Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development Project Progress Report 037VIE05 Establish nurseries and training to effectively propagate high quality trees and trial plantation models of
Trang 1Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development
Project Progress Report
037VIE05
Establish nurseries and training to effectively propagate high quality trees and trial plantation models of Macadamia in 3
provinces of North Vietnam
Milestone 7 THIRD SIX-MONTHLY REPORT
January-July 2007
Trang 21 Institute Information
Project Name Establish nurseries and training to effectively
propagate high quality trees and trial plantation models of Macadamia in 3 provinces of North Vietnam
Vietnamese Institution Center for Environment, Tourism and
Development (CETD),
Vietnamese Project Team Leader Prof Hoang Hoe
Australian Organisation Subtropical Farm Forestry Association
Australian Personnel Martin Novak, Kim Wilson
Date commenced 10 January 2006
Completion date (original) 10 January 2009
Completion date (revised)
Reporting period January – June 2007
Contact Officer(s)
In Australia: Team Leader
Name: Martin Novak Telephone: 61 2 66895027
Position: President Fax: 61 2 66895227
Organisation Subtropical Farm Forestry
Association
Email: martinnovak@bigpond.com
In Australia: Administrative contact
Name: Valda Mitchell Telephone: 61 2 66284372
Position: Administrative Officer Fax: 61 2 66284386
Organisation Subtropical Farm Forestry
Position: Director Fax: 04 7560233
Organisation CETD Email: hoanghoe@fpt.vn
Trang 32 Project Abstract
3 Executive Summary
The project continued over the first 6 months of 2007 and included meetings in Australia and Vietnam between participants communicating progress and key information relating to the participating organisations
The Australian team visit took place in March during which over a 1000 pieces of Australian Scion wood was delivered to the 3 existing nurseries This included all of the 10 Australian
246, 344, 741, 814, 816, 842, 849, A4, A16, A38 varieties selected for the trial Kim Wilson visited the FSI and Ba vi nurseries and trial sites and Martin Novak visited Lang son and Yen Thuy although he was not able to visit the new nursery and trial site due to poor road conditions as a result of previous heavy rain Both Australians provided hands on training and information relating to key aspects of macadamia propagation
The main issues which arose during this Australian team visit at the nurseries, were once again, the use of too small a bags, poor potting mixes and inefficient methods of mixing Also the need for slow release fertilizers was identified With regard to the trials the need for additional NPK in the plots was noted (Annex 1 & 2 Australian team visit reports) There is some concern that the Ba vi trial plot was not planted according to the original design Also there was concern that the Yen Thuy trial planting had not yet commenced because of delays
in the finalising of the leasing arrangements
During this period the proceedings of the Lang son Training Workshop were finalised and distributed to participants on CD (Annex 3) Also work was started on the Nursery Manual and the first issue of the Newsletter Planning of the October 2007 Workshop to be held at Ba
vi were completed This included delivering invitations to 5 key Chinese delegates and an effort to involve more farmers this time around
This project continues during the first half of 2007 to support the propagation in the new Macadamia nursery and in the three existing nurseries Also 3 principal variety trials of Macadamias are being established, of about 1 ha each involving 14 suitable Macadamias varieties, in 3 provinces of north Vietnam
In addition the project is involved with 3 organizations undertaking 16 other trials Training continues to be conducted in aspects of propagation, grafting, site design and preparation, planting, maintenance and plantation management at the nurseries and trial sites This has included the distribution of CD, DVD and powerpoint presentations as well as hands on training at 2 formal training workshops, as well as training in the field 540 kg of seed nut from Australia and China have been provided to the nurseries along with 3000 sticks of Scion wood of the selected varieties and samples of grafting equipment during 2006 and 2007
A study tour to China was undertaken covering all the major nurseries and some key plantations in southern China Reports of this tour including photos and a DVD video have been presented to the key stakeholders
in Vietnam and Australia
A select group of small holder farmers have been chosen to be involved with project activities in the provinces of Lang Son, B vi, Hoa Binh provinces In addition the project continues to involve all known key government agencies involved with Macadamias in Vietnam including MARD, FSI, RCFTI, RIFA and RIFV A number of private sector companies are also involved as is the Macca Club of Vietnam
Significant progress has been made with regard to the capacity building of extension and technical staff since the commencement of the project in January 2006
Trang 4In addition to the above, work was started on the Nursery Tree Movement and Sales Model
XL Spread sheets and the Macadamia Capital Development & Financial Projections Model
XL Spread sheets This a key part of the Milestone 3 report utilising the relevant baseline data collected to date
