The event was attended by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Vo Van Hung, First Secretary for German Development Cooperation at the German Embassy Jens Schmid-Kreye, and leaders from the provinces of An Giang, Dong Thap, Can Tho, Hau Giang, Kien Giang, and Soc Trang.
The GIC Vietnam project is part of the "Green Innovation Centers" program for agriculture and food, under the global initiative "One World – No Hunger," funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and implemented by GIZ in 15 countries across Africa and Asia.
With a total investment of 7 million euros, GIC Vietnam provides technical assistance from the German Government and is jointly implemented by GIZ, the Department of Cooperative Economy and Rural Development, and six provinces and cities, including An Giang, Dong Thap, Can Tho, Hau Giang, Kien Giang, and Soc Trang.
The project focuses on two key agricultural value chains—rice and mango. It aims to help smallholder farmers increase their income, create jobs, and strengthen the resilience of these value chains through competitive business models while reducing environmental impact.
At the conference, participants agreed that after more than four years of implementation (2021–2025), the project has delivered significant and meaningful results. It has fostered innovation by introducing advanced solutions for farmers, particularly in the rice value chain. These include sustainable rice farming, alternating wetting and drying irrigation, maximum residue level management, integrated pest management, organic rice production in shrimp-rice systems, and straw management.
Through the GIC project, more than 20,000 farmers have gained access to knowledge on innovation, different technologies and practices in rice and mango cultivation. As a result, rice production models have achieved notable improvements: water consumption has decreased by 28 percent, chemical fertilizer use has been reduced by 8.6 percent, and greenhouse gas emissions have dropped by 63 percent compared to traditional farming methods. The number of rice-farming households meeting the European Union's pesticide residue standards has increased by 21 percent. Evaluations also show that households adopting innovations promoted by the project have seen an average profit increase of 8–11 percent compared to those that have not.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the lessons learned and innovations from the GIC project will serve as valuable tools for restructuring Vietnam’s agricultural sector. In the near term, they will contribute directly to key agricultural initiatives, particularly the "Sustainable Development of One Million Hectares of High-Quality, Low-Emission Rice Linked to Green Growth in the Mekong Delta by 2030" project.
