Project Progress Report: Macadamia Report potx

Institute Information Project Name Establish nurseries and training to effectively propagate high quality trees and trial plantation models of Macadamia in 3 provinces of North Vietnam

Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development

Project Progress Report

6 Report on Cross-Cutting Issues _ 7

6.1 Environment 7 6.2 Gender and Social Issues 8

7 Implementation & Sustainability Issues 9

7.1 Issues and Constraints 8 7.2 Options _ 9 7.3 Sustainability 9

8 Next Critical Steps 9

9 Conclusion _ 10

10 Statuatory Declaration _ Error! Bookmark not defined

10.1 Personnel Inputs 11 10.1 Equipment and other services _ 12 10.1 Equipment and other services handover _ 13

11 Project Progress Against Objectives, Outputs, Activities And Inputs _ 14

12 Annexures 1-9 _ 24

12.1 Annex 1 & A1.1 Australian Team Leaders (MN) Report _ 26 12.2 Annex 2 Australian Extension (KW) Report. _ 27 12.3 Annex 3 Ba vi Workshop Proceedings including presentations A3.1-8 separate PDF attachment 12.4 Annex 3 Ba vi Workshop Invitation list ( included in the above A3) separate PDF attachment 12.5 Annex 4 Grafted trees at Yen Thuy separate PDF attachment

12.6 Annex 5 List of farmers planting models of macadamia 2007 _ 31

12.7 Annex 6 Number of macadamia trees planted in Vietnam 33 12.8 Annex 7 Thai Macadamia Tour planning visit 26 November 2007 separate PDF attachment 12.9 Annex 8 China visit August 2007 _ separate PDF attachment 12.10 Annex 9 Number of grafted macadamia trees and cost data _ separate PDF attachment

1 Institute Information

Project Name Establish nurseries and training to

effectively propagate high quality trees and trial plantation models of Macadamia in 3 provinces of North Vietnam

Vietnamese Institution Center for Environment, Tourism and

Development (CETD),

Vietnamese Project Team Leader Prof Hoang Hoe

Australian Organisation Subtropical Farm Forestry Association

Australian Personnel Martin Novak, Kim Wilson

Completion date (original) 10 January 2009

Completion date (revised) December 2009

Reporting period June - December 2007

Contact Officer(s)

In Australia: Team Leader

Name: Martin Novak Telephone: 61 2 66895027

Position: President Fax: 61 2 66895227

Organisation Subtropical Farm Forestry

Association

Email: martinnovak@bigpond.com

In Australia: Administrative contact

Name: Valda Mitchell Telephone: 61 2 66284372

Position: Administrative Officer Fax: 61 2 66284386

Organisation Subtropical Farm Forestry

Organisation CETD Email: hoanghoe@fpt.vn

The Australian team visit took place in October during which over a 1000 pieces of Australian Scion wood was delivered to the 3 existing nurseries This included some of the

10 Australian varieties selected for the trial 246, 344, 741, 849, A4, A16, A38 and new varieties not yet introduced to Vietnam including A203, A268 and also Daddow A successful

2 day training workshop was held at Ba vi involving all the know macadamia industry participants, some newly interested farmers and 4 Chinese experts

Kim Wilson and Martin Novak visited Lang son, Yen Thuy, the FSI and Ba vi nurseries and trial sites Although Martin was not able to visit the new nursery and trial site due to poor road conditions as a result of previous heavy rain Both Australians provided hands on training and information relating to key aspects of macadamia propagation

The main issues which arose during this Australian team visit at the nurseries, included the need to carefully label all grafted seedling trees with dates and variety ID The nurseries would benefit if they worked more closely together not just during project activities There was still a tendency to keep none preforming stock in the nurseries which should be discarded and definitely not sold on More details with regard to the nurseries are to be found

in the Australia team reports attached (A1 & A2)

The trial sites were visited by the project leaders and trainers during October The trials at Ba

vi and Lang son generally looked good there is some variation from the original designs however they should still provide significant data The Yen Thuy trial has had further delays

in implementation due to delays in government approvals The planting was rescheduled for

This project continued during the second half of 2007 to support the propagation in the new Macadamia nursery and in the three existing nurseries Also 3 principal variety trials of Macadamias are being established, of about 1 ha each involving 14 suitable Macadamias varieties, in 3 provinces of north Vietnam

