The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), The University of Queensland (UQ) and SunRice Group today announced a mutual commitment to extend their research partnership to strengthen climate-smart rice production in the Mekong Delta.
With in-principle terms incorporating a AUD1 million co-investment (approx. VND18 billion), this new activity will look at supporting Vietnamese smallholder farmers address the increasing climate vulnerabilities and meet premium export market standards. It will deliver gender-inclusive, climate-smart capacity building for farmer cooperatives, helping them refine their post-harvest efficiency and traceability to supply premium buyers.
It will also advance the ongoing breeding innovation to have high-quality, climate-resilient rice varieties ready for commercialisation.
Australian Ambassador to Vietnam HE Ms Gillian Bird emphasised the significance of the partnership during her first visit to Mekong Delta and SunRice's Lap Vo Mill in Dong Thap Province: 'This initiative exemplifies the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Australia and Vietnam, where we strongly support Vietnam's sustainable economic growth and innovation in the agriculture sector. It's great to see how a rigorous public-private partnership between ACIAR and the SunRice Group can use science to drive economic growth and also reduce emissions.'
SunRice Group CEO and Managing Director, Mr Paul Serra, said partnering with ACIAR and The University of Queensland over the past 4 years has delivered concrete achievements in Vietnam by increasing the supply of compliant rice, improving farmers' capability and profitability, and reducing production costs. This new activity also aligns with the objectives of the Vietnam's One Million Hectares of Low Emission, High Quality Rice Initiative.
'These successes, along with the adoption of sustainable rice growing practices in the Mekong, demonstrate how multidisciplinary research can help deliver practical solutions. This new initiative will focus on scaling these outcomes, and the development of premium fragrant long grain varieties suited to SunRice's high value branded markets, while also addressing climate risks and increasingly stringent market requirements - which we know are two areas of growing concern around the world.'
ACIAR has been working closely with the Vietnam Government since 1993, and this new activity will reflect the strength of the Australia-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and our shared commitment to sustainable agriculture and gender equity agendas.
Acting ACIAR CEO Dr Nick Austin reconfirmed ACIAR's commitment to working with Vietnam to address their priorities and continue to develop locally led initiatives for the benefit of Vietnamese people.
'ACIAR is pleased to see the positive results from our previous public-private partnership project improving the incomes and livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Partnering with SunRice gives farmers commercial adoption pathways for high value export market, while moving to sustainable farming practices.'
Led by The University of Queensland, this new project will be in partnership with An Giang University, Can Tho University, Cuu Long Rice Research Institute and Ricegrowers Vietnam - a member of SunRice Group.
The University of Queensland Project Leader Professor Jaquie Mitchell said the project's success was underpinned by the strength of its diverse team, bringing together experts from both the private and public sectors across multiple disciplines from Vietnam and Australia.
'From the outset, we believed this partnership had the potential to deliver real impact for both commercialisation and sustainability, and it's gratifying to see our research demonstrate the benefits across the value chain, particularly for smallholder farmers. We're excited to continue building on this collaboration and to deliver even greater benefits for the farming communities in the Mekong region.
