AVRDC-ARC - Human Resource Development Project for the Mekong Region and China

• Forschungsstelle: DEZA
• Projektnummer: 7F-02700.04
• Projekttitel Englisch: AVRDC-ARC - Human Resource Development Project for the Mekong Region and China

Schlüsselwörter (Deutsch)

AVRDC
ARC
The Asian Regional Centre of Asian Vegetable Research and Development Centre, Bangkok - Thailand
Human Resource Development Project for the Mekon Region and China
Tropenlandwirtschaft
Entwicklungshilfe
Erwachsenenbildung, ständige Weiterbildung
Gesellschaftliche Strukturen und Beziehungen - Beziehungen zum Ausland

Kurzbeschreibung (Englisch)

1.             Summary

 

In line with the poverty reduction strategies developed by Mekong Region countries and SDC's Mekong Region Programme 2, phase 4 of the AVRDC-ARC HRD project is re-oriented towards clearer impact on poverty reduction and will have an emphasis on remote rural and upland areas of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia. The orientation on training and research will remain, but the project will focus its outputs on poor farmers in these areas. This implies stronger research extension linkages, a greater focus on women as the main vegetable growers and sellers, and assessment of income and vegetable consumption by rural households. Cambodia has been added as partner country as needs for support are important and the political situation has now stabilised.

 

The Project Goal is to increase income from vegetable production and consumption of vegetables by farming households in upland and remote areas of Vietnam, Lao PDR and Cambodia.

The Objectives are:

to increase capacities of researchers and of the 5 national partner institutions to conduct relevant, need-based vegetable research for farmers in upland and remote areas;

to increase capacities of selected agricultural extension institutions to define and use improved vegetable production, processing and marketing techniques and deliver need-based effective extension services

to benefit male and female farmers in upland and remote areas through improved vegetable, processing and marketing techniques imparted by lead farmers.

to strengthen institutional knowledge and information sharing on vegetable production, processing and marketing for poor areas of the Mekong region.

 

The project will operate in the domain of training, research and extension, and will employ problem-solving approaches to improving vegetable production and services provided to the grassroots level. The project beneficiaries will include: (i) poor farmers and consumers in upland and remote rural areas of Vietnam, Lao PDR and Cambodia; and (ii) researchers, extension staff and lead farmers who will benefit from training, technical support and better knowledge. Information and knowledge sharing and electronic networking among countries and NARS will be improved. Co-ordination with other on-going project and the private sector will be enhanced and management capacities of the national partner institutions strengthened. To measure outcomes such as farmers' incomes from vegetable production and vegetable consumption rates in the project areas, and outcome on human resources and institutional capacities, the project will strengthen its internal monitoring. An in-depth Impact Assessment Study will be carried out in 2006.

 

The project continues to be managed by the Asian Vegetable Research Development Center – Asian Regional Center (AVRDC-ARC) in Thailand. Phase four will run for four years from April 2003 to March 2007. It will be implemented in collaboration with 5 National Agriculture Research Systems partner institutions in 3 countries (3 in Vietnam, 1 in Lao PDR and 1 in Cambodia).

 

SDC's contribution to AVRDC-ARC HRD program will be CHF 2,462'000 over the four-year period April 2003 to March 2007.

Projektziele (Englisch)

1.             Goals and Objectives

 

3.1 Goals

Development Goal: Poverty reduced and nutritional status improved for farming households in the poorest rural areas in Vietnam, Lao PDR, and Cambodia.

 

It is not expected that the project alone will be capable of achieving this goal. However, it is assumed that increased vegetable production for sale and home consumption amongst participating households will contribute to reducing poverty and improving nutritional status in the project target areas.   

 

Project Goal: Increased income from vegetable production and consumption of vegetables by farming households in upland and remote areas of Vietnam, Lao PDR and Cambodia.

 

In assessing progress towards achieving the Project Goal, project monitoring and impact assessment will track two main indicators: (i) net incomes from vegetable sale amongst project area households (with the expectation that this should increase two-fold by 2006); and (ii) vegetable consumption by project area households.

 

3.2 Project Objectives

With the aim of strengthening human resources and institutional capacities to deliver problem-solving approaches to vegetable research and extension, particularly in the poorest rural parts of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and in the wider Mekong Region, the specific objectives are:

 

1.       To increase capacities of researchers and of the 5 national partner institutions to conduct relevant, need-based vegetable research for farmers in upland and remote areas;

2.       To increase capacities of selected agricultural extension institutions to define and use improved vegetable production, processing and marketing techniques and deliver need-based effective extension services

3.       To benefit male and female farmers in uplands and remote areas from improved vegetable, processing and marketing techniques imparted by lead farmers.

4.      To strengthen institutional knowledge and information sharing on vegetable production, processing and marketing for poor areas of the Mekong region.

Abstract (Englisch)

2.1 Official Development Policies

The governments of Vietnam, Lao PDR and Cambodia have recently completed their medium- and long-term development plans. These have been welcomed by the international community because of their focus on reducing rural poverty. In particular in Vietnam and Laos these plans include specific targets for improvement of livelihoods and agricultural production in remote upland areas. The general plans for agricultural development include various modernisation strategies and strengthening of marketing, processing and export of vegetables and fruits.

 

2.2 Re-orientation of Phase IV AVRDC-HRD

SDC's Mekong Region Program II (2001-2006) has a strong poverty focus, aiming at improvement of the livelihoods of the poor in upland areas. In accordance with this, the AVRDC-HRD Project is re-oriented towards clearer impact on poverty reduction. Phase IV will have an emphasis on remote rural and upland areas. The orientation on training and research will remain, but the project will also increasingly focus on achieving tangible outputs at the level of poor female and male farmers in these areas. This implies stronger research-extension linkages, and a greater focus on women producers because they are often the main vegetable growers and sellers.

