Korea - Vietnam cooperate to improve the rice value chain in Red River Delta

Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Korean Rural Community Corporation (KRC) signed a cooperation agreement on the project "Improving the rice value chain in the Red River Delta, Vietnam".

Accordingly, Korean Government will support Vietnam with 5 billion won, equivalent to about US$4.5 million for the master planning of agricultural development for the Red River Delta.

In addition, the project will also build and operate a pilot farming area and an Agricultural Training Center in Thai Binh province; providing capacity building for managers, extension workers, and farmers through trainings in local region and Korean. The Korean side will also provide technical assistance and supply of agricultural equipments for the operation of the pilot farm and the Agricultural Training Center; connecting with cooperatives, enterprises operating in the field of agriculture to transfer the sustainable management of the pilot farming areas and Agricultural Training Center after the end of the project.

At the signing ceremony, Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh said: Currently, the relationship between Vietnam and Korea had developed very well, strongly and effectively. Vietnam is a leading country in rice production. This project will be implemented in Thai Binh, the hometown of rice, where there is a lot of innovation and creativity in the rice industry. This is one of the activities to show comprehensive cooperation in the field of rural agriculture of Vietnam and Korea.

Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh believed that, with the efforts of stakeholders such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the People's Committee of Thai Binh Province, the Korean Rural Community Corporation, the project will create practical benefits for rice growers and become a successful agricultural development model for replication to other localities.

Previously, Korea has provided strong support to Vietnam to carry out many important projects such as the project "Capacity Building for the Central Veterinary Diagnostic Center" with a non-refundable budget of 2,800,000,000 won; Mangrove rehabilitation and development project in Thai Binh (2015 - 2024); Models of green villages and Vietnam - Korea friendship forest planting in Ninh Thuan and Quang Nam; Regional projects related to biodiversity conservation and crop improvement.

Mr. Kim In Sik, Chairman of Korean Rural Community Corporation (KRC) expects that the project would contribute to raise incomes for farmers and improve the quality of rice for Vietnam. Mr. Kim In Sik hopes that the project will be successful and become a typical project for replication in Vietnam.

Mr. Kim Insik shared: “With a long history of over 100 years of development, we believe that the experience gained by our Corporation will help Vietnam in restructuring its agricultural sector to increase added value”.

In addition to supporting research infrastructure in the field of agriculture, building models, Korea will consider supporting Vietnam to build an agricultural wholesale market in Hanoi, integrating traceability technology for consumers to have better access to clean food.