Australian Embassy
Vietnam
Embassy address: 8 Dao Tan Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi - Telephone: 3831 7755 - Fax: 3831 7711

Agricultural Research

What is ACIAR?

ACIAR is the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. It is part of the Australian Government’s Development Assistance Program, and contributes to that Program’s objectives of helping developing countries reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development.

ACIAR was established in 1982. It funds collaborative agricultural research projects carried out by Australian and overseas research institutes. These projects seek to solve agricultural problems in developing countries. Australian agricultural scientists and agricultural economists use their skills for the benefit of these countries, as well as Australia. ACIAR commenced its Vietnam program in 1993.

What areas is ACIAR focusing on in Vietnam?

ACIAR Vietnam Future Program

Indicative priorities for South Central coastal Vietnam

 

What are some examples of successful ACIAR projects?

Forestry
Introduction of high value plantation forests
Many central Vietnamese rural communities suffer a harsh climate, degraded soils and drifting sand dunes. Australian and Vietnamese experts have been working together to introduce varieties of Australian tree species suited to Vietnamese conditions. These species have been successfully planted in difficult environments, increasing land productivity and stopping soil degradation. This research work has brought benefit to Vietnam’s wood growers and small rural companies who participate in the multi-million dollars wood production industry. The current focus of ACIAR’s forestry research in Vietnam is improving management of plantations to grow trees for higher value furniture products and improving processing.

Crop protection
Non-chemical control of rodents in rice fields
Rodents are an age-old problem for farmers. For many years, ACIAR has supported research on controlling this pest. In Vietnam, CSIRO, the National Institute for Plant Protection and the Institute for Agricultural Sciences of South Vietnam have researched rats’ feeding and breeding habits. This knowledge has resulted in a new integrated management approach. This includes a Trap Barrier System (TBS) which uses a lure crop, planted before the main crop, to attract rats. The lure crop is surrounded by a small moat and plastic fencing, with access deliberately provided in a few places. Traps are placed behind these access points, snaring rats in sufficient numbers to break to population cycle. The TBS uses cheap, readily available materials, and is an alternative to harmful poisons and chemicals. By using the TBS and other new management approaches, some farmers have seen a reduction in crop losses from 15-20% to 5-10%.

Better control of citrus pests, fruit fly and plant disease diagnosis
To help Vietnam control plant diseases, ACIAR has funded a project to boost the diagnostic capacity of Vietnam’s plant pathologists through training and to establish a diagnostic laboratory at the Hanoi Agricultural University (HAU). The Queensland University of Technology, the University of Sydney, the National Institute of Plant Protection and HAU worked on major diseases of fruit and vegetable crops, determining the cause of many diseases for the first time. HAU now has a state-of-the-art molecular disease diagnostic laboratory, which provides a valuable training ground for young Vietnamese scientists. On a more practical field based level, ACIAR has recently support plant disease diagnostic laboratories in Quang Nam and Nghe An to help local Plant Protection Department staff provide timely and accurate advice on crop disease to farmers.

A fruit fly control project is another good example of ACIAR’s success in crop protection research. Through an extensive collaborative project between Foster’s Vietnam, Bayer and the Crawford Fund, the International Centre for the Management of Pest Fruit Flies (Griffith University), the Southern Fruit Research Institute and the National Institute of Plant Protection, the project developed a protein bait made from brewery waste which attracts fruit flies. With a pesticide added to it, the bait is applied as a small spot to each tree in an orchard. The result is a low-cost and environmentally friendly method of controlling fruit flies. An added advantage of the method is brewery waste will no longer be released into the environment. This research has been successfully commercialised, and is rapidly being adopted across large areas in the south and north of Vietnam. Reduced crop losses have seen income increased by 200% on some orchards in the Mekong Delta.

Fishery
ACIAR-funded projects in fishery started in 1998 and many of them helped improve the fish production in inland pond and small reservoirs, and increase income of small and medium size farmers and fishers in Vietnam. Economic studies demonstrated the benefit of inland fisheries and effectiveness of better management practices. ACIAR has also had a focus on fish nutrition to develop more sustainable and economic feeds to reduce the reliance on wild-caught fish feeds. This work has been conducted for Catfish and mud-crabs.

Livestock
Introduction of better pig breeds
Pig production is vitally important to Vietnam. However the local pig breeds are slow growing, producing meat with a high fat content. The Institute of Agricultural Sciences of South Vietnam worked with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI) to introduce Australian breeds well suited to Vietnamese conditions. Crossing the Vietnamese and Australian breeds resulted in faster growing progeny with leaner meat. Through joint support from AusAID, five artificial insemination centres have been equipped and used to introduce and build up the newer, superior breeds. An independent assessment has estimated that by 2010, this project’s value to Vietnamese pig farmers may total US$325 million.

Improved vaccines for poultry
In Vietnam, poultry farming is a major income source for many smallholder farmers. The industry, however, faces a major disease threat from plague. Vaccines and diagnostic tests for poultry diseases in Vietnam, including Newcastle disease in chickens, have been developed by Australian and Vietnamese experts under the ACIAR-funded research projects. The vaccines are now distributed by the Vietnam National Veterinary Company throughout Vietnam and Cambodia. Independent assessments project estimated that by 2012, Vietnam’s poultry farmers will benefit by as much as US$40million as a result of this research.

Beef nutrition
In Quang Ngai and Quang Nam, Hue University and Australian Scientists have been developing feeding regimes using locally available feeds to improve the health and production of beef cattle. Collaboration in Quang Nam with Word Vision has seen small mountainous villages improve their production and incomes with simple but appropriate changes in growing feedcrops and management of cattle.

Does ACIAR fund any academic scholarships for Vietnamese scientists?

 ACIAR has two Fellowship schemes:

The John Allwright Fellowship is an ACIAR-funded Masters/PhD program for allowing overseas scientists to study in Australia. Vietnamese scientists who are working on an active ACIAR project are eligible to apply.

The John Dillon Fellowship is an ACIAR-funded programme which provides career development opportunities for outstanding young agricultural scientists or economists from ACIAR partner countries who are involved in a current or recently completed ACIAR project. The Fellowship aims to develop leadership skills in the areas of agricultural research management, agricultural policy and/or extension technologies through a tailored visit programme to Australia for successful applicants.

More information on the Fellowship.

If I want to seek ACIAR funding for an agricultural research project, what should I do?

ACIAR welcomes new ideas for projects. However, in order to ensure that ACIAR targets appropriate sectors for research, all ACIAR projects must be consistent with the priorities which have been agreed with the Vietnamese Government. For further information please contact the ACIAR Country Office (Vietnam).

Mr. Geoff Morris
ACIAR Country Manager (Vietnam)
Tel: + (84 4) 8317755 extension 202
Fax: + (84 4) 8317707
Mobile: 090340 6102
Email: geoff.morris@dfat.gov.au

Or

Ms Nguyen Thi Thanh An
Assistant Country Manager (Vietnam)
Tel: +(84 4) 831 7755 extension 263
Fax: +(84 4) 8317707
Mobile: 0904851466
Email: thi-thanh-an.nguyen@dfat.gov.au
 

Australian Embassy
8 Dao Tan Street
Ba Dinh District
Hanoi, Vietnam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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