The period of “doi moi” (from 1986 to current)

With the enactment of the Resolution of Congress VI (1986), Vietnam's economy changed radically, from leadership's political-will to a more market oriented economy. This was a simultaneous combination of market mechanism and macro-management of State. As a result, farmers are freed from constraints and they can carry their production as their willingness.

Since then, several policies have been issued which improve on the changes implemented with the Resolution of Congress, such as the land use policy, the policy for economic restructuring in rural areas, the agricultural extension policy, the rural credit policy and many others. These provide a favourable environment for the development of farmers' households. In addition the industrialisation and modernisation of agriculture and the rural areas of Vietnam has promoted the application of innovative advancements in production.

New models of transferring innovative advancements to farmers have been collected and summarised to reflect the co-operation among farmers, scientists, entrepreneurs and local authorities.

Several programs were carried in this period, typically they are²²:

• The program of applying technical advancement in producing F1 hybrid rice. After 15 years, the program educated, introduced and transferred the technique of producing hybrid seed to farmers in 26 provinces/cities through demonstrating a sample model for training and visiting (T&V), in which 100% provinces/cities of the RRD were included, as well as with the participation of other 40 organisations.

The total area allocated for hybrid rice has increased from 173 ha (1992) to 1500 ha (2000-2005) and 1300 ha (2006-2008). The productivity of rice for seed has also increased from 300kg/ha in 1992 to 2500 kg/ha in 2000s. In favourable localities and with favourable weather conditions, the productivity has reached 3800-4000 kg/ha and the seed's quality has been confirmed as being of a good standard. The price of domestic seed is equal to 60% of import price. The situation has changed the figure of 100% hybrid-rice-seed importing to just only 75% the other 25% is produced by domestic suppliers. Currently, there are many good domestic hybrid

22According to reports of Ministry of Agriculture and Rutal Development

rice seeds available in the market as TH3-3, TH3-4, VL20, VL24, HYT83, HYT100, HYT102, HYT103.

• The program for development of hybrid rice as commodity: this program has been expanded in most provinces/cities in northern and High Land region of Vietnam.

The average productivity has reached 6500 kg/ha, even 10,000 kg/ha in certain localities. In recent years, the areas of hybrid rice for commodity goods have reached 620-650 thousand hectares in Vietnam with a higher productivity of 1000-1500 kg/ha compared with normal rice.

• The program of applying technical advancement to develop high-quality rice: The program was initiated in 1997, and concentrated on two main granary areas in the Red River Delta and Mekong River Delta. This has been expanded to all regions and rice-growing provinces throughout the country, to ensure the increased consumption of domestic demand and export. The program has concentrated in introducing demonstrative samples of Bac Thom Nr. 7, Huong Thom Nr. 1, P rice varieties, VD20, VND95-20, MTL499, Jasmine, mutant Basmati, local special rice varieties as Tam Xoan, Du, Nang Huong, Cho Dao.

• The program of restructuring crops and plants: In this program, farmers have been encouraged to shift from growing rice in less productive areas to other plants such as corn, peanuts, soybeans, vegetables, and others. Alternatively they have been urged to change the structure of rice crops towards higher yields and crops which are more efficient. In northern provinces, particularly localities in the RRD and northern midland, there has been a significant shifting from winter - spring rice to late spring rice to ensure safety from unpredictable change of weather in winter as well as creating more space for expansion favourable winter plants. The proportion of land used during the late spring season has increased from 25% to 50-55%. In addition, the land used for early winter crops has increased by 40%. The sowing method whereby the use of improved machinery has been widely applied in all provinces since 2005. The benefits in comparison with traditional cultivation are stark as it reduces heavy works, to increase labour productivity and has also reduced the cost of seed from 45-50kg/ha to 22-30 kg/ha. This has also led to a reduced growing time of 7-10 days shorter than normal transplanted rice.

Moreover, this application of new improved methods has contributed a positive influence to areas' expansion of late spring rice and early winter crops.

• The program for development of hybrid maize: The yield of maize increased from 2110 kg/ha in 1995 to 3200 kg/ha in 2004 and in nearly 4000 kg/ha in 2008. The proportion of hybrid maize areas has also increased from 20% in 1992 to over 80%

in 2008. The program of applying technical improvement in hybrid maize production has been implemented on 8870 ha of agricultural land, of which 1,100 hectares accounts for seed production, and remaining 7770 ha for intensive farming. The productivity of hybrid maize for seed had achieved 2500-3000 kg/ha, when the price for one kg maize seed produced inland is only two-thirds of foreign imported seeds. Many new hybrid maize varieties as LVN10, LVN4, B9698, DK888, DK999, C919 are used in the program particularly those which have brought a high economic efficiency. Farmers have also recognised the benefit of applying new hybrid maize in their production. The program has contributed to achieve the goal of 1 million hectares of corn, and a yield of 4 million tons in 2010.

