Ha Noi, Viet Nam - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) co-organized the inception workshop of a four-year project (2021-2025) “Smart Farming for the Future Generation”.

The workshop is to discuss project intervention framework and workplan with the participation of representatives from FAO, MARD, Fruit and Vegetable Research Institute, Son La province and other stakeholders who will be involved in the project implementation.

Viet Nam and Uzbekistan are beneficiaries of the project with a total budget of USD 3.4 million granted by the Republic of Korea. Interventions will support creating an enabling environment through the development of capacity and policy for green house cultivation of fresh vegetables.

In Viet Nam, the project targets Son La – one of the poorest provinces with high ethnic minority rate but great potential for high added value vegetables. Farmers and other actors along the value chain, including the post-harvest handling and marketing will have opportunities to benefit. The project will deliver three key outputs: 1) Protected production systems for different vegetables and locations optimized; 2) Post-harvest practices and market linkages for different vegetables and locations optimized; and 3) National capabilities on greenhouse production and post-harvest management of vegetables are enhanced.