Vietnam, which extends about 330,000 km², is located in the Indochinese Peninsula. Three quarter of the area is mountainous and is home for numerous endemic and globally endangered wild animal and plant species. Vietnam is a tropical country with very high population density. There are about 9 million people from different ethnic minorities living in the mountainous areas. They depend on the forest to earn their living with often very traditional extensive agricultural practices. The forest contains valuable natural resources, which play an important role for humans. People harvest many different kind of forest products from nature. The forest is an important watershed area with many big rivers, which contain high potential for hydro-power. Beside, it also contains water resources for agriculture, industry and drinking water.

The forest in Vietnam covers about 11,785,000 ha of land, in which the natural forest is 9,865,00 ha and plantation forest is 1,930,000 ha. 6 million ha, which belong to 46 provinces, have vegetation with a high risk of burning. The vegetation includes pine, casuarina, Pomu, eucalyptus, bamboo forest and savannah. But in severe weather conditions in the dry season with drought, all kind of forests are easy to catch fire.

Figure 1: Forest Fire status quo in Vietnam

Climate Conditions in Vietnam

The climate and weather in Vietnam differ from place to place, so that in general forest fires may occur all around the year. Anyway, the risk of forest fires is higher during the dry season from December to April and concentrates in provinces belonging to the Eco-system of: East-North, West-North, West Plateau, Eath-Northen and Cuu Long Delta. Provinces with high risk of forest fire are: Lam Dong, Ca Mau, Kien Giang, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Dong Nai, DaK Lak, Quang Ninh…

The prime time for forest fires varies from year to year, depending on the weather conditions: it may be sooner or later in several locations. Provinces of the North Center of Vietnam (from Thanh Hoa to Thua Thien Hue) are affected the most during dry and hot West wind from July to August. At the other hand, the weather condition in the center of Vietnam along the coastline favour forest fires from April to July.

Forest Fire Control Boards

As shown in Figure 6, there are forest fire control boards on National, Provincial, District, and Village level.

Forest fire risk warning

1. The data from the General Department of hydrometeorology can be used to calculate the levels of forest fire risk:

2. Map of forest fire forecast: In the first stage the administrative map at provincial level has to be used, later on the map at the district level and the district around the meteorological station (the impacted areas). Colors to point warning levels have to be shown in the maps.
3. Designating of forest fire forecast software. Follow the Nesterrop formula to calculate the P indicator

   P = k*

   In which:

• k = 0 when rainfall >=5mm or 3 continuous days of rainning, k = 1 if the rain fall < 5mm
• N: number of days without raining
• T13i is the temperature at 13 o'clock in i day
• D13i is the differential saturated between dry graph and wet graph of day i (calculated from T13i and humidity of day i)

4. The value of P co-efficient is used to identify the levels of forest fire risk levels, which depends on the decision of provincial people committee, for example:

7. Level 3, 4 and 5 are by the computer programme automatically filled in with color on the map, at the district unit.

3. Level 3 is presented in yellow color: this colour stands for a moderate risk of forest fires (a long spell of dry weather). The need to consider to prevent forest fires of pine, eucalyptus, bamboo, rubber and indigo forest…

4. Level 4 is presented in orange color: this coulour stands for a high risk of forest fires. Here is already a high potential of forest fire in large scale given.

5. Level 5 is presented in red colour: This colour stands for a dramatically high danger of forest fire. This high danger arises in drought seasons. Forest are easy to catch fire in large scale and fire spreads out quickly.

For example: Forest fire warning on February, 8^th 2004 in the south of Vietnam:

1. Early detection of forest fire spots

1. Forest Protection Department in co-operation with Remote sensing and GIS Center are responsible for early detection.
2. The satellite picture is received by Station NOAA of the European Union at Hanoi under the Management of Remote sensing and GIS Center.

3. The Remote sensing and GIS Center receives 4 satellite pictures per day, which cover the whole country area. The satellite pictures are analyzed to detect the hot spots of forest fires. The list of districts and co-ordinate of forest fire spots will be identified (and marked in a forest fire map).
4. The list of forest fire spots will be sent to FPD by email. Then, FPD will confirm with the provincial FPD to certify the forest fire spots.
5. The information of forest fires, dependend on the situation will be sent to Vietnam Television and Radio to "the voice of Vietnam".

2. Forest fire guard tower

Guard tower is used to observe forest fire from height and is usually located in areas covered with much forest such as U Minh national garden in Ca mau, Ba vi in Ha tay province and so on. Visibility of guard tower is within a radius of 30 km.

3. Fire prevention bands

- Canals are fire prevention bands with water. Type of these bands are used from imigation canals in plain.

