She Feeds the World Vietnam will build capacity for small-scale farmers to improve their cultivation practices, increase yield, diversify livelihood options to generate more sustainable income, and save for the future.

Background

The Central Highlands in Vietnam is a major agricultural hub, producing key food crops. However, the agricultural system in the region faces serious environmental, economic, and societal issues, including unsustainable agricultural practices and weak market linkage.

The overuse of pesticides, fertilizers, and water resources is lowering the land’s productivity. 98%* of ethnic minority farmers shared that they do not apply any sustainable agriculture standard. Only 16% of farmers have access to extension services for farmers if they are not in contracted farming. This is further exacerbated when farmers sell their products to local collectors who have limited bargaining power, earning them lower incomes. 76% of farmers shared that the market is the biggest issue that they are facing. These particularly impact ethnic minority women when most of the decisions on agriculture production and sale are solely made by men. Due to unsustainable agriculture production and lack of market linkage, ethnic minorities also face food and nutrition insecurity. Up to 68% of poor households in ethnic minority communities have faced food shortages in the last 12 months.

Addressing these issues, She Feeds the World Vietnam aims at creating changes across three dimensions: economic, social, and environmental. On the economic dimension, SFtW Vietnam will build capacity for small-scale farmers to improve their cultivation practices, diversify livelihood options to generate more sustainable income, and facilitate market linkage. On the social dimension, the project will promote more equitable access to knowledge, resources, and inclusive markets for vulnerable farmers, including women and ethnic minorities. On the environmental dimension, SFtW Vietnam will tackle soil, water, and biodiversity issues to minimize the impact on the natural ecosystem.

*Data presented in this section is from the Baseline and gender study done by CARE in 2022

Objective of She Feeds the World

The goal of She Feeds the World Vietnam is to ensure small-scale farmers in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, particularly women and ethnic minorities, have more secure and resilient livelihoods for food, nutrition, and water security.

• Promoting women’s empowerment through strengthened capacities, skills and confidence of women small-scale farmers in sustainable agriculture.
• Enabling farmers’ access to inclusive markets through increased interaction between farmers and other value chain stakeholders.

How does She Feeds the World work?

• Increase capacity and productive engagement of small-scale farmers, particularly women and ethnic minorities in sustainable agriculture through agronomic training, demo farms, and learning visits.
• Improve access to and control over productive resources for women and ethnic minority small-scale farmers through financial literacy training, technology enhancement, young entrepreneur support, and community events.
• Increase access to input and output markets for women and ethnic minority small-scale farmers via a wide range of market linkage events, and capacity building for marketing groups.
• Mobilize support from local and national governments to scale up project approaches and successes through regional and national workshops, cross-visits, and documentation of success.

Participants of She Feeds the World

Location

Dak Lak province

Donor