Regional universities are setting out to improve horticultural crop production, marketing, and postharvest activities in Vietnam and neighboring Cambodia.
The universities will work in coordination with the U.S. Government on a three year project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Horticulture Collaborative Research Support Program recently awarded a $500,000 grant to a research team at the University of California, Davis, for a project that will address some of the greatest challenges facing farmers.
“These funds will be used to help farmers produce vegetables for the Vietnamese and Cambodian people that meet high standards of quality, safety, and nutrition,” said lead researcher, Cary Trexler.
The project is designed to empower small-scale farmers, 59 percent of whom are women, with education and training for sustainable vegetable production that limits postharvest losses, increases food safety, increases market access, and increases income.
Collaborating with the Hanoi University of Agriculture, University of Agriculture and Forestry in Ho Chi Minh City, and the CAM Royal University of Agriculture, faculty members and the local Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development will create a network of people to help farmers solve problems related to producing and marketing safe vegetables and enhance farmers' income and livelihoods.
The grant for research in Vietnam and Cambodia is one of five projects under the USAID-sponsored program across 15 developing countries that add a research-based approach to horticultural development.
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