In addition the project is involved with 3 organizations undertaking 16 other trials Training continues to be conducted in aspects of propagation, grafting, site design and preparation, planting, maintenance and plantation management at the nurseries and trial sites This has included the distribution of CD, DVD and powerpoint presentations as well as hands on training at 3 formal training workshops, as well as training in the field 840 kg of seed nut from Australia and China have been provided to the nurseries along with 4000 sticks of Scion wood of the selected varieties and samples of nursery equipment during 2006 and 2007

A study tour to China was undertaken covering all the major nurseries and some key plantations in southern China Reports of this tour including photos and a DVD video have been presented to the key stakeholders

in Vietnam and Australia

A select group of small holder farmers have been chosen to be involved with project activities in the provinces of Lang Son, B vi, Hoa Binh provinces In addition the project continues to involve all known key government agencies involved with Macadamias in Vietnam including MARD, FSI, WASI, RCFTI, RIFA and RIFV A number of private sector companies are also involved, as is the Macca Club of Vietnam Significant progress has been made with regard to the capacity building of farmers, extension and technical staff since the commencement of the project in January 2006.

next February with further site preparation underway (Refer to Annex 1 & 2 - Australia Team reports)

The Ba vi MacadamiaTraining Workshop was held successful at Ha Tay on the 17, and18 October, followed on the 19 October with a field trip to a Cashew and planned Macadamia processing Plant in Quynh phu, Thai binh Here participants were received and taken on a tour by General Director Nguyen trieu Van of Thaibinh Foods It was encouraging for the participants to see and hear of the extensive activities and plans regarding Macadamia processing and marketing They also inspected their macadamia nursery of 12000 seedlings (Refer to Annex 3 – Ba vi Workshop Proceedings-Program and List of participants) Proceedings of the Workshop have been complied and are available through the CETD office

The Ba vi Workshop was particularly successful because of its involvement of more farmers (Refer to A3 & A5) and 4 Chinese delegates 2 of which gave very comprehensive presentations (A3.6 & A3.7)

During this period 300kg of seed nut were obtained from Long Zhou China and distributed to

Ba vi and Yen Thuy nurseries Also 6 varieties of scion wood were obtained including OC,

788, QN1, 800, 900, 246 (Refer to Annex 4 for details)

The Nursery Tree Movement and Sales Model XL Spread sheets and the Macadamia Capital Development & Financial Projections Model XL Spread sheet were completed and presented

to all the workshop participants They were a key part of the Milestone 3 report utilising the relevant baseline data collected to date

The Macadamia Nursery Manual for Vietnam was completed and presented to all Workshop and project participants Its content is focused on the propagation of grafted macadamia trees, nursery design and record keeping (Delivered to CARD as MS 5 and available through the CETD office.)

A newsletter was produced titled Macadamia Newsletter for Vietnam and also distributed to all project participants during this period It covered all the activities of the project to this period and also provides some general background information on macadamia (Delivered to CARD as MS 5 and available through the CETD office.)

After the Ba vi Training Workshop, the project leaders and extension staff spent an additional 2 days with the Chinese delegation hosting and planning future cooperation between Vietnam and China The Chinese delegation arranged for the Vietnamese project leader Hoang Hoe to visit China within the fortnight of the workshop and tour nurseries in southern China and arrange for seed and grafted tree purchases The resulting visit achieved these goals and set a good precedent for future cooperation with the Chinese

Following the Australian Team leaders October 2007 visit to Vietnam he proceeded on to Thailand to prepare for a future macadamia study tour of Thailand by a Vietnamese delegation He made a stop over in Bangkok to meet with Prof Choob, Prof Bunvong and Prof Monton of Kasetsart University, who are helping to arrange the tour for October 2008 The tour will include visits to a number of research plantings and nurseries as well as some private commercial nurseries and plantations The key macadamia growing areas were visited and plans for the visit in the following year were completed (Refer A7 to the Thailand Study Tour Planning Report attached.)

The Macca Club continued its coordinating role Chaired by Mr Loc and supported by Mr Tan A report was presented at the Ba vi Training Workshop by both by way of speeches New farmer members were signed up at this workshop (Refer to A3 Ba vi Workshop Proceedings)

Communication and exchange of information continued during this period with a number of organizations and individuals, including, Central and Western Highlands Agro-Forestry Science and Technical Institutes, Thai Binh Foods and a number of interested farmers Representatives of these organizations and many of these farmers attend the Ba vi Workshop (Annex A3 Ba vi Workshop Proceeding including Participants List)

Prior to the Australian team leaders visit to Vietnam in October he visited China in August at the invitation and expense of the Chinese The highlight of the visit was the inspection of additional macadamia plantations to that of the year before, and meetings with macadamia processors and researches (Refer to Annex 8 by way of detail and background.)

