A recent fair showcases safe agricultural products in Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo Xuân Quảng

HÀ NỘI — A project to strengthen safe agricultural value chains in northern localities has been jointly launched by the National Agricultural Extension Centre (NAEC) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The project costs US$3 million and is funded by Japan's non-refundable official development assistance (ODA). It will be implemented from 2022 to 2026, covering seven northern provinces of Hà Nội, Hà Nam, Hưng Yên, Hải Dương, Bắc Ninh, Nam Định and Sơn La.

Addressing a workshop to launch the project in Hà Nội this week, NAEC Director Lê Quốc Thanh said it aims to improve the quality of farm produce and ensure their food safety meeting Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) standards, enhancing the competitiveness of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables in the region and the world.

As part of efforts to give technical support to farmers, the NAEC will organise central and provincial project management units in the time to come, and send 18 officials from the units to Japan for training.

For his part, JICA Deputy Representative in Việt Nam Murooka Naomichi said that to become eligible for joining the project, each cooperative must have at least 20 members and at least one hectare of farm land.

JICA pledged to organise training courses for Vietnamese agricultural officials at all levels in carrying out the project.

This is the third project on strengthening safe farming value chains in the northern region of Việt Nam that the NAEC and the JICA have worked together on. Earlier, the two sides successfully cooperated in building fundamental GAP and making it a technical procedure for safe vegetable farming in 2014 as well as developing selling channels for safe farm produce. — VNS