VietNamNet Bridge – In just a year Vietnamese farmers managed to help Sierra Leone double annual rice crops to two and quadruple per-ha rice yield to four tonnes, an unbelievable success that international experts had for long dreamt at.

The success has been made by a group of experienced farmers led by Prof. Dr. Vo Tong Xuan, who went to Sierra Leone from the second half of 2007 to provide farmers there with rice farming expertise under a project on “Exporting Mekong Delta farmers to Sierra Leone”.
The biggest achievement gained in the project is to help local farmers overcome the shortage of machinery and a poor irrigation system as well as to reserve 3 tonnes of rice seeds for a large scaled farming in the upcoming crop. It is a dream that has never come true to international experts despite their huge investments.

The accomplishment in Sierra Leone has brought the Britain-based T4M Company to sign a contract with Vietnam to send experienced farmers to other countries in Africa.
Under the contract, Prof. Dr. Vo Tong Xuan once more led a group of farmers to Nigeria and Ghana from June 22 to conduct a survey on the transfer of rice farming techniques.
Xuan said the project with the T4M company showed a number of favourable conditions as soil in the two Western African countries is similar to those in Vietnam ’s Mekong Delta and the T4M company’s financial capacity is powerful enough to meet essential demands by the project. The British Government has also agreed to introduce T4M to banks for 36 million USD loans to execute the project.
The survey in Nigeria and Ghana would provide a foundation for rice experts to work out a consultative plan on “A massive exportation of Mekong Delta farmers to the other side of the planet” for the Vietnamese Government and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to consider, Xuan confided.
He said with industrious tradition and rich experience in rice farming, farmers in the Mekong Delta unquestionably can become rice-growing experts for the colleagues in Africa. They will help cash in on the continent’s rich soil, thus reducing its rice import volume and alleviate the famine in the region.

The project will not only aim to boost rice production but also vegetables growing and supplies for major metropolis, creating a great demand for Vietnamese farmers-turned-experts as one of them will work on ten hectares of cultivated land.
In addition to relative good incomes for farmers in comparison with average earnings at home, the project has also opened an opportunity for farming machine exports to the “black” continent.