National Consultant – Organic Agriculture

Ecological degradation associated with health and environmental hazards due to chemical dependent agricultural production systems have become global concerns. Organic agriculture is proven to be a holistic production system, which enhances health of agro-ecosystem and provide opportunities to benefit value chain actors. Viet Nam has tremendous potential for organic production thanks to favourable agro-ecological conditions. However, despite rapid expansion in other nation, organic agriculture production in Viet Nam remains modest.

Ca Mau is considered having tremendous potential for organic production given its favourable cultivation conditions. Soil and water contamination is considered much lower than other provinces in the Mekong Delta region thanks to private water catchment and high prevalence of extensive farming. The province defined organic farming as a spearhead for agriculture production and launched a plan for organic agriculture in 2019. At the programmatic dialogue with FAO in 2019, the MARD officially requested support of FAO’s TCP on integrated organic agriculture and agro-ecotourism. Ca Mau was selected as a pilot to generate lessons for scale-up in Mekong Delta and other regions.

This study aims to capture the status of organic agriculture production and agro-ecotourism in Mekong Delta with special focus on Ca Mau province, which include  comprehensive analysis of potential (production and market), comparative advantages, disadvantages, challenges of organic production, eco-tourism and integration of the two sectors; the implementation and gaps of the provincial organic agriculture production plan; and the roles and participation of private sector, farmers, research institutions and government in promotion of organic production and agro-ecotourism. Based on that, the study shall provide recommendations for the provincial tourism development plan, which is planned to be developed in 2021; for promotion and development of organic agriculture (including gap filling to the provincial plan and implementation); for scale-up and replication in other regions of Vietnam as a strategic measures for sustainable production and consumption in circular economy perspective.

A consultant team, including a Team Leader- agro-ecotourism and a Team Member- Organic Agriculture Specialist will be recruited to carry out this study. The Team Leader – Agro-ecotourism expert will lead the team and be responsible for sector analysis, synthesis of the report. Under his leadership, the Organic Agriculture Specialist will participate in the study, contribute to technical analysis of and provide inputs for organic agriculture aspects.