Hanoi, Viet Nam– Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), represented by the Plant Protection Department (PPD), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) co-organized the inception workshop of project “Support for Development of National Strategy and Action Plan for Integrated Plant Health Management” (TCP/VIE/3802). The project will last for two years (2021-2023) with a total budget of USD 400,000 funded by FAO Technical Cooperation Programme.

The Project has been designed to support the development and roll-out of the National Plant Health Strategy (NPHS) and its National Plan for Integrated Plant Health Management (NP-IPHM) during the 2021-2025 period. Through the project, FAO will provide technical assistance to review of the NP-IPM in the previous phase (2015-2020), analysis and stock-taking of relevant global frameworks, approaches, models and good practices on plant health management. It is expected that the NPHS and renewed NP-IPHM would help comprehensively and systematically address transboundary pest and disease risks in the context of climate change and globalization; combine plant health, plant nutrition, food safety, quality and nutrition; integrate social protection and inclusive growth approaches to better assist the disadvantaged groups; contribute to environment protection, ecosystem and biodiversity conservation; and, increase competitiveness of Vietnam’s agri-food products in domestic and global markets.

“Vietnamese agriculture has experienced enormous progress in production, particularly yielding and productivity performance over the last three decades,” said Yubak, GC., FAO’s Senior Agricultural Specialist, “and the country has advanced to a major exporter of key staple foods and commodities such as rice, cashews, black pepper, coffee, cassava and fisheries. However, there are fundamental challenges facing Vietnamese agriculture, including low competitiveness, pest and diseases, environmental unsustainability and climate change. Food safety, chemical and antibiotic residues, and quality concerns are common barriers for Vietnamese agro-food products to enter into standardized markets. Intensive farming, mono-cropping, chemical overuse, soil and water contamination, and climate change are burning issues for sustainable production and marketing. We expect the plant health approach would support address these issues comprehensively to help farmers save their crops, increase income, contribute to good health and nutrition for all, and protect eco-health”, he added.

Due to the COVID-19 social distancing measures, the meeting is convened both online and physically. At the event, participants coming from government and non-governmental organizations, academia, farmers’ associations, private sector, national and international development partners, will discuss implementation plan and coordination mechanism, and elaborate on a new approach for integrated plant health management.

“In the past 25 years, FAO Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Programme in Viet Nam since 1990s has been proved as highly relevant, effective and impactful,” emphasized Dr. Nguyen Quy Duong, Deputy Director General of the PPD, “and the Government of Viet Nam has officially adopted IPM guiding principles and requirements for pest and disease management under the Law for Plant Protection and Quarantine 2013. MARD approved and put into implementation the National IPM Action Plan 2015-2020. This project will pilot a new approach, and if successful, it would help advance our plant protection systems”.

For more information, please contact:

Mr Bui Xuan Phong, Plant Protection Department, MARD. Email : [email protected];
Mr. Hoang Van Tu, FAO National Programme Officer for Food Systems. Email: [email protected]