The Macca Club continued its coordinating role in association with the activities of the project Comprehensive discussions were undertaken and reports exchanged during the Australian team visit in March (Annex 1 Australian Team leaders meeting notes)
Communication and exchange of information was increased during this period with a number
of organizations and individuals, including, Central and Western Highlands Agro-Forestry Science and Technical Institutes, Thai Binh Foods and a number of interested farmers Invitations were given to these and other participants, to attend the planned Ba vi Workshop (Annex 4)
The Australian team leader made a stop over in Bangkok to meet with Prof Choob, Prof Bunvong and Prof Monton of Kasetsart University, who are helping to arrange a tour of Macadamia plantations in October 2007 The tour will include visits to a number of research plantings and nurseries as well as some private commercial nurseries and plantations in October 2007
4 Introduction & Background
The following are the project objectives with comments on progress towards achieving these during this 6 month period:
Objective 1 - Bring all the stakeholders together to work toward a sustainable high value Macadamia industry for Vietnam
A number of meetings and communiqués were undertaken during this period in Vietnam and Australia with Collaborators, past and potential workshop participants including new farmers
to the project
The relationship with Chinese and Thai colleges was strengthened by way of one visit each
by project leaders to the respective countries In addition to this an ongoing dialogue has been maintained via phone and email Invitations to the Ba vi Training Workshop have been given to these and other Chinese Macadamia Industry stakeholders
Objective 2 - Strengthen the capacity of 3 existing nurseries
Once again additional Australian scion wood was delivered to all 3 existing nurseries including the following varieties 246, 344, 741, 814, 816, 842, 849, A4, A16, A38 (Annex 1&2) Training sessions were delivered at all 4 nurseries along with additional samples of nursery equipment and demonstration DVD’s and CD’s (Annex 3)
Objective 3 - Establish a new model nursery to demonstrate Australian nursery practice To provide opportunity for investment and to ensure adequate supply of stock
Trang 5The new nursery was visited by Kim Wilson and considered to be ready to scale up production It has already propagated over 6000 macadamia nut seedlings which have now been potted up and housed in the new shaded area
The sand bed propagation of nut seed from China has been very successful at Yen Thuy with only 300 losses out of 6400 from 100 kg of nut as compared with Lang son which has 4200 seedling trees from 100 kg and Ba vi 2400 seedling trees from 100 kg
Potted tree growth also appears to be better that the other nurseries as a result of a better potting mix with less soil and larger pots, based on the Australian experince (Annex 2) Road access to the nursery is still a problem with the local government delaying promised road works Further promises have been made to complete the work within the next 3 months
Objective 4 - Trial at least 10 varieties of Macadamia in 3 difference provinces Ba vi, Hoa binh and Lang son of Vietnam
The Van Dinh trial in Lang son has been mostly planted Site 1 has close to 400 grafted trees
of all the selected varieties planted Site 2 the smaller site is fully prepared with 178 planter holes ready for planting shortly
Most of the planted trees look good with the odd one off color and small There is evidence
of canker in some older trees at the Station so advice was given that a few may need to be replaced and older trees need to be treated for canker (Annex 1)
At the Ba vi Trial site 2 hectares have been planted including A4, 344, 900, 246, A16, 695,
814, OC, 800, 849, A38, 741, 816, 842 However it does not appear that the original trial
design for this site has been followed There is some confusions as to whether this is the trial since MARD has contributed to the cost of planting 3 ha A site plan has been promised but
as yet has not been received The quality of the trees appear to be good, although more
fertiliser and weeding was recommended by Kim Wilson (Annex 2)
The Yen Thuy trial site has been set aside but not yet planted It will require fencing because
of cattle in the area The main reason for the delay is because of the prolonged procedure to gain government approval for the land lease terms The Australian Team leader met with the local government official and part of the explanation given was that the village farmers do not have certification to use this land but have been dependent on it for some time and will need compensation So half of the lease money is to go to them making the process complicated Assurance was given that all would be finalised within the year at the latest
Objective 5 - Undertake a fact finding study tour of South China 10-12 key project participants, including trainers and researchers
The final reports, one from the Vietnamese team leader and an English version from the Australian Team leader, on the successful Macadamia Study Tour Of China, which took place in March/ April of 2006 was delivered to all participants of the Lang son Training workshop A copies were provided with the previous report (Annex 3) A Video DVD and Photo CD was also provided and further copies are available from CETD
Trang 6Objective 6 - Assess Macadamia developments in Thailand Project leaders to undertake the assessment
Following political instability due to the coup last year and also because of an extended Horticultural Show in Chiang mai visits were postponed until this year
