F2F Business Model on Rice Straw Compost for Green Innovation Centres in the Agriculture and Food Sector in Vietnam

The module objective is: Innovations in the agriculture and food sector have contributed to sustainable rural development in selected rural regions. The Vietnam country package (GIC) is part of the global project “Green Innovation Centres in the Agricultural and Food Sector” of the BMZ special initiative “ONE WORLD without Hunger” (SEWoH). It is carried out in six central provinces of the Mekong Delta, the so-called “core rice belt,” which consists of 20 districts in An Giang, Dong Thap, Can Tho, Kien Giang, Hau Giang, and Soc Trang. The core element is the ability of smallholder farms, upstream and downstream companies in the value chain (VC) rice, and the complementary VC mango to use income-, employment- and quality increasing innovations in a climate-intelligent and resilient way. The project lasts four years and nine months (from 06/2019 to 03/2024).

The broad-scale adoption of well-established innovations is crucial to achieving the core objectives of increased revenues, improved product quality, and climate resilience. These innovations focus primarily on enabling compliance of farmers and other actors along the rice VC with the novel international food standards and labels. Individual farmers, farmer groups, and cooperatives are perceived as important intermediaries to provide or facilitate access to services.

Rice straw management is the most critical aspect of the rice VC in the Mekong Delta. Green Innovation Center Vietnam aims to create innovations in rice straw management in both technical and economic interventions. In 2021, on behalf of BMZ, in cooperation with MARD/CPMU/PPMUs of GIC Vietnam, GIZ are supporting 04 cooperatives in 04 provinces An Giang, Dong Thap, Can Tho, and Kien Giang, to receive the modern model of compost turner machine, aimed to produce the rice straw compost at cooperative level and enlarge the products to vertical horizontal to other agriculture sectors such as high demand fruits and vegetable productions.