During this 6 month period, a lot of data and other information was made available to the project in addition to that presented at the Workshop and in formal participants reports A number of other significant meetings took place including meetings with the Vice Minister of Mard and representatives of CARD All this information is presented below or attached

Introduction & Background

This project has 2 principal aims, firstly to trial the most suitable macadamia varieties in Vietnam and secondly to train nursery staff, farmers (Refer to Annex A5) and others in related aspects of macadamia horticulture In addition to this the project has been attempting

to bring all existing and some potential stakeholders together in formal and onsite participatory training sessions in order to help facilitate Vietnams macadamia industry development in a more strategically coordinated manner

Most project participants seem to be of the view that the industry will be viable and sustainable within Vietnams agricultural sector In fact it appears to have the potential to replace or enhance some crops that are struggling at present For instance that of coffee in the central highlands

The project leadership is working closely with macadamia initiatives that existed prior or outside of the projects principal scope, such as the work done by FSI and WASI (Refer to Annex A6)

The Australian team has been in a position to introduce the participants to key aspects of Australia practice and research This is very valuable if Vietnam is to have a good foundation upon which it can build this new industry Complimenting this is additional information being sourced from other countries, especially China, but also from South Africa and Thailand

4 Progress to Date

4.1 Implementation Highlights

The Ba vi Macadamia Training Workshop delivered a significant amount of key information

by way of the presentations, speeches and participatory workshop sessions (Refer to A3 Ba

vi Macadamia Training Workshop Proceedings attached.)

Vietnams new macadamia industry now has a more comprehensive body of information which also includes the Lang son Workshop Proceedings, Macadamia Nursery Manual, the first Issue of the Macadamia Newsletter as well as training videos, photos and notes

In addition to this the project has produced a number of modelling tools including Macadamia Capital Development & Financial Projections Model and the nursery financial model All of these have been presented to CARD in previous reports and are available from the CETD office

In addition to the 10 Australian varieties that the Australian team has provided and the 4 Chinese varieties that Vietnams project leadership has sourced, additional varieties have been delivered, including 2 additional A varieties, that are protected by IP and have been released

to this project These include A203, A268 and Daddow requested by FSI and the other nurseries involved The important aspect to the project supply of varieties is that they are confirmed as true to type, unlike some of those in the existing nurseries

4.2 Smallholder Benefits

There has been a significant interest shown by smallholder farmers both at the Ba vi workshop and at other times, such as onsite training sessions at the nurseries Enquiries for trees and information, from farmers at FSI and Ba vi nurseries are continuing and FSI continues to report that it is not able to meet the demand for grafted trees

Attendance at the October Ba vi workshop by farmers is a further indication of farmer involvement (Refer to A3 workshop proceedings - Participants List attached)

The main drivers to date with regard to smallholder benefits, outside of the direct project participating organizations, are government agencies and Donna Foods and ThaiBinh Foods However these also are influencing small holders and villagers by demonstrating their commitment, employing workers and by being involved with land lessees

As with Macadamia development in other countries, such as the case in Australia, there has been a need for investors and larger plantation companies to help create efficiencies of scale for the macadamia industry to develop In addition to this governments have also assisted by way of tax incentives and research grants This is something that needs to occur in Vietnam and has been communicated to MARD and other agencies

4.3 Capacity Building

Significant capacity building continues to be achieved via the project training and information delivery mechanisms particularly during the Ba vi Macadamia Training Workshop and Australian team site visits in October

All of these are attached to this report or have been delivered to CARD in previous reports All are available through the CETD office

In addition to this and as a direct result of this project, the industry now has an additional 3 variety trials trialing 14 select varieties and another 3 new varieties delivered during this period It also now has 3 demonstration nurseries including one new nursery producing grafted trees from scion wood from these varieties

The nurseries continue to undertake their own regional promotion

4.5 Project Management

General management activities in Vietnam and Australia have continued along the lines of the first 18 months, this has included oversight of implementation at nurseries and trial sites, extension work, translation of documents, arrangement of ongoing meetings, responses to design issues, purchasing of equipment, editing of information documents and video Also further ongoing communication relating to the trial sites and nursery activities between participants and collaborators continues