In March during the Vietnam visit, the Australian team leader made a stop over in Bangkok
to meet with Prof Choob, Prof Bunvong and Prof Monton of Kasetsart University, who are helping to arrange a tour of Macadamia plantations in October 2007 The tour will include visits to a number of research plantings and nurseries as well as some private commercial nurseries and plantations
The Thais have been involved with the growing of Macadamia for over 20 years and have supplied seed to WASI last year They have undertaken research in propagating and growing macadamia in tropical high elevation areas which will have relevance to highland areas in central and south Vietnam
Objective 7 - Undertake participatory training for technicians, extension officers, nursery staff and workers, farmers and farm workers
Training was delivered during the Australian teams visit in February and March of this period in all the nurseries and trial sites, similar to previous visits
Ongoing informal training also continues in all of the participating nurseries especially since staff and technicians are gaining knowledge and confidence as the project progresses
Objective 8 - Support the formalisation of a Macadamia industry network Based on the successful Australian model (AMS) and other models in Vietnam and elsewhere
A Macca Club of Vietnam meeting was held during the Australian team leaders visit on the
10 March
Presentations and speeches were given by Mr Tan, Mr Loc, Hoang Hoe and Martin Novak (Annex 1)
Mr Tan in his speech emphasised the importance of a strategic approach involving research
in the development of Vietnams Macadamia industry
Mr Loc gave an introduction and overview of plantings in Vietnam
Prof Hoe presented figures on the world production of Macadamia and possible financial returns
Martin Novak gave a PPT presentation on the development of the project including challenges, especially in terms of quality of nursery production The importance of better potting mixes and the need to select out poor trees Grafting still needs to improve Nurseries are being pressured to privatise and hence they try and sell everything including the poor stock Nurseries want new graft material but have not yet perfected their techniques
Trang 7The meeting concluded with agreement that the Club would try and involve more interested parties work with the project towards the next Training Workshop at Ba vi in October this year
Objective 9 - Assist and share information, experience and data with existing Macadamia researchers in Vietnam in particular with FSI
The proceedings of the Lang son Workshop contain information for all the key project participants including an informative presentation by FSI and this has been distributed all the Training Workshop participants and others (Annex 3)
The FSI Nursery was visited by the Australian Team and Vietnam Team Leader (Annex 1 & 2) Further meetings were held with Dr Kha , Dr Thinh and Dr Hai The Role of FSI in sharing data, receiving scion wood, seed and samples of equipment and taking part in training continued FSI has requested scion-wood of varieties which they do not have and other than that identified for the trials
Both Kim Wilson and Martin Novak advised FSI that the trial at the Nursery site needed more fertiliser and some watering They also pointed out that nursery macadamia tree production would benefit from better potting mixes and larger bags This is especially important in the light of FSI status as principal research body for Macadamias and also since they were now selling large qualities of grafted trees to commercial farmers
In addition WASI, CASI, RIFV, ThaiBinh Foods and others including smaller farmers, continue to exchanging information and experience with the project team and each other
Objective 10 - Collect data from existing and new trial plots and nurseries and undertake evaluation and analysis
Now that a significant amount of data has been collected by the project team and other participants, work has been able to start on the Nursery Tree Movement and Sales Model XL Spread sheets and the Macadamia Capital Development & Financial Projections Model XL Spread sheets This a key part of the Milestone 3 report utilising the relevant baseline data collected to date
There have been some delays with regard to the delivery of data from the nurseries, partly because of the incompatibility of data formats and partly because of funding limitations This
is being addressed both by the project team and by the nurseries
Project participants have been requested to present relevant data in their presentations at the coming Ba vi Training Workshop in October
Objective 11 - Inform stakeholders and others and promote the objectives of the project specifically and the benefits of a Macadamia industry generally
The network of stakeholders and others has grown significantly since the start of the project
at the beginning of 2006
All relevant government agencies and all known participants in macadamia initiatives have been informed of the project role and activities and invited to Training Workshops
Trang 8The publicity generated by the Workshops, particularly, the Lang son Workshop, has helped
to promote macadamia generally in Vietnam This has raised the interest of farmers and investors resulting in the planning and start up of a number of new macadamia plantations
Objective 12 - Strengthen extension capacity by linking it to research and the practitioners
