Organic cacao project to be deployed in Ben Tre and Tien Giang provinces

On April 22, 2008, Helvetas, a non-governmental organization based in the Switzerland, held in Ho Chi Minh City a planning workshop for the Production and Marketing Support Project for Organic and Fair Trade Cacao in Vietnam. The workshop was attended by Tong Khiem, Director of the National Agricultural Promotion Center and Chief of the Vietnam's Commission for Cacao Development; Mr Nguyen Huu Chi, Chairman of the People's Committee of Tien Giang Province; Mr Nguyen Quoc Bao, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ben Tre Province; officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as representatives from related parties in the supply chain and cacao growers.

The project was said to be carried out in 5 years. At the moment, Helvetas is building the project framework and will submit it to levels of authorities for approval.

Before the workshop, Helvetas was surveying several provinces and decided to choose Ben Tre and Tien Giang to deploy the project.

The main goal of the project is to register the organic product for the cacao growers who follow the organic production model.

Organic agriculture is a system to control, promote, and strengthen good organic system including the organic diversity, organic circle and conserving the organic system of soil. The agriculture production input should be focused and adapted to suit the local situation.

Another benefit of the organic cacao project is that it helps reduce spending for fertilizer and insecticide, helps make full use of local manure and organic fertilizer. Organic cacao bean may also be sold at prices 20-40% higher than other ones.

Translated by Tuyet Anh