Partnering up to find solutions to Vietnamese farmers’ challenges
Cooperation between the Dutch embassy and East-West Seed seeks to address agriculture priorities such as climate change adaptation, water management, efficient energy use, and effective logistics services.
Dutch Agricultural Counsellor Willem Schoustra recently visited East-West Seed (Hai Mui Ten Do) Vietnam in its facilities in Binh Duong province, north of Ho Chi Minh City. This visit follows discussions made last year between the Dutch and Vietnamese governments about a project to enable farmers to cope with drought and salinity in the Mekong River delta. Initial talks were made in July 2017 during the visit of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on a state visit to the Netherlands at the invitation of his Dutch counterpart, Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
The Dutch embassy aims to support the process of finding solutions together with the private sector and to promote Dutch knowledge and technology. Dutch companies like East-West Seed and others are key partners to find and offer solutions to the challenges faced by Vietnamese farmers. Among these current challenges are climate change adaptation, water management, efficient energy use and effective logistics services.
During Mr Schoustra’s introduction, East-West Seed took the opportunity to demonstrate its values and mission to support the Vietnam horticulture sector. East-West Seed has a very specific business approach to serve farmers by increasing their income through knowledge transfer and offering the highest quality tropical vegetable seeds.
Mr. Schoustra responds, “we are proud of a Dutch company like East-West Seed. They think differently than most other seed companies. East-West Seed started operating in Vietnam in 1997 and was the first company in Vietnam to breed and develop vegetable varieties for Vietnam. They introduced hybrids to the market and many innovative vegetable varieties.”
“Based on our 35 years presence and experience in Asia we understand how to successfully grow opportunities for Vietnamese farmers. During the visit we shared and discussed how import Dutch knowledge and technology is and will be for Vietnam farmers. We exchanged good ideas and made plans to continue and strengthen our joint efforts to support the Vietnam horticultural sector,” said by Joost van Elzakker, GM of East-West Seed (Hai Mui Ten Do) in Vietnam.
East-West Seed’s knowledge transfer and quality seed has made a strong and positive impact to the vegetable industry and improved the income of millions of farmers. Today it sells over 100 different vegetable varieties to Vietnamese farmers like hot pepper, pumpkin, sweet corn, tomato, cucumber and bitter gourd.
“I’m really happy that East-West Seed took the time to show me around and explain their philosophy in developing the vegetable seed industry, how they keep the highest standards of quality before releasing seeds to farmers, and how they support them to get optimum yield through knowledge transfer activities in different regions of Vietnam.”
Source : East - West Seed Vietnam