Getting farmers to work together: the experiences of mango growers in the Mekong Delta Region of Vietnam.
Nguyen Minh Chau, Wei S., Vo The Truyen, Rankin M., Russell I.
Author Affiliation: Southern Fruit Research Institute, Tien Giang, Vietnam.
: 107-111
Abstract : In September 2001, the University of Queensland, Australia, and the Southern Fruit Research Institute (SOFRI), Vietnam, embarked on a project funded under the Australian Agency for International Development's (AusAID) Capacity-building for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) programme, to establish four collaborative marketing farmer groups in two provinces in the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam. The four groups were established in the provinces of Tien Giang and Tra Vinh. In both provinces, over 80% of the population rely on agriculture as their main source of income and both provinces are known for producing superior varieties of mango, such as Cat Hoa Loc (considered to have the best taste), Cat Chu (high yield), Cat Trang and Cat Den. The problems faced by the majority of mango farmers involved in this project are indeed no different from most farmers in developing countries. Factors such as small farm size, low level of knowledge relating to production techniques, and little or no knowledge of market pricing beyond the local collector agents were common challenges among project participants. This paper reports on: the success factors and challenges encountered with the establishment and maintenance of the farmer groups; the supply-chain characteristics of the mango industry in southern Vietnam; and the intervention strategies for the development of successful collaborative farmer marketing groups.