Bayer launches Southeast Asia's 1st ForwardFarm in Vietnam

ForwardFarm Can Tho in Thoi Lai District brings together farmers, technology partners, scientists and academics, value chain partners, and consumers to exchange agricultural know-how and form partnerships to promote modern and climate-smart sustainable agriculture through first-hand experience.

In the plains of the Mekong River, rice has been cultivated for centuries as an essential staple food for the people of Vietnam and other places in the world.

The establishment of the ForwardFarm Can Tho is the result of a memorandum of understanding between Bayer Vietnam and the NAEC in August 2022 to collaborate and transform rice cultivation in the country by improving productivity and quality for exports, and promote sustainable agricultural development, including climate mitigation.

Bayer has a network of 26 ForwardFarms in 13 countries around the globe, and Vietnam is the 14th.

The initiative is implemented in Vietnam to provide value for smallholder farmers under an agreement with the government and through partnerships with key industry stakeholders in the value chain.

The tailored solutions, modern tools and practices, proactive stewardship measures, and partnerships under the ForwardFarming initiative will enable farmers to enhance productivity, quality and yields in a way that safeguards the environment.

Farmers are excited about innovative and sustainable solutions in line with local farming practices applied through Forward Farming. Photo by Minh Phu

Do Tri Hung is a smallholder farmer in Can Tho City who grows rice on 1.5 hectares of land. As a progressive farmer, he believes in the value of further improving his farming practices to improve the productivity and quality of his crop in a smarter and more sustainable manner.

He has joined the ForwardFarming initiative established jointly under the partnership of Bayer Vietnam, NAEC, MARD, and rice value chain partners Kim Hong Machine Enterprise Co. Ltd., Binh Dien Fertilizer Joint Stock Company and Thuan Thang Cooperative.

"In recent years we have faced many unpredictable challenges from pests, diseases and climate change in our local farming areas," he said at the farm inauguration ceremony.

"I greatly appreciate the collaboration via this Bayer ForwardFarming initiative to help us manage the challenges of sustainable farming with a broad range of innovative solutions tailored to our local farming practices."

One step ahead with sustainable agriculture

According to Tomas Zaborowski, Bayer's global head of sustainability excellence, today's agriculture faces numerous challenges like the increasing demand for food because of the continuously growing world population, decline in available arable land, limited natural resources, and climate change.

At Bayer, they are convinced that the answer lies in an integrated concept for sustainable agriculture that considers several economic, ecological and societal criteria. Bayer ForwardFarming is a knowledge platform for sustainable agricultural practices designed to further stimulate dialog within the industry and beyond.

The representatives of Bayer and the NAEC with their rice value partners at the farm inauguration ceremony. Photo by Minh Phu

Unique in its global reach, the Bayer ForwardFarming network serves as a platform for dialog and knowledge sharing. The initiative provides a close look at how farmers around the world are practicing smart, sustainable and regenerative agriculture.

ForwardFarmers can deploy technologies and best practices for smallholders to improve productivity, reduce agriculture-related greenhouse gas emissions, decrease the environmental impacts of crop protection, promote biodiversity, and conserve natural resources, which are part of Bayer's commitment to leading the future of regenerative agriculture.

Moving towards smart and regenerative farming

In collaboration with farmers and other partners, the Bayer ForwardFarming initiative enables sharing of knowledge about modern and sustainable agriculture through first-hand experiences on independent farms around the world.

Following the overarching concept, its initiative in Vietnam will support sustainability in agriculture across three areas: care for crops with tailored solutions for farmers via the Much More Rice integrated program; care for the planet and people with proactive stewardship to protect health, safety and the environment responsibly; and care for partnerships with value chain partners to bring holistic solutions to farmers.

Special emphasis is placed on regenerative farming practices, for example, direct seeded rice (DSR).

The three-year program will improve farmers' incomes, ensure food security, and conserve natural resources and the environment besides enhancing practices to reduce water use and greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change, complementing MARD's vision to sustainably develop one million hectares of high-quality rice for export and promote green growth in the Mekong Delta's rice farming area.

Forging to improve farmers' livelihood

Besides demonstrating best farming practices for regenerative farming, promoting new solutions and technologies and providing training to improve crop value and farmers' income, ForwardFarming aims to forge a collaborative future for sustainable agriculture by connecting partners and farmers to disseminate knowledge and benefit the broader farmer communities.

Dr. Le Quoc Thanh, director general of the National Agricultural Extension Center, commends the joint efforts among value chain partners in this project and highlights the importance of capacity building in the farmer network.

He said partnerships are essential for stimulating progress in sustainable agriculture.

Dr. Le Quoc Thanh, General Director of the National Agricultural Extension Center, shared at the inauguration of First ForwardFarm of Southeast Asia launched in Vietnam. Photo by Minh Phu

This is being demonstrated by the partners of the ForwardFarming initiative through collaboration programs and joint training activities to enhance the capacity of farmers to produce sustainable rice while reducing emissions, adapting to climate change and doing smart rice farming.

"As capacity building for farmers is crucial to achieving the sustainability goals, we target outreaching more than 100,000 farmers for dissemination of sustainable farming practices via the national agriculture extension network on both offline and online training platforms," Thanh added.

Commenting on the partnership with Bayer, representatives from Binh Dien and Saigon Kim Hong in the panel discussion spoke about a common goal of being fully committed to working closely with Bayer and other value chain actors to build a sustainable future for Vietnam.

"At the same time we look forward to further assisting farmers in applying sustainable farming methods to ensure a more prosperous life.

The collective expertise and resources of Bayer, Binh Dien, SaiGon Kim Hong, and others mark a significant step towards adopting smart farming practices, addressing the challenges and environmental impacts of rice cultivation and contributing to a more sustainable future."

Besides, according to Stacy Markovich, country division head of Bayer Southeast Asia and Pakistan, through a deep understanding of and close collaboration with local smallholder farmers, the company aims to create lasting partnerships via the ForwardFarming initiative, providing farmers with access to training, agronomic know-how and solutions to improve farming incomes.

"We are also committed to sustainability, including the adoption of holistic regenerative farming practices to strengthen farmers' livelihoods while also conserving natural resources."

Stacy Markovich, Country Division Head of Bayer Southeast Asia and Pakistan, shared at the event. Photo by Minh Phu

Prior to the formal inauguration of ForwardFarm Can Tho, Bayer Vietnam and NAEC jointly conducted train-the-trainer and train-the-farmer sessions for 2,000 local farmers on sustainable farming practices as part of the capacity-building programs.

The activities also included highlighting the key role of women in the success of agriculture and knowledge sharing for enhanced community health.