The OKP project is a Dutch-Vietnamese knowledge partnership project to promote the development of a climate-resilient nursery sector & value chains in An Giang, Dong Thap, Can Tho, Soc Trang, Tien Giang and Vinh Long, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands and managed by NUFFIC.
This project introduces scalable water technology pilots for the aquaculture and horticulture sectors to develop climate-smart value chains. The project international partners including Aeres University, Has University, Fresh Studio Innovations Asia and Nong Lam University work with local governments and educational institutions to enhance capacity so that adaptations to cope with transformation in the Mekong Delta can be accelerated at the local level.
After a successful two-day kick-off workshop and first training sessions in April 2021, unfortunately the training activities were limited to online sessions due to Covid-19 restrictions. Although in-person meetings were restricted, Fresh Studio set up its fish nursery with an advanced water filtration system (RAS) from Alpha Aqua—an improvement over previous methods that greatly increased fingerling efficiency and water usage.
At the Nong Lam University, irrigation systems were installed. These systems enabled the university to train its students in applied research related to irrigation strategies and water use efficiency.
As the Covid-19 situation has eased the project partners are pleased that in-person training and other project activities can take place again in Vietnam. During the last 2 weeks, the groups focused on aquaculture and crops resumed training activities related to didactics and technologies related to climate-smart agriculture. The training was provided by experts from Aeres and HAS, focusing on didactics in combination with the local teams of Nong Lam University and Fresh Studio, focusing on technologies.
The project resumed training activities were met with enthusiasm by the trainees, especially the training exercises in which the trainees were actively involved themselves.
In the coming period the project will continue to roll out the planned project activities starting with another training session on irrigation in June and the 2nd value chain development training in September.
VI 
EN