The museum will be constructed on an area of 11 hectares in Vung Liem, a rural district. In preserving the value and legacy of Vietnamese agriculture, it seeks to recognize the significant contributions of the nation’s farmers, particularly those from the Mekong Delta.
The museum, built at a total cost of VND400 billion ($17 million), will have display sections that recreate the southern countryside during the old times. It will also have facilities for organizing events.
The artifacts and documents for each specialized display topic will be arranged according to four periods: agriculture under the Kingdom of Funan and Chenla before 1698; the Nguyen Lords and Nguyen Dynasty period (1698-1858); the French colonial period and that of the Republic of Vietnam (1858-1975); and in the Mekong Delta during the period from 1975 to present with Doi moi (economic reform).
Work on the museum is set to begin in 2022 and expected to last five years.
Vietnam has over 160 museums, including private ones, but none of them is an agricultural museum.
The Mekong Delta, the country's rice basket that also accounts for a major part of its fruit and seafood supply, is being hit by the worst saltwater intrusion this year. By mid-March, saltwater had intruded 50-110 kilometers into major rivers, all branches of the Mekong, two to eight kilometers more than in 2016.
This, combined with drought, has affected the delta in recent years and forced many farmers to leave the delta and look for work in HCMC and nearby provinces.