Up to 1.5 million households in the Mekong Delta provinces of An Giang, Kien Giang, and Dong Thap will receive training on the adoption of sustainable rice-farming practices and rice quality improvement, as part of a project kick-started on Wednesday.

The sustainable rice value chain project, budgeted at more than AU$5 million (US$3.15 million), is jointly implemented by the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and SunRice, one of Australia’s largest branded food exporters, on one million hectares of paddy fields, where some 1.5 million households are farming.

Choosing the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) method, the two sides also collaborate with An Giang University under the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho University, and the Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute.

The project implementation will last until 2025.

Its goal is to encourage cooperatives and groups of rice farmers in An Giang, Kien Giang, and Dong Thap to apply standards of sustainable production practices during the use of fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation to enhance rice value and reduce costs, according to a SunRice representative.

As per the project, an advanced center for milling and post-harvest processing and a rice quality inspection unit will be established.

Rice farmers and farming-related public workers can visit the advanced center for training and more updates on sustainable rice-farming practices and rice quality improvement.

Speaking at the launching ceremony in Dong Thap on Wednesday, Senator Tim Ayres, Assistant Minister for Trade and Assistant Minister for Manufacturing of Australia, said that Vietnam, the third-largest rice exporter in the world, and Australia share many similarities and can learn from each other for more efficient and sustainable rice production.

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