Hue (Vietnam) - Trade, aid and accountability were the catchphrases of a visit to Vietnam by the Dutch Ministers of Foreign Trade, Frank Heemskerk, and Development Cooperation, Bert Koenders, during 17-21 March 2008.

The joint mission highlighted the interest of the Netherlands to promote bilateral ties on the basis of a more balanced economic partnership, considering the rapid development of Vietnam towards middle income country status.
At the same time, Minister Koenders wanted to appreciate Vietnam’s efforts in poverty reduction, not least in qualitative terms, and review the results of Dutch assistance in this regard - official development aid as well as through the intermediary of non-governmental organizations like SNV.

To see what is happening on the ground in poor and remote rural Vietnam, Minister Koenders visited Nam Dong district in Thua Thien Hue province, where SNV supports programmes in the areas of biogas and land rights. Both activities show how Dutch financial support combined with SNV capacity building services, at the national and the sub-national level, can deliver impressive results in terms of poverty reduction in general, and access to clean energy (biogas) and increased income generation as a result of improving local governance (land rights) in particular.

A one and a half hour drive from Hue city in full sunshine and through beautiful mountainous scenery led to Nam Dong - one of two poorest districts of Thua Thien Hue province, where Minister Koenders witnessed a formal handover of the Decision document by local authorities on land use rights to a group of farmers from the Kinh majority and Ka Tu ethnic group in Phu Mau Village, Huong Phu Commune.

Relaxed and friendly, Minister Koenders afterwards conversed exchanged with two farmers – one of whom was a woman - on how they benefited from participating in the extension club and how they coped with market fluctuations and natural disasters such as the 2006 typhoon which destroyed a large part of small-holder rubber plantations, throwing many farmers “back into poverty”.

The extension club is part the post-LUPLA (Land Use Planning and Land Allocation) - an initiative that SNV has successfully introduced to Nam Dong and replicated in other locations in the North Central Vietnam. Building on achievements of LUPLA, a project named Pro-Poor Forestry Programme, financed by Vietnam Trust Fund for Forestry is being carried out with technical support from SNV and other partners, aiming to replicate the process and so help poor farmers in 5 provinces in the North Central region make the best use of the land allocated.

The next stop a the visit to two households with biogas plants, one in full capacity with sufficient manure feed from around 10 pigs, while the other was suffering from a pig outage resulting from the family’s temporary inability to buy piglets because of sky-rocketing prices after Tet (Vietnam’s Lunar New Year) due to Chinese demand and rising feedstock prices. Even so, the digester contained sufficient methane to keep on providing the family with gas.

Seeing is believing: Minister Koenders was convinced by the benefits that biogas brings about in terms of energy, time, cost savings, health and sanitation improvement for smallholder farmers. He observed that biogas is also a risky investment as it is rather dependent on the availability of pig manure, putting a biogas household at risk when it can no longer afford to raise livestock. Thus the visit highlighted both the opportunities and the risks of the rural economy that underpins the biogas sector, which has thrived over the past four years as a result of the SNV supported Vietnam Biogas Programme and Country website Vietnam.

For lunch, Minister Koenders an authentic tourism experience at a stilt house (bamboo house built on wooden stilts) and in Doi village, Thuong Lo commune. The village was supported by SNV’s community based tourism programme during 2003-2005. Excellent traditional food, inspiring performances by the Ka Tu ethnic group of musicians / young dancers & stunning setting in rice paddy fields against the Annamites backdrop - Minister Koenders had an opportunity to talk with the village head about the continued profitability of the village’s tourism activities, which are clearly alive and kicking two years after SNV pulled out.

The atmosphere was truly relaxed, and the attractive setting inspiring Mr Koenders to take a brief stroll and enjoy some quality time on his own.

All in all, the Minister qualified his visit – as he expressed during his meeting with Thua Thien Hue PPC Vice Chairman, Mr Ngo Hoa – as a wonderful day of meeting with those poor farmers who stand to benefit from SNV supported programmes. He also expressed strong appreciation of the hospitality from the provincial leadership and local authorities at district and commune levels.

See also the video film of the this visit!