The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) will work with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to implement a four-year project which aims to raise the output and quality of plants.
The project, starting from this year, has a total investment capital of 3.46 million USD, with 3.31 million USD in non-refundable aid coming from the Japanese side.
According to the MARD, the project will focus on improving management capacity in the cultivation sector, in such areas as plant variety protection and the production of safe plants in a bid to meet Vietnam’s commitments to related international treaties.
It also aims to set up a plant variety protection system to meet the requirements of integration and fulfill tasks set for members of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) in 2016.
It will also improve the management system of plant production from the central to grassroots levels, while raising public awareness of food safety.
The project will firstly give priority to the assessment of application form registration for plant variety protection and work on measures to test the distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) of plants which are compatible with international standards and introduced to the National Centre for Plant and Fertilizer Testing as well as other testing centres.
Under the project, technicians in charge of guiding farmers to produce safe plants in cities and provinces, including Quang Ninh, Hung Yen, Ha Nam, Hai Phong, Thai Binh and Hoa Binh, will be chosen for capacity improvement./.