June 28, 2007

USAID/Vietnam Director Visits SUCCESS Alliance

USAID/Vietnam Director Dennis Zvinakis visited ACDI/VOCA’s SUCCESS Alliance beneficiaries, staff and partners in the Dak Lak province on June 28. Accompanied by ACDI/VOCA staff, he met with representatives from the Dak Lak People’s Committee, other officials and media.

Province Chairman Lu Ngoc Cu, who briefed Zvinakis, expressed pleasure at the SUCCESS Alliance project’s initial achievements. Although active for only three months, the project has had to be ramped up efficiently and effectively to capitalize on the current planting season. The chairman noted the progress made in working with indigenous minorities to improve livelihoods, develop modern farming techniques and awareness, and strengthen their civil rights. He also affirmed interest in the future development of a sustainable cocoa market.

Zvinakis noted that the SUCCESS Alliance is the first U.S. project in Dak Lak, though he predicted it is just the first of many that will support small households and minorities. Both sides plan to meet again in Dak Lak in the early fall.

Zvinakis also visited project sites in the Lak district, meeting with the cocoa clubs in both Yang Tao and Bong Krang communes where distribution of 150 seedlings per household is ongoing. All of the farmers in the clubs are M’Nong ethnic minorities.

Through a 3-year USDA Food for Progress award valued at $5.5 million, ACDI/VOCA is building on successful projects in Indonesia and the Philippines and a strong relationship with the cocoa industry to implement the SUCCESS Alliance project in Vietnam. The Alliance will increase and diversify farmer incomes in southern Vietnam by producing high-quality cocoa on approximately 7,500 hectares of land; training 17,000 smallholder southern Vietnamese farmers in cocoa production using sustainable cropping practices; and establishing quality standards and providing monitoring and training assistance to assure farmers maintain cocoa bean quality.