The government of New Zealand has funded a 4 million USD project to
reinvigorate agriculture in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang in
the 2013- 2018 period.
New Zealand Ambassador to Vietnam
Haike Manning said the project was financed by the New Zealand Aid
Programme, a partnership between New Zealand’s Plant for Food Research
and Vietnam’s Southern Horticulture Research Institute (SOFRI) and
Sub-Institute for Agriculture Engineering and Postharvest Technology
(SIAEP).
The project aims to apply new technology and advanced
production processes in dragon fruit production to generate higher
income for local farmers, and small and medium traders, particularly in
the cultivation area of Cho Gao.
After the first year of
implementation, the project has achieved substantial results, breeding a
new variety of dragon fruit and developing best practices for
production, post-harvest and marketing models to increase revenue for
local farmers.
Within the framework of the project, SOFRI has
cooperated closely with scientific organistations and local stakeholders
in implementing a number of measures, including monitoring seasonal
diseases that affect dragon fruit, organising training courses on crop
varieties, boosting sustainable production, and applying advanced
technology and methods in post-harvestand marketing with a view to
exporting to New Zealand.-VNA