IRRI honors former Vietnam agriculture minister

Former Vietnam Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat (right) was honored by IRRI,
represented by Director General Matthew Morell, for his support of the partnership between
Vietnam and the Philippines-based global center on rice research. (Photo courtesy of IRRI Vietnam Office)

HANOI, Vietnam – Former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat was honored by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) with an award and a dinner reception on November 4, for his “ardent support” of the Vietnam-IRRI collaboration.

Dr. Phat, now vice chair of the Economics Commission of the Central Committee of Vietnam Communist Party, was a staunch supporter of IRRI’s work in Vietnam, conducted with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and other in-country partners.

Under Dr. Phat’s leadership of MARD, several milestone initiatives under the partnership with IRRI took place, most notably a multistakeholder effort which sought inputs from IRRI to refine a national strategy to restructure Vietnam’s rice sector. The restructuring aims to improve the income of Vietnam rice farmers in the face of global rice market challenges and climate change. The national strategy is now being pursued as part of MARD’s rice master plan.

Dr. Phat receives IRRI's award of appreciation from
Dr. Morell. (Photo courtesy of IRRI Vietnam Office)

The IRRI citation for Dr. Phat (photo, left) reads, “in grateful recognition of his visionary and effective leadership for the competitiveness and sustainability of the rice sector of Vietnam, and for his abiding and deep appreciation of the important role of scientific research in the furtherance of global food security and development.”

[View VTC16 coverage, in Vietnamese]

The Vietnam-IRRI partnership started in 1963, a long-term collaboration that has seen the development of high-yielding—and more recently, climate-resilient—rice varieties for the country, sustainable farming practices, conservation of rice diversity, climate-smart agriculture particularly in the vulnerable Mekong Delta, and the hosting and training of more than 850 Vietnamese scholars and course participants.

~

Learn more about IRRI (www.irri.org) or follow us on social media and networks (all links down the right column).