Value Chain ‘travel workshop’ program for Cao Bang delegation

For local policy makers from Cao Bang province, Fresh Studio organized a program from Dalat to the Red River and urban Hanoi. This program, organized as a workshop aimed at value chain development and the specific role of policy makers in this matter.

With the aim of improving the life of people in rural areas, Lux Development supports the IFAD funded Developing Business with the Rural Poor (DBRP) program. This program assists local Cao Bang authorities in value chain development and their specific role therein. One of the objectives is to enable local authorities in taking an active role in the development of value chains for Cao Bang products targeting urban markets like Hanoi. This requires that local authorities understand the meaning of value chains.  In particular, when working with perishable products it will be vital to understand how and where in the chain the ‘added value’ can be created. Important points for consideration are:

  • How is the added value shared?
  • How is Quality Assurance arranged?
  • How is added value marketed to whom and by whom?
  • Who is the chain leader?

Fresh Studio was approach by LUX Development for assistance in strengthening the knowledge of value chain development and creating a deeper understanding of implications and organisations of value chains.

Building on extensive experience with value chain development in Vietnam, Fresh Studio organised a ‘travel workshop’ program focusing on strengthening the knowledge and understanding of Cao Bang policy makers on value chain development in a practical and structured way.


Traveling along a value chain from Dalat to the Red River Delta and urban Hanoi, from production to consumption practical examples were combined with background information. This enabled the participants to translate the lessons learned to their own Cao Bang development context.

The program was completed with a classroom workshop that specifically addressed the structure and organization of value chains. Moreover it enabled the active sharing of lessons learned and ideas in developing value chains for Cao Bang products.

Business recruitment for CBI – Food Ingredients Export Coaching Program

Fresh Studio collaborated with Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) and the Center for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI) to recruit small and medium businesses to participate in the CBI Food Ingredients Export Coaching Program (ECP).

The goal of ECP in Vietnam is to promote and enhance the competitive position of value added food ingredient products from Vietnam for export to the EU market. The Vietnamese businesses selected for the ECP are trained and coached to formulate their export marketing strategies, adjust production processes, improve personnel capacity on the requirements of European markets, and establish business relationships with potential clients in Europe.

For effective recruitment, Fresh Studio consultants cooperated with Vietrade officials to search and select food ingredient businesses who meet ECP selection criteria. These potential ECP companies were then invited to attend the conference entitled “EU Export Coaching Program – Food Ingredients Vietnam” in Ho Chi Minh City last 20th December 2013. The conference was aimed to introduce the objectives, requirements ad stages of ECP to Vietnamese food ingredient businesses. Over 100 business representatives attended the event.

Currently, over 20 applications have been submitted. These applications will be reviewed and pre-selected by CBI for pre-auditing and auditing in order to gain insights into the companies’ current export strengthens and weaknesses. CBI will accordingly select the most suitable businesses for the next steps.Also interesting to read:

Vegetable farmer extension program in Moc Chau yields encouraging results

MOC CHAU – Bringing vegetable farmers together, with different techniques and farming styles, and comparing their performance among each other, will lead to improved yields, higher quality produce and increasing farmers’ income.

The weekend before the conference ‘Supplying the market of tomorrow’, a delegation from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) participated in a farmers’ exchange meeting with three farmer groups in Moc Chau organized by the Northern Mountainous Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NOMAFSI), Hanoi University of Agriculture (HUA), Fruits and Vegetables Research Institute (FAVRI) and Fresh Studio.

 

With over 40 farmers present, the meeting focused on the three largest vegetable products supplied to Hanoi by the farmer groups during the past season: French beantomato, and white cabbage.

 

Presentation:

 

mocchau

Farmer’s exchange meeting

Location: Tu Nhien, Moc Chau

Date: 18 November 2013

Download: English Tiếng Việt
 

 

Opening up
Ms. Vu Thi Phuong Thanh (agronomist, Fresh Studio) started the meeting by giving a general introduction comparing the production area, assortment and volumes of vegetables sold under the project in 2012 and 2013. Ms. Thanh shared that “the total production area increased more than four times: from four hectares in 2012 to eighteen hectares in 2013. Moreover, the total volume sold to Hanoi retailers by the three farmer groups reached 155 tons from May to October this year.”

 

Comparing farm performance
After the introduction presentation, the farmers were split into smaller discussion groups according to crops (French bean, tomato and white cabbage) they produced,

In each group, every farmer’s performance was discussed and compared within the group. This analysis was made possible through farmer record keeping which were encoded in the MonQi database – a software Fresh Studio uses in its extension program to analyze farmer performance and benchmark farmer’s performance with each other.

 

The comparisons were used to fuel the discussion among farmers to answer questions like “What caused the differences in yield?” and “Why one farmer earned more than the other?” Farmers were very eager to share with fellow farmers how they grow their crops and how they think other farmers can improve their crop performance.

 

Farmers have a lot of experience, but hardly compare actual figures of their own farm with other farmers. Putting them in a group to show them the performance of their own farm and how their farm compares to other farmers in the same group is very useful to learn from each other.

 

After the group sessions, FAVRI shared with the farmers the results of the post-harvest trials that they conducted. Transportation of vegetables by plastic crates proved to give the best results both on product quality and temperature management as compared to nylon bags and carton boxes.

 

The success of the 2013 season is yet another milestone in developing the vegetable sector of Moc Chau. The Moc Chau district is only a four-hour drive away from Hanoi making it an excellent regional alternative to supply temperate vegetables during the summer months of May to September.

Fresh Studio organizes successful kiwifruit brand awareness program in HCMC

HCMC – Fresh Studio has collaborated with E-town Building to organize a sampling activity for a well-known international kiwifruit brand on October 25th, 2013.

Since 2009, Fresh studio has been assisting this international company in designing and implementing marketing plan for a global branded fruit to adapt and conquer Vietnam market.

See photos of this event on the bottom of this page.

This event is part of the following project:

Fruit marketingA global fruit brand contracted Fresh Studio to execute their marketing strategy in Vietnam and the Philippines.+ Read more

Also interesting to read:

en_GBEN