Specific management relating to all the activities detailed in this report went well during this period, including that of the Ba vi workshop

5 Report on Cross-Cutting Issues

5.1 Environment

Participants of the Ba vi workshop were asked to include environment issues in their presentations The Chinese in particular gave detailed accounts in this regard These included such things as devastating wind damage from Typhoons, rat plagues, insect and fungal problems Because of Chinese proximity to Vietnam serious notice should be taken of these

problems (Refer to A3.6&7) The Vietnamese translations of these reports detail these problems

Project participants have been monitoring and reporting on any environmental impacts However, so far in Vietnam there continue to be no significant negative environmental impacts

FSI has the longest history of research into macadamia in Vietnam So far they have not found any significant problems relating to the impact on the environment

The Australian experience shows that soil erosion, chemical runoff and noise pollution can become problems in areas that have more mature orchards Vietnams macadamia industry needs to plan for these potential problems well ahead of time

5.2 Gender and Social Issues

As stated in earlier reports approximately half of technicians and workers in the nurseries are women They play an equal role to that of the men both in terms of work and capacity building However leadership is still dominated by men

A female staff of CETD was the principal organizer of the Ba vi Training Workshop and she was given high commendation from the participants and project leaders for her successful work both at this workshop and at the Lang son Training Workshop

The project leaders continue to encourage participating organizations to utilize the role of women, on their staff in the project

6 Implementation & Sustainability Issues

6.1 Issues and Constraints

The issues and constraints below,(*) reported in the last 6 monthly report, continue to affect the implementation of the project

* “With regard to the project the main issues and constraints relate to the apparent inability of some of the key participants to communicate data and information regarding their activities and to fully implement, on time, their side of the project milestones The principal reason for this appears to be the lack of funds available to them to undertake the role.”

“Lack of funding is also hampering the projects team to assist additional farmers and government agencies, particularly those outside of the 3 provinces directly targeted by the project”

The minister Mr Bong has been approach once again regarding support from MARD to utilise the project to assist in developing stronger links with commercial interest and provide materials and extension to WASI and Central Highlands interested stakeholders The project

The role of the Macca Club is vital in taking on the responsibilities to help overcome some of these developmental issues The project leaders continue to encourage the Club to broaden and formalise its role and start taking on the leadership in the development of the industry The speeches given at the Ba vi workshop, by the past Chairman Mr Tan and by the existing Chairman Mr Loc clearly indicated their understanding and commitment with regard to the industry Farmers at the workshop signed up as new members of the club and hopefully will take an active role in its development

7 Next Critical Steps

The final Training Workshop is planned to be the next major project event to be held in October 2008 Plans are to hold it in Hanoi and invite all project participants and international delegates from China, Thailand and Australia

The next Australian team visit to Vietnam will take place in March 2008 at which time on site training sessions will take place at the 3 existing macadamia nurseries and at the new nursery in Yen Thuy

The existing nurseries will have completed the trial plantings and these will be assessed by the project team

The project will be in its third year so a press conference is planned in the first half of the year with the intention of publicising the achievements of the project This will be accompanied by the publishing of a special issue on macadamia in the Forest and Life magazine

Meetings with MARD, the ministry of Science and Technology and the Macca Club are planned to ensure that there is follow up work on what the project has achieved

A visit to the Central Highlands is planned to view the work of WASI and other innovative farmers of that region

A study tour of Thailands macadamia plantations and research sites is planned for 2008, involving 3 key Vietnamese project participants This visit will be based on the visit undertaken by the Australian project leader in preparation for this study tour (Refer to A7 report attached)

8 Conclusion

The 24 months of the project have been completed successfully with virtually all planned activities implemented

Macadamia Project for

Vietnam

2006 - 2008

Update of the Macadamia Industry

in Australia

& throughout the World

Presented by Kim Wilson

World Macadamia Production

Australia 44%

Hawaii 24%

Other 8%

South Africa 11%

Kenya 5%

Costa Rica 2%

Guatemala 6%

World Macadamia Summary - Nut in She ll Production

Production NIS (tons)

DENSITY Country 0 - 6 ye a rs > 6 ye a rs TOTAL 0 - 6 ye a rs > 6 ye a rs TOTAL Tre e s / Ha

World Macadamia Summary

Macadamia kernel styles

Style 1 – 95% wholes – 19-21mm

Macadamia kernel styles

Style 4 – min 80% halves 12-16 mm

Macadamia kernel styles

Style 7 – Small chips – 5-6mm