“VietFarm Standards Training” and “TOT on Capacity Building for Local Officials on Monitoring and Improving Farming Methods” Class

On March 26, 2024, the Center for Development and Integration (CDI) successfully organized the training course “VietFarm Standards Training" and the class “TOT on Capacity Building for Local Officials on Monitoring and Improving Farming Methods" in coordination with the Agricultural Service Center of Kinh Mon district, Hai Duong province. The event was held within the framework of the project “Promoting Agricultural Food Value Chains and Market Access for Small Producers in Vietnam (Phase 2)," which is supported by Irish Aid.

Over 50 students from agricultural production and service cooperatives in Kinh Mon district, as well as officials and experts from the Agricultural Service Center of Kinh Mon district, participated in the training course. The training aimed to improve the understanding of the VietFarm Standards System, a sustainable voluntary standard system applied in farming and animal husbandry for small producers in Vietnam. The instructors analyzed and studied ten core values to identify new development directions for agricultural products in Vietnam, particularly in Kinh Mon district.

Theset of standards emphasized moving towards Quality, Responsibility, Fairness, and Sustainability, which are the core factors to increase market competitiveness for agricultural products that meet quality, environmental, and societal standards. During the training, the Bach Dang clean agriculturalproduct production and trading cooperative, headed by Mr. Nguyen Van Thuan,registered for the cooperative to pilot VietFarm standards for milk and grape products in his Bach Dang commune.

The training covered topics on monitoring agricultural production practices through EGAP software. The students learned how to distinguish between QR codes for information retrieval and QR codes fortraceability of origin, as well as the practice of daily recording. Electronic signature integration was also included in this software.

Innovative farming methods were clearly explained by instructors through practical illustrations, such as the Cloning EM and Trichoderma biomass, as well as antagonistic fungi for laboratory applications. These methods are used to organically eliminate plant diseases while minimizing the use of toxic chemicals.

At the end of the training course, the students were very excited because they had acquired a lot of useful knowledge. In the coming time, the Center for Development and Integration (CDI) is expected to continue to accompany Kinh Mon District Agricultural Service Center and Cooperatives to build the district into a model unit, applying scientific and technical advances, such as using microorganisms in the production of fertilizers and biological pesticides on site, to reduce the harmful effects of inorganic fertilizers and commercial pesticides.