied
consultation services to farmers to guide them
how to make appropriate decisions in
produc
tion investment and product marketing.
All farmers conducting project’s model
expressed that they understood the benefits
from formulating production and agri
-
business
plans. They have already applied the
knowledge from these training courses into
their pr
oduction and gained some
achievements. Especially, the Australia
Ambassador to Hanoi, who visited the project
management board and interviewed directly
farmers who were trained by the project,
highly appreciated the project positive
influences on farmer li
velihood.

4
.
Lessons learned
Several lessons have been learnt over the
course of the implementation of the Agribiz
project. The Agribiz project was the first major
bilateral donor project undertaken by the
FEDS where it worked closely with an
overseas in
stitutional partner. Lessons from the
Agribiz include:
4.1
Project organization and
management
The project management board have
constructed project strategies, managements
and close collaboration with stakeholders such
as Lincoln University, CARD program
,
provincial DARDs… so that project activities
have well conducted and managed .
4.2
Building good relationships with
Partners
–
Lincoln University and
CARD program
FEDS and LU developed a close working
relationship and were able to meet regularly to
re

view progresses and revise the work program
as required. The project received due attentions
from LU experts and CARD program. During
the project duration, LU experts implemented
more than 25 visits to FEDS, leaders of 2
universities visited each other and
worked
together and the MOU between two
universities have been signed. The CARD
PMU had visits and working with the agribiz
PMU. Especially, the project has received
deeply concerns of the Australia Ambassador
to Hanoi. Thank to these good relationships,
many issues arose during the course of the
project implementation have discussed and
promptly responded to.
4.3
Importance of relationships with
Provincial Agencies
It commonly observes that a lack of support by
provincial agencies in many ODA projects i
n
Vietnam contributes to poor development
outcomes. FEDS has established relationships
with DARD and other agencies in each
province. These relationships were very strong
and professional that have facilitated solid
support at the provincial level and cont
ributed
significantly to the successes of the project

activities in each province.
Agribiz also had a wide scope involved
working in provinces from Hue to Nghe An,
Kon Tum and Quang Ngai, to which takes at
least one day travelling by road. This means
log
istic challenges and requires close liaison
with the provincial agencies. Furthermore, the
rainy season in the Central Vietnam makes it
very difficult to travelling and operations that
need to be considered in the implementation of
such projects as Agribiz
.
CARD 0
55/04 VIE
–
Agri
-
business
69
4.4
Encouraging new ideas
Agribusiness was a very new discipline and
concept for many of the FEDS staff. They
were also unfamiliar with the case study, based
upon research methodology that was used in
the provincial field work. The team working
method
was implemented to deal with this
problem and the work schedule allowed time

for the FEDS staff to review the training in the
new concepts from the LU staff before
applying the concepts. LU staff also provided
ongoing support during the implementation of
the main activities; field work, curriculum
development and preparation of training
courses. Therefore, FEDS staff have gained
knowledge and confidence to conduct project
activities.
4.5
Timing of Strategic Activities,
Flexibility in Planning and
Implement
ation
Unfavourable weather condition (wet season),
logistics and competing staff commitments all
contributed to delays in the implementation of
Agribiz activities. The Agribiz work plan was
made flexible to enable rescheduling activities
without causing ne
gative impacts on
achievement of the project objectives. Several
activities were identified as critical to the
achievement of the Agribiz objectives. These
included training of FEDS staff in
Agribusiness and survey methodology;
development of curriculum de
velopment skills;
and developing the training skills of the FEDS
staff. Considerable planning went into the

timing of these strategic activities to ensure
they were coordinated with the overall work
program. Thanks to flexibility in planning and
implementa
tion; timing of strategic activities
and supporting from provincial DARDs,
project activities were carried out successfully.
5
T
owards the future
-
orientation
activities
With achievements of the Agribiz, in the
future, FEDS will focus on several main
mi
ssions as
the following
:
5.1
Incessantly enhancing teaching
and research capacity is the most
important mission of FEDS

Through Agribiz project, 3 lecturers
have been admitted to pursue PhD in
Agribusiness in Lincoln University,
New Zealand;

Through the

WB project, it has been
arranged to send lecturers to pursue
Masters and PhD studies abroad; and
promote research exchange with other
universities;

Enhance training curriculum; update
and supplement course content,
materials;

Renovate teaching and evalua
tion
methods.
5.2
Intensify international cooperation

Strengthen collaboration with Lincoln
University, NZ (invite experts to give
lectures and do research exchange, send
staffs to LU to study…);

Build up advanced program in
cooperation with University o
f Sydney,
Australia; This project funded by
Vietnam Government from 2010
-
2017.
This program aims at training bachelor
degree in agricultural economic

–
Finance having high quality;

Strengthen research collaboration with
other international universities an
d
organizations (MICRODIC, EEPSEA,
IUCN ).
5.3
Collaborate
with localities in
transferring
technological
scientific achievements

Complete and publish training modules
for extension staffs and farmers of the
Central provinces;

Continue to transfer the p
roject’s
achievements to the provinces through
training courses of HCE (short
-
term
training, in
-
service training…);
Mai Van Xuan,
Sandra Martin & Stewart Pittaway

70

Conduct consultant services, especially
in agro
-
product marketing and training
courses as requested by localities.
6
.
C
onclusions
All obje
ctives of the Agribiz project have been
successfully implemented. All expected
outputs have been produced. Agribusiness
capacity has been built for its target
beneficiaries: HCE, DARD and small holders
of the four provinces of Nghe An, Thua Thien
Hue, Kon
Tum and Quang Ngai. The project
has created good opportunities for FEDS to
improve its capacity and make collaboration
with domestic and international organizations.
The project’s achievements are partly due to
the effective cooperation of DARDs, relate
d
agencies as well as farmers in the 4 provinces;
New Zealand experts, the Management Board
of CARD program, HCE and teachers of
FEDS.

With such achievements, it is hopeful that
FEDS will enhance and promote fruitful
collaborations with other domestic and
foreign
partners in the near future and seize
opportunities to become one of the leading
teaching and training center in Viet Nam.