 

AVRDC-HRD phase IV will change in geographical coverage in comparison to phase III: Cambodia will be added as this country has strong needs for support in capacity development and vegetable production and the political situation is quite stable now in comparison to the past. Furthermore, this allows the AVRDC-HRD project to fully complement two other AVRDC projects operating in Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam (C, L, V) namely the CLV-Net project supported by ADB (which emphasises research), and the French supported peri-urban vegetable production project. In view of the need and scope for vegetable production in Myanmar and North Korea, in-country training has been added for the former and admission of students to the Regional Training Course (RTC) for the latter. The situation in China, who was a partner in phase three, is now relatively satisfactory as the country has means and capacities of its own. It was therefore felt that funds would be more appropriately used to support Cambodia. Chinese partners will however continue to collaborate with AVRDC-HRD project but as providers of expertise.

 

2.3 Current Problems and Needs in the Vegetable Sector

In 2001, the vegetable sector was analysed in depth in a special study commissioned by AVRDC-ARC. The study suggests that average vegetable consumption in the region is under the internationally accepted norm. However, it needs to be pointed out that the study focused primarily on lowland and peri-urban areas, which are more populated areas in which vegetable production and consumption are highest, and where the project has so far focused its attention.

 

Planning for the AVRDC-HRD Project Phase IV included a further analysis of the problems and needs of vegetable growers, vegetable consumers, and supporting institutions with a view to have a greater impact in the more remote areas, particularly in the uplands. This study shows that small markets for vegetables do exist in these areas and that poor rural dwellers can be motivated to grow more vegetables for home consumption and sale if appropriate vegetable varieties and technologies are introduced. However, promoting improvements in vegetable production systems and vegetable consumption in remote rural and upland areas brings with it a number of particular challenges that will be addressed by the project:

 

·         A lack of professional technicians and extension staff who are able to implement in-country training courses and work with farmers in on-farm trials in uplands or remote lowlands.

·         Inadequate capacities of extension services for accessing poor farmers in uplands and remote rural lowland areas.

·         Poor facilities and equipment for in country training in upland areas, especially in Laos and Cambodia.

·         Limited knowledge of vegetable consumption patterns in remote, upland areas (including wild greens and vegetables collected).

·         Limited knowledge of varieties adapted to the remote upland areas.

·         A lack of management techniques that are affordable to resource poor farmers.

·         Limited irrigation sources for vegetable growing.

·         A need for strengthening marketing channels for vegetables and fruits.

·         Poor knowledge of effective seed production and multiplication.

·         A lack of national seed inspection services for vegetable growers.

Umsetzung und Anwendungen (Englisch)

1.             Results Obtained So Far

 

The main results and achievements of the project so far can be summarised as follows:

 

Overall results

·         The main pillar among the project activities since phase 1 was the 5-month Regional Training Course (RTC) for vegetable production, research, and extension. Up to end March 2003, SDC supported a total of 154 trainees, which is 33% of the total 463 trainees of the RTC. Of these 154 trainees, 33 were from China, 25 from Cambodia, 36 from Lao PDR, 18 from Myanmar and 42 from Vietnam. In addition, the project supported three research fellows for one-year research training at ARC.

·         The project has also implemented a total of 33 in-country training courses, 11 in Lao PDR, 17 in Vietnam, 3 in Cambodia, 1 in China and 1 in Myanmar. Amongst them, 4 in-country training courses were on vegetable processing and other topics at village or household level. A total of 1105 participants attended the 33 in-country training courses in which a total of over 50% women participated.

·         The project enabled the construction of training facilities and a germplasm storage room at AVRDC-ARC and the purchase of some equipment and vehicles for the RTC and stores a total of 9,056 vegetable germplasm & varieties including samples collected in Mekong Region countries. These are used for research at ARC and also by various agricultural research and extension organisations in the countries of the region. In 2001, AVRDC-ARC distributed a total of 1,605 packets of germplasm samples to NARS in the Mekong Region and China. The project also supported the publication of technical reports, and the development of a regional web site at AVRDC-ARC.

·         The project started with a participatory planning process with NARS in China, Vietnam and Lao PDR on national research and development priorities. The mid-term review in 2001 recommended some changes in coordination at national levels and the curriculum of the RTC.

 

Some specific results on country levely

·         The Vietnamese partners evaluated and officially released more than 10 new varieties of tomato, Chinese cabbage, yardlong bean, mungbean and chilli peppers. Three technical guidebooks were translated into Vietnamese and published. They also introduced new technologies such as grafting of watermelon on pumpkins to control soil-borne diseases. Local seed production of leek in Hue was one of the outputs of the project with high impact.

·         The Lao PDR partners introduced some new technologies such as mulching and vegetable growing on raised beds, which led to better income of adopter-farmers. A technical guidebook was translated into the Lao language, and published. They also released parasitic insects to control diamondback moth, which is the most serious insect on cruciferous vegetables. After the release many farmers decreased chemical pesticide spraying to less than half.

·         11 partners from China (i.e. Department for Science & Education of the Ministry of Agriculture and others from the National Agriculture Research System) evaluated and released a number of new varieties: 2 tomato, 1 chilli pepper, Chinese cabbage, mungbean and soyabean thus increasing the area of production and yields harvested. They also developed a virus-free gene bank of garlic germplasm.