On the morning of April 16, in Hanoi, the Inception Workshop for the project “Empowering Small-Scale Farmers through Harmonizing the Organic PGS Network in Vietnam” (ESUP) took place. Chairman of the Vietnam Organic Agriculture Association (VOAA), Ha Phuc Mich, presided over the workshop.
Promoting organic agricultural products to international friends
The role of PGS for smallholder farmers
Delivering his opening speech at the workshop, Mr. Pham Minh Duc, Vice President of VOAA, informed that: The Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) is a certification system developed by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) to control agricultural products produced by smallholder farmers.
Since its initiation by IFOAM in 2004 stemming from farmer movements in Latin America and Europe, PGS has been adopted in 77 countries with 235 PGS initiatives established across both developed and developing countries as a pathway to help smallholder farmers connect their products to the market.
According to Mr. Duc, the PGS system in Vietnam was established in 2009 under the framework of the "Organic Agriculture Development in Vietnam" project, jointly implemented by ADDA Denmark and the Vietnam Farmers' Union; currently, PGS adoption is encouraged by the Government through Decree No. 109/2018/ND-CP.
Currently, numerous local organic production PGS models have emerged across the country. VOAA has proposed an initiative to connect PGS groups nationwide into a unified network to support development and ensure that these PGS systems operate in accordance with PGS core values, while adapting to the specific conditions of each locality.
“After 2 years of work on developing the concept and drafting the proposal, the ESUP project proposal was completed and approved by CISU (Denmark's civil society development fund),” Mr. Duc said.
Speaking with Mr. Soren Thorndal Jorgensen, Chairman of ADDA Denmark, and delegates attending the workshop, VOAA President Ha Phuc Mich stated that Vietnamese organic agriculture has actively integrated with global trends. The issuance of Decree 109/2018 and the Scheme on Organic Agriculture Development in Vietnam for the 2020–2030 period (Scheme 885) has contributed significantly to driving organic agriculture forward in Vietnam.
“To date, more than 50 provinces and cities nationwide have organic agricultural production models, and more than 20 provinces have implemented policies to promote local organic agriculture following the issuance of Decree 109 and Project 885,” Chairman Ha Phuc Mich shared.
Establish the national PGS network
At the workshop, Mr. Soren Thorndal Jorgensen, Chairman of ADDA Denmark, shared: In 1999, ADDA began operating in Vietnam with a vegetable project in Hanoi. In 2000, it started developing an organic project with the Vietnam Farmers' Union. In 2004, Danida approved the organic project with a budget of 2 million USD. In 2011, the Vietnam Organic Agriculture Association was established. In 2012, the organic project concluded.
A new organic project with VOAA was implemented over 3 years (2016 – 2019), funded by CISU. Currently, the ESUP project has been approved and implemented over 3 years (2022 – 2024), funded by CISU, continuing in partnership with the Vietnam Organic Agriculture Association. Hanoi, Ha Nam, Hoa Binh, Tuyen Quang, Thua Thien Hue, Hoi An (Quang Nam), and Ben Tre are the participating localities in the project.
The project strives to unify 6 localities in Vietnam into a national organic PGS network before December 31, 2024; members of the network will expand their agricultural business operations to gain greater market access.
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