Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnamis receiving support to apply remote sensor technology in rice production.

Phase 3 of the project 'Remote Sensing-based Information and Insurance forCrops in emerging Economies' (RIICE) was launched in Hanoi on November 13.

The Swiss-funded project will support the use of satellite data for themonitoring of rice production and crop insurance in Vietnam until the end ofJune 2021.

The project is worth 10.2 billion VND (442,083 USD), of which the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation (SDC) will provide 8.4 billion VND (363,988 USD) and Vietnam disburses 1.8 billion VND (78,095 USD) from the reciprocal capital of theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The project will be implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment (MARD).

The third phase focuses on improving MARD’s rice monitoring system as wellas capacity to manage natural disasters through institutionalisation of RIICEtechnology including the development of procedures, tools and products for theuse of remote-sensing technologies in rice monitoring and crop insuranceprogrammes.

The first component of the phase aims to support the MARD to make advancedtechnology work smoothly and sustainably in the Government system in allaspects of technique, institution and finance.

In the second component, RIICE will produce rice yield data at communelevel to support the implementation of the crop insurance programme in sevenprovinces.

As part of a larger global project of the SDC that covers several otherrice producing countries such as Cambodia, India, Indonesia, and Thailand,RIICE has been implemented since 2013 in Vietnam in cooperation betweenVietnamese and international counterparts.

Specifically, RIICE benefited from technical capabilities of Sarmap, aSwiss company, to process satellite data and those of the International RiceResearch Institute based in the Philippines, to estimate yield.

RIICE also benefited from valuable crop insurance knowledge of Swiss Re,the world leading re-insurer.

Reymond Marcel, Head of Swiss Cooperation in Vietnam, said: “We were veryhappy to see that the previous two project phases were a success.

“Our main counterparts, MARD, NIAPP (the National Institute for AgriculturePlanning and Projection), and Can Thơ University have shown a high level ofcommitment and hard work in the implementation of this project,” he said.

“Building on past success, MARD and SDC have decided to continue phase 3 tomaximise the benefits gained and to ensure the project sustainability," headded.

Prof. Vo Quang Minh, head of GIS, Remote Sensing and Soil ScienceDepartment of Can Tho University, said rice production played an important rolein ensuring food security, job and income generation in Vietnam.

However, the sector faced many risks of natural disasters, storms, floods,droughts, saline water intrusion and diseases, Minh said.

Thus, agricultural insurance was considered a way to help farmers facerisks and minimise losses.

But, to sufficiently apply RIICE into rice sensors and insurance system, itwas necessary to enhance management staff’s capability as well as set up aneffective working process, he added.

“Our mandate was to implement the Government’s agriculture insuranceprogramme successfully,” said An Van Khanh, Deputy Director of the MARD’s Cooperatives and Rural DevelopmentDepartment.

“This was a very new challenge to us. You cannot imagine how much data wasrequired by the insurance industry.

“It was very fortunate that we can benefit from RIICE support in thisregards. It also opens up a very promising opportunity to expand the governmentprogramme”, said Khanh.

The project's phase 1 was carried out as trial in provinces of Nam Dinh andSoc Trang in 2012-2015.

Phase 2 was implemented in 10 provinces in Red River and Mekong Deltaregions in 2015-2017.

RIICE is a public-private partnership program sponsored by SDC to supportcrop insurance systems for smallholder farmers through the use of technology./.