• The program of applying new standards for safe production: To minimise the risk of increasingly serious environmental pollution, or pollution of vegetable products, the program has transferred innovative advancement regarding Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices (VIETGAP) for safe vegetable production. Over 100,000 vegetable producers, formulated 5540 hectares of sample crops in all localities throughout the country. Vegetable products have been gradually moving towards food-safety standards, and as a result the income from vegetables for farmers now totals 250-300 million VND/ha/year some vegetable crops may also bring a return of more than 400 million VND/ha/year.

• The program for development of short-term industrial crops: This program has introduced many innovations to farmers with regards to producing short term industrial crops, for instance, a technique of using plastic to cover peanut plants has increased productivity by 20-25% compared with no cover. This has resulted in yields reaching up to 5000 kg/ha. The benefits of applying new advanced technique in peanut production are twofold, firstly the exploitation of an extra efficient crop featured by high yield, high productivity, and secondly the process allows for the preservation of the peanut's seed for next spring seasons. Until now, the program has supported the production of hundred thousands of tons of good-quality peanut seeds L14, L18, L23, MD7; soybean DT84, DT99, DT12, D96-02, HL2; sugarcane ROC10, ROC16, Que duong, and others..

• The program for development of long-term industrial crops: This program plays a pivotal role for socio-economic development within the region. For instance, techniques of grafted greening have been popularised in most provinces where nursery citruses are grown, and ten thousands of good saplings of orange, tangerine, grapefruits are sold in the market. In addition, the model of applying intensive farming in gardening in combination with many new advanced techniques such as the high survived rate of grafted technique for longan, mango, litchi has improved the quality of fruit significantly. This has shortened the growing time of fruit trees by up to three years in comparison with normal growing methods. The program has formulated 6525 sample models with total support of 30 billion VND.

In conclusion, the analysis in this chapter has revealed:

• Cultivation dominates the agricultural production in the region, in which paddy rice is still a major cultivar. Other branches as livestock and aquaculture occupy a minor proportion in total gross output value. These products are purchased and consumed mostly at locality. Almost agricultural products are raw products and the processing industry is still undeveloped.

• Initially, the production in the region has started to exploit the local advantages towards commodity production.

• Initial programs focusing on enhancing the transfer and application of S&T's achievement have been conducted. Over time, the motivation of these programs has been changed from administrative controlled towards market mechanism. These programs cover a wide spectrum from technical issues to managerial issues. Much technological advancement has been introduced to the farmers. Similarly, advancements regarding managerial issues and administrative pattern have also been regarded as the necessity for an effective agricultural, for instance, IPM (integrated pest management) has been applied within the agricultural sector since the late 1980s.

• In the process of transferring innovative advancements to farmers, the government has played a positive role. Changing to new mechanisms, the government has consistently facilitated the way of controlling the agricultural sector from command management to flexible administration. A broad network of state extension services have widely spread out from the central administration to farming communities,

which has supported farmers and helped them to understand and comprehend innovation and helped to implement their application in agricultural production.

Current Problems:

• Knowledge of farmers on technical issues and their application is remarkably low and this knowledge is spread unequally across farmers within the region. In the process of transferring innovations to farmers, the over-focus formalism and making achievements in the fight against `diseases' of the transferees has limited the autonomy of farmers in adopting innovations.

• There are still many constraints when applying innovations to production, such as financial deficiency, discrete knowledge. In addition farmers do not always strictly comply with the instructions provided for them and often skip some steps. Further to this the continuous flow of innovation to farmers is not maintained causing by many difficulties that does not create a system of applying innovations of farmers.

• Natural resources are exploited exhaustively not only for agricultural production but also for the non-agricultural purpose as industry and urbanisation.

Environmental pollution is also considered as an increasing problem in addition to emerging issues surrounding food safety.

• Finally there are a number of other problems within the agricultural sector today including the decrease of agricultural land, stagnation in agricultural economic restructuring, finding enough skilled labor, as well as the fragmentation of innovations. Therefore in some places farmers are not very keen on applying innovations.

5. EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON THE PROCESS OF