Viet Nam Farmers’ Union and IFAD country office in Viet Nam renew their agreement in support of farmers

During the first phase of the MTCP, an agreement was signed between IFAD and the Viet Nam Farmers’ Union (VNFU) and implemented from 2010 to 2015. This first term was successful in developing models of cooperation groups and cooperatives, building value chains, developing the capacity of farmers and staff, and strengthening VNFU’s participation in policy formulation and feedback.

With the advent of MTCP2, it was a logical step to sign a new, more ambitious agreement. This agreement aims to build the capacity of VNFU staff and members at all levels, in four areas:

• Policy formulation, including research and studies that will aid in lobbying relevant authorities regarding policies that will suit the aspirations of farmers;
• Training and capacity-building in business planning, marketing, value chain development and management, and other topics;
• Implementation of the activities of the IFAD country programme, such as market orientation, developing value chains, sustainable agricultural models, services in agriculture and rural areas; and
• Development of producers’ groups to provide economic services to their members, which include cooperatives and rural small enterprises, replicating and multiplying cooperative models, and participation in building rural cooperative economies together with relevant partners in the value chains and developing public-private partnership models.

At the signing ceremony, Lai Xuan Mon, VNFU President, affirmed that the signing of the second phase with IFAD country director Henning Pedersen, on 12 September 2016 would open a new chapter in the good cooperation between the two sides. The new agreement would also create favourable conditions for Vietnamese farmers through the driving force of capital, knowledge and skills for their production. Farmers would learn how to forecast for production and marketing; how to access markets and add value to their products; and how to move towards integration with farmers both in Asia and elsewhere in the world.

The new agreement came into effect in 2016 and will continue until 2020.

The Medium Term Cooperation Program Phase 2 (MTCP2), a five-year capacity building program supported by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and European Union (EU), has been implemented in 19 countries across 3 sub-regions—Southeast Asia, South Asia, Pacific—engaging 1,544 sub-national farmer organizations with total membership of around 22 million women and men farmers. The funding support (total budget of $ 5 Million for whole duration of project across 19 countries) serves as a catalytic fund that will allow FOs to enhance their capacity to be effective channels of economic services to farmers. The program thus far have contributed to the formation of strong national platform of Farmers’ Organization with improved capacity to engage in policy processes and mobilize resources from mainstream agricultural development programs like extension services, credit and pre and post harvest facilities. the program also helped in transforming farmers association into commodity-based cooperatives to strengthen the role of the small-scale farmers within an inclusive and sustainable value-chain. The program is being implemented by the consortium Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) and La Via Campesina (LVC).