Communication has been maintained with extension and technical staff from all participating agencies and companies involved with the macadamia industry including all those that attended the Lang son Training Workshop that included researchers and practitioners from China, Vietnam and Australia
The project work continues to strengthen the capacity of the technicians and extension personnel of the principal nurseries and trial plot participants
5.2 Smallholder Benefits
There has been a significant interest shown by smallholder farmers since the Lang son workshop Enquiries and orders for trees at Lang son and FSI Ba vi nurseries has significantly increased to the point where FSI has reported not being able to meet the demand for grafted trees
Interest in the October Ba vi workshop by farmers is a further indication of farmer involvement
5.3 Capacity Building
Significant capacity building continues to be achieved via the project training and information delivery mechanisms particularly during the Australian team visit in March The activities at the nurseries and the trial sites, demonstrates participants skills and increasing knowledge levels
5.4 Publicity
No specific publicity was undertaken during this period However plans for promoting the October Ba vi workshop including media coverage have been developed
Trang 9The nurseries undertake their own promotion
5.5 Project Management
Management activities in Vietnam and Australia have continued along the lines of the first 12 months, this has included oversight of implementation at nurseries and trial sites, extension work, translation of documents, arrangement of ongoing meetings, responses to design issues, purchasing of equipment, editing of information documents and video Also further ongoing communication relating to the trial sites and nursery activities between participants and collaborators continues
6 Report on Cross-Cutting Issues
A more comprehensive study into environment issues is being undertaken and will be report
on at the October workshop
6.2 Gender and Social Issues
As stated in earlier reports approximately half of technicians and workers in the nurseries are women They play an equal role to that of the men both in terms of work and capacity building
A female staff of CETD will the principal organizer of the Ba vi Training Workshop and she was given high commendation from the participants and project leaders for her successful work at the Long son Training Workshop
A female translator, Dieu Thuy Dang, continues to undertake English translations of research and progress reports including that of FSI
The project leaders continue to encourage participating organizations to utilize the role of woman, on their staff in the project
7 Implementation & Sustainability Issues
7.1 Issues and Constraints
With regard to the project the main issues and constraints relate to the apparent inability of some of the key participants to communicate data and information regarding their activities
Trang 10and to fully implement, on time, their side of the project milestones The principal reason for this appears to be the lack of funds available to them to undertake the role
Lack of funding is also hampering the projects team to assist additional farmers and government agencies, particularly those outside of the 3 provinces directly targeted by the project
A proposal to CARD via an EOI (Annex 5) to support an expansion of the project to assist with this situation has been submitted The minister Mr Bong has also been approach regarding support from MARD to utilise the project to assist in developing stronger links with commercial interest and provide materials and extension to WASI and Central Highlands interested stakeholders
With regard to the bigger picture and the fledgling Macadamia industry in Vietnam there still remains an issue of quality stock from the nurseries and adequate data to make accurate projections on the financial viability of the industry as a whole Although the project is attempting to come up with financial modelling in this regard the limited data available limits the accuracy of projections and delays the delivery of such projections Additional input from agencies and/or funding is required to address the limited scope of the data Again the EOI if successful, will assist in this regard as will the ongoing duration of the project
7.3 Sustainability
The basic information as well as good quality suitable varieties are now available to the industry to provide a solid foundation for a viable and sustainable industry Progressively over the next 18 months it will depend on stakeholders within Vietnam to take up the challenge of developing the industry Lessons from Australia need to be taken on board particularly with regard to a communicative and open approach to industry development
To date there do not appear to be any serious environmental or social obstacles to the development of the industry
8 Next Critical Steps
The Ba vi Training Workshop is planned to be the next major project event to held in October
Prior to this event the Nursery manual and the first macadamia newsletter for Vietnam will
be produced and distributed to all known stakeholders and workshop participants
Trang 11If the EOI is approved the project team will provide extension to the additional provinces as mention earlier Also plans for training in Australia will be finalised and implemented within the next six months
In addition the first financial projects for the macadamia plantation industry in Vietnam will