Capacity building for aquaculture farmers to ensure safe, profitable products and environmental protection Project background:
Aquaculture development in one of the crucial contents of Program on maritime economy development in Nam Dinh province. Nam Dinh province has 72 kms of beach. Aquaculture raising area is 17,200 ha. Agriculture has made relative contribution to generating income and improving living condition for aquacultural farmers nearby the sea.
However, aquaculture development faces some difficulties such as: selling products at a low price, small scatted production, no large concentrated quality material areas and low competitive products. Aquaculture raising infrastructure and facilities do not meet the requirements of production. Environmental pollution is increasing. It is very difficult for the aquaculture households to access the market. Farmers lack knowledge on technology due to lacks of application materials. In the process of production, farmers have not yet cooperation and have no high quality commodity production zones.
Presently, in 9 communes, there have been 105 farmers’ households who trade fresh aquaculture products. These households are scattered in various villages who do business by themselves. The authority can not control and manage them, the products are not certified to the quality standards. Because most of households do business based on the crops, they have no business plan and accouting, their benefits are low and the effectiveness of business is not high. On the other side, these households usually compel the products from other farmers’ households who produce. This is an unfare and ineffective way for both sides, thus facing difficulties in production and business aquaculture products.

The reasons are as follows:
- Not yet many organized trainings on improving capacity on planning on bussiness, production, management of production, marketing information and technology application skills. 
- Few accesses to marketing information and knowledge for aquaculture farmers. Sale linkage network among aquaculture farmers’s households has not been paid attention to.  
- Awareness of aquaculture farmers on food safety is low. 
- No demonstrations on aquaculture and lack of experiences to mobilize farmers to cooperate in production, linked with capacity building on food safety for farmers. 

2.1 Development objectives:
- To raise awareness, knowledge for aquacultural farmers on techniques and science, business plan, marketing, information technology in 9 communes and towns to set up VietGAP prduction area to protect the health for producers and consummers. 
- To create stable jobs, to generate income for aquaculture farmers who involve in the project in making a contribution to poverty reduction policy in the province.
- To establish material production area to become the reliable business address for local and regional consummers.  
2.2 Immediate objectives:
- Awareness raising among large and medium scale farmers on the ways of production following safe food standard regulation, improved skills of business and production planning. 
- Improve the capacity of access to the market, information and technology application in trading linkages, to improve the skills of information exchange through internet. 
- To learn the way of production and business from other localities and farmers’ household through exchange visits.  
- To mobilize and gather farmers who are members of the clubs to form cooperation groups who provide services such as feeding, technology, selling products, material pre-processing. 
Expected outputs:
Output 1. Awareness raising among farmers and people in the locality. 
Output 2. Improved capacity on business, marketing, selling safe products for farmers and improved awareness on environmental protection.
Output 3. Improved capacity of processing products.
Output 4. Establishment of the service cooperation groups.
Output 5. Evaluation, withdrawing lessons, expanding the model to other communes. 
2. Social impacts:
- The project can help NDFU to mobilize, change mall and scatter production areas to be centralized cooperatives and cooperation groups who can make business plans and production areas to ensure the safe standards and environmental protection to protect the health of producers and consumers. Farmers will get knowledge and awareness on marketing, information technology to help them in their life.  
Economic impacts:
The project will help farmers to get sustainable jobs, to generate their income, to increase their daily standards by access to the stable market for the production areas to build trademarks for the production area, to build up this area to become a trust address for consumers.
Partners and stakeholders:
- Farmers and people in the community who express their needs, customs, local knowledge who are beneficiaries.
- Vietnam Farmers’ Union at Central level.
- Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Commodities: aquaculture products
Markets: Local and export market

1. Activities:
- Organising dissemination on radio, farmers’ group meetings or distribution of leaflets on encouraging farmers to produce safely and to protect environment with various of ways linked to the province policies
- Organising training on business planning for about 540 persons who are aquaculture farmers, leaders from authority at commune level, VNFU staff in 9 communes. 
- Organising training on information and technology application and exploring information from internet for 360 persons who are aquaculture farmers, leaders from authority at commune level, VNFU staff in 9 communes. 
- Organising exchange visits on processing, business, selling products and also to do market survey for the products for the project staff, cooperation group’ members, households of business in 9 communes. 
- Establishing service cooperation groups: Surveys and get commitments with authority, linking farmers, set up regulations of the groups, to prepare the procedures, infrastructure. 
2. Implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the project.
Nam Dinh province Farmers’ Union (NDFU) is the implementing organisation. The Project Steering Committee (including representative of NDFU at province and district level) will lead and monitor the project based on donor’s regulations.  
Project monitoring:
The Steering Committee will be in charge of monitoring the project on technical and financial aspects, to collect information on inputs, outputs, level of gaining the project objectives to adjust timely, appropriately and effectively. 
Orgazing 2 meetings in mid and end of the project implementation to review the progress of the project to prove the plan of implementation and budget for next period as well as withdraw lessons learned.  
Project evaluation:
Project evaluation will be carried out when the project nearly finishes to:  
+ Evaluate the success level of the project in gain the objectives of the project, to give recommendation in using the project results and sustaining the project. 
+ Evaluate the effectives of the project and effective of the budget for the project.
+ To withdraw lessons learned from shortcomings.  
3. The project pays attention to the participation of community, in the process of making the project proposal, exploring the local knowledge, experiences and practices from local people and preferences from the priority, needs of the farmers. 
To bring into full play the community to participate in the project and to maintain the sustainability of the project results, monitoring and evaluation of the project will be as follows:  
- To popularize the information about the project and donor among the community, representatives of the community in the starting, review, ending meetings. 
- To facilitate the community to participate in monitor, following up, evaluation of the project effectiveness.
- Vietnam Farmers’ Union at Central level
- Department of Agriculture and Rural Development	
Beneficiary group:
The main target group is the community who is involved in the project. 
Targets: 
- Improved knowledge of farmers on production, business and selling of  products. The community has chances to improve the knowledge and skills of bringing into full play the resource of the locality in developing sustainable economy of each farmers’ households. 
- Local authority, Farmers’ Union at province, district and commune have chances to improve knowledge and get actual experiences in developing and managing the projects as well as strengthen the relationship with relevant agencies at the central and local level.
- The results of the project are references for authority agencies to decide the directions, policies in sustainable aquaculture development.
- Farmers have chances to get knowledge of techniques, information and technology and business strategies to apply in the actual practices. 
To ensure good implementation of the project and carry out the project activities according to the proposed schedules, the organization need knowing advantages and disadvantages to give suitable solutions to minimize the negative impacts as well as bring into full play the positive impacts.

Objectif Global : Contribuer a l’amélioration des conditions de vie des  productrices et producteurs maraîchers par le renforcement de leurs capacités de production  et la garantie  d’un prix rémunérateur

Objectif stratégique N°1 : Renforcer les capacités institutionnelles et organisationnelles de la FCMN et de ses membres

Objectifs stratégiques N°2 : renforcement des capacités de production 


Objectif stratégique N°3 : augmentation des revenus des membres.

Details à trouver dans Plan 2014.