Over the past few years, tourism has been rapidly developing in Vietnam, contributing to the development of the national and local economies as well as providing opportunities for the participation and benefit of local communities. After carrying out a joint identification mission to 3 selected provinces in Vietnam - An Giang, Tien Giang and Lao Cai - VNFU formulated a 3 year proposal, in cooperation with Agriterra and SNV, with the objective of building the agro-tourism business and aiming at poverty reduction. In 2006 the project focused mainly on institutional development and awareness raising activities. In 2007-2008 product development and business promotion will be conducted. As a vulnerable group of society, women at grassroots level will certainly have great advantages to take part actively in this project. Women play a crucial role in supplying labor to a wide range of services supplying the tourism industry in Vietnam. The project shall adopt a pro-active strategy to foster the participation of women and other vulnerable groups of society such as ethnic minorities. The project will target a minimum of 50% participation of women in all training and capacity building activities.

The project was formulated in line with the recommandations of a discussion and workshop organised by the Vietnam Farmers Union (VNFU) and VUSTA concerning WTO and the consequences for the farmers in Vietnam and supported by the agri-agencies Ieder voor Allen and Agriterra (and NGO´s like SNV through the BBO Food Consortium). It was concluded that farmers in Vietnam are not yet prepared to compete in international markets due to their lack of knowledge and skills to produce in line with international food safety and quality standards. The current project aims at enhancing the capacities and skills of farmers to maintain international food safety and quality standards through: formulating and setting out standard protocols for safe and high quality food production. establishing testing facilities (for crop residues) and making them available for farmers. Capacity enhancement of farmers through the establishment of demonstration models and (farmer-to farmer) extension programmes. Dissemination of results on national level through workshops. The project will in this phase focus on a limited number of horticultural crops and be implemented in two pilot areas.

The project aims at using the network of organised farmers and selected outstanding farmers to promote improved agricultural systems and techniques in order to raise the income and livelihood of rural people. The activities are linked to the national policy of reforming the agricultural sector by stepswise integration in the market economy. The project activities link the establishment of model (demonstration) farming systems to the network of outstanding farmers. Farmer to farmer extension will be the major approach in disseminating knowledge and skills. Not the establishment of parallel extension programmes is the main focus but the improved organisation and linking of farmers and the strengthening of their capacity to effectively use existing extension services. The nucleus of these linkanges are model farms used to demonstrate and disseminate improved agricultural techniques. In improving agricultural techniques both quantitative as well as qualitative criteria are taken into consideration including post-harvest treatment and marketing issues. The project will be guided by the Vietnam Farmers Union on national level but implemented by 6 Provincial level Farmers Associations.