MISPA is a project based at the Informatic Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development (formerly the Information Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development) as a direct support to accompany the institutional and vocational evolution of the centre. It has three components which are: the capacity building of the staff of the centre, the implementation of specific studies on agriculture and rural development, the project management. It has started since June 2002.

The main activities of MISPA are currently the following:

8 studies are on the way on the following topics and run by different research institutions:

- The competitiveness of the coffee commodity chain run by the Sustainable Development Company (SDC).

- The competitiveness of the sugar commodity chain run by SDC

- The competitiveness of the dairy commodity chain run by the National Husbandry Institute (NHI)

- The competitiveness of the food livestock commodity chain run by Hanoi Agricultural University (HAU)

- Evolution of the land tenure in different representative areas run by the Department of Agrarian Systems (Vietnamese Agricultural Science institute - VASI)

- A satisfaction study on ICARD publications run by the Institute of Sociology

- The impact of the AFTA process for Agriculture run by the Rural Development Centre

- A comparison in between the agrarian systems of the Mekong and the Red river delta run by the Hanoi Agricultural University, and An Giang University

The first two studies are almost finished and their report should be available at the end of the first semester. The others are on the way.

It should also be noticed that the study found based at ICARD is opened to different donors, even if as a starting point founded by the French Co-operation.

Three working groups have been put in place on the following topics:

The competitiveness of the agricultural products. This group has already produced backgrounds documents available at ICARD on the situation of the different commodity chain. In 2004, the topics to be discussed are the following: quality, diversification and impact of international integration

The rural development group. A forum on rural development has been launched where different topics are discussed. 8 topics will be one by one under discussion during the following months: land, local development, water resources, peri-urban development, cooperatives roles, agricultural markets, credit and economic restructuration.

The coffee group run with VICOFA where the main challenges of the coffee commodity chain are discussed. A conference was hold in this framework on the 12^th of January 2004.

The target of these groups is to put the different experts around the table, to gather and exchange information based on research and expertise. According to the topics, different experts from different projects are associated.

More information can be obtained at MISPA project, ICARD, So 2 Ngoc Ha, Ba Dinh, Hanoi Tel 734 08 76

A meeting on the existing market information systems in agriculture was held on the 23^rd of February 2004.

The target of such a meeting was to compare the different existing systems, to inform participants about them and to discuss their sustainability and possible connections.

25 participants were present: the regular members of the competitiveness group and representatives from the Research Institute on Fruits and Vegetables and different projects and international organizations (CIRAD, ADB, GRET…).

Participants at work

Four presentations were given respectively by Mrs Nguyen Thi Loc and Mr Hoang Bang An from SUSPER project, Mr Tong Anh Tuan and Mr Phan Sy Hieu from ICARD, explaining the different information systems already put in place in the framework of different projects.

SUSPER project put in place an information system giving prices and quantities of different fruits and vegetables from Hanoi markets at different time of the year. Moreover, a specific system on safe vegetables chain was put in place. ICARD did the same on a daily basis in the South for fruits and vegetables and on Robusta coffee in Dak Lac. The ICARD collected data are then analysed and spread to different stakeholders (especially farmers) through different ways (radios, TV, meetings…)

The discussion reached the following conclusions:

- The sustainability of such systems should, as a first stage, be taken in charge by the State budget, knowing that projects money is not sustainable in the middle term. It is only after some years of implementation that the participation of users may be required. These systems are too new in Vietnam to ask the users to pay at the beginning of the implementation.

- The connection in between the different systems has to be put in place. ICARD looks as the right place to do it. A meeting will be organized soon to see how practically to put in place this connection

- The participants pointed also out the differences in between such systems and the one taken in charge by the General Statistic Office (GSO) which are more detailed prices oriented, do not distinguish the different kind of quality and are not daily based. The ICARD and SUSPER/RIFAV (Sustainable development of agriculture in Southest Asia/ Research Institute for Fruit and Vegetable) systems are so complementary and should receive the reasonable attention.

A conference on the competitiveness of the Vietnamese coffee and policy options to increase it was organized by ICARD on the 12th of January. This conference was one of the activities of the coffee expert group established by ICARD and VICOFA in October 2002 and supported by MISPA project (French Co-operation). 4 presentations were given by 4 experts from 4 organizations: ICARD, World Bank, EDE Consulting and one international coffee expert .

There were 38 participants taking part in the conference, who are working for different organizations: ICARD, VICOFA, IAE (Institute of Agricultural Economics), VASI, MPI (Ministry of Planning and Investment), MOT (Ministry of Trade), MOF (Ministry of Finance), VINACAFE, VICOPEX, SDC, AFD (French Agency for Development), FAO , ADB, WB.

