Vietnam highlights climate-smart rice production in new training modules

The training materials were presented to the representatives of the different provincial extension offices.
Photo: NAEC 

12 July 2019, Ha Nam province, Vietnam – The National Agriculture Extension Center (NAEC), under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam, formally launched the training materials on climate-smart production. The initiative was carried out with the support of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security in Southeast Asia (CCAFS SEA), and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition. The project aims to strengthen the capacity of extension workers in mainstreaming climate change adaptation and mitigation in rice production in the country.

Dr. Tran Van Khoi, director of NAEC, recognized the development of the training materials as a significant achievement of the one-year collaboration of NAEC, IRRI and CCAFS. He emphasized that “the training materials can be considered as an innovative approach, as they provide comprehensive guidelines to trainers on the delivery of the lessons, which can be later applied by NAEC on other equally important agriculture topics.”


As a result of a fruitful collaboration, Dr. Nguyen Viet Khoa, Head of Training and Education Division of NAEC, said that the training materials are just the start of more future projects with IRRI and CCAFS. He proposed activities, such as: organizing the training courses; developing an e-learning platform and/or online multimedia training materials; and producing a specialized training material on rice residues and rice straw processing.

To support the idea from NAEC, Dr. Ole Sander, the IRRI Representative to Vietnam, said that the training materials are results of strong consultations among the technical experts, trainers, and the end-users. He also stressed that “to achieve adaptation and mitigation benefits, good farm management practices should go hand-in-hand with strong extension services.”

Comprised of lesson guidelines and presentations, the training materials cover specialized topics, such as  climate change and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in rice production; adaptive cropping calendar; water management; pest management; waste and by-product management, post-harvest; scaling and evaluation; and effective presentation skills. Already available online in the NAEC website, these materials will be distributed to provincial extension centers in Vietnam for wider use.

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