Cofee: a main export crop

The conference was opened with the overview of Vietnam's coffee competitiveness in the global scenario by Mr. Surendra Kotecha, the former industry leader of the expert group in the project for pilot restructuring VINACAFE SOEs, and is now an independent consultant. The presentation analyzed the changing trends of the international coffee market in the past 15 years through different points of view (production, world prices, demand), the competitive advantages of the Vietnamese coffee, and 5 main policy recommendation were suggested (i) liberal foreign exchange regulation for price protection; (ii) develop a more global marketing strategy for coffee products as well as green beans; (iii) reinforce the extension system; (iv) optimize marketing strategy with improved coffee export qualities on Robusta and Arabica especially by implementing the Vietnamese Standard (TCVN) resolution to the extent possible according to markets requirements and (v) put over all emphasis in a more global rural development strategy (including infrastructures…) and including diversification. Regional cost of production studies to identify efficiencies. Optimize soil ph acidity levels for better productivity.

Then, MA. Phan Sy Hieu, a coffee economist in ICARD, presented an evaluation of Robusta coffee competitiveness in Vietnam and policy recommendations. Different factors affecting the competitiveness of Vietnamese Robusta coffee in the past 15 years were analyzed and concluded with 5 main policy options: (i) let the exchange rate adjust by market signal; (ii) reduce the area of Robusta coffee in unsuitable regions; (iii) increase public investment on extension services; (iv) increase the quality of credit service; and (v) increase public investment on rural infrastructure.

After that, Mr. Jan Von Enden, who was the coffee expert in the project of stimulating coffee quality and sustainable coffee production in Vietnam, presented the effectiveness of Arabica coffee in Huong Hoa district, Quang Tri province, a paper written by Michiel Kuit, technical assistant in Quang Tri project. His main conclusion was that Arabica coffee played an important role in increasing the farmers' and processors' incomes and employment. However, he says that a good understanding of the interactions in between socio economic and biophysical aspects is needed before planting any coffee. The great difference in revenues from coffee in small areas suggests that more has to be learned in this matter and that farmer centred extension systems are needed. Moreover, the level of Arabica production is very sensitive to the price of coffee, much more than on fertilizers prices (due to high Arabica costs of production, especially labour and fertilizers costs). Finally, he concluded that Arabica production should be focused on present areas in order to optimize production and quality before thinking of expanding, taking in particular into consideration the level of coffee production in the world.

Lastly, Mr. Rob Swinkels, the poverty economist working for World Bank in Vietnam, presented the topic of coffee, poverty and risk management market in Vietnam. The price crisis of coffee was found to increase the poverty rate in some regions in Vietnam, especially in Central Highland. It was suggested that the farmers' income needs to be more diversified. The role of rural credit service including insurance and other risk management tools is, according to him, particularly important in the process.

During the discussion time, presenters and participants have discussed and reached the general agreement on above conclusions and policy suggestions to increase the competitiveness of Vietnamese coffee industry in coming years.

More details about this conference can be found on the following internet site: www.agroviet.gov.vn

On the 26^th of February 2004, the members of the Rural Development Group met each other. The regular members of the group come from different organizations and Ministries, the rural development topic being a quite large subject.

Not being able to put around the table all the interested people by such a topic, it was decided some months ago, to put in pace an electronic forum able to share ideas about rural development. This forum has been launched this day.

The targets of this forum are:

First, to share on one Vietnamese site specifically dedicated to rural development, a number of background scientific documents already written (they are plenty but often scattered among different institutions)

Secondly, to organize discussion around specific topic by trying to gather as much people as possible working on rural development.

Third, in a second step if the forum is successful, the different topics discussed may be put in a more global rural development strategy

The success of the forum will depend on the mobilization of the different people involved. It will work as follows:

- first, each interested person who would like to participate, will ask for an access code by connecting to the following site: agroviet.gov.vn/rural4dev.

A background paper summarizing the topic and asking some questions will help the debate. Each member will be able to send his comments, on which others may react. The result of the discussion will be synthetize in a paper.

- A committee will then decide if this document may be put on the internet site of the Ministry of agriculture or not.

The first topic to be discussed will be an example of community based rural development called Saemaul Undong approach. Dr Dang Kim Son, director of ICARD, made a presentation explaining this approach and the results obtained in South Korea. Nevertheless, this approach has been developed in Vietnam in two different areas with completely opposite results. The debate will be then on the possibility to replicate such a model in Vietnam and the tools and methods needed to do so.

Finally, it was also decided that the core rural development group will look at the results of the forum every month. During these meetings, different presentation will be given by different members or institutions. The next ones will be on the rural development strategy in China and in Europe.