Dr. Duong Hoa Xo
Current Position: Director, Biotechnology Center of Ho Chi Minh City
Responsibilities: Overall in charge of the greening of Ho Chi Minh City through environment, agriculture and development efforts
Class of 17th RTC (1998-1999). Sponsored by SDC
Found the RTC training useful but did not really live up to its expectations of helping participants to perform better in their duties. Nevertheless, it was an eye opener and suggested that the curriculum need to be improved to reflect a more practical aspect of research and development in vegetables. His success in promoting safe vegetables in Ho Chi Minh City by bringing advanced vegetable technologies to make safe vegetables available to residents of Ho Chi Minh City, helped propel him to head a new center funded by the Ho Chi Minh City Government. His experience with implementing IPM led him to the conclusion that bringing skills to farmers to organize themselves into cooperatives to facilitate marketing is indeed very important.
Mr. Nguyen Van Dut
Current Position: Head, Department of Rural and Agricultural Development Service, Tra Vinh Provincial Government
Responsibilities: Tasked with rural and agricultural development in Tra Vinh Province
Class of 22nd RTC (2003-2004). Sponsored by SDC
Prior to participating at the RTC, Mr. Nguyen Van Dut was the Acting Director of Tra Vinh Agricultural Extension Center. Upon his return he continued his work as Acting Director until he moved to his present position last year. Mr. Dut found the RTC very useful for his work as an extension officer and even suggested that the course should be longer than five months. However, he recognized the constraint posed by the employer and agreed that a shorter period of training would be sufficient. An important technology learned at the RTC was growing vegetables under shade. He specifically mentioned the value of practicing the English language at the RTC as well as learning about advances made in vegetable production in Thailand.
Dr. Ngo Quang Vinh
Current Position: Head of Vegetable Department, Institute of Agricultural Science of Southern Vietnam (IAS)
Responsibilities: Direct vegetable research programmes at IAS
Class of 12th RTC (1993-1994). Sponsored by SDC
During his participation at the RTC, Dr. Vinh was impressed with AVRDC’s role in developing resistant rootstock. However, he found the technology developed by AVRDC too far removed from the realities on the ground. Hence, he focused on adapting the research on resistance development through grafting to match the skills of farmers in Vietnam. This has resulted in the promotion of tomato and watermelon production in the wet season in Southern Vietnam. It is not surprising that Dr. Vinh and his team has received many awards for their innovative approach to support agriculture of resource-poor farmers.
Mr. Ngo Minh Dung
Current Position: Researcher, Vegetable Department, IAS
Responsibilities: Responsible for farmer education activities under the HRDP IV in Tra Vinh province
Class of 22nd RTC (2003-2004). Sponsored by SDC
Prior to participating at the RTC, Mr. Dung had limited knowledge and skills in the field of agriculture science. During the 5 months spent at Kamphaengsaen in 2003, he learned to graft watermelon onto a resistant calabash gourd rootstock. When he returned to IAS, he focused on research to enhance the skills acquired at the RTC and supported the development of improved watermelon production in Southern Vietnam. Recently, he was assigned to facilitate farmer education in Tra Vinh Province where he strengthened the linkages between research and extension to promote advanced vegetable production among resource-poor vegetable farmers.
Mr. Ngo Xuan Chinh
Current Position: Researcher, Vegetable Department, IAS
Responsibilities: Promote grafting and use of net house to enhance tomato production in Lam Dong Province
Class of 23rd RTC (2004-2005). Sponsored by SDC
Was a Research Assistant when he joined the RTC and later became a Researcher following acquisition of skills learned at the RTC. His current focus is on using HW 96 rootstock (resistant to bacterial wilt) to support tomato production with a view to extend tomato grafting to the Mekong Delta. Participation at the RTC helped Mr. Chinh to change his attitude to work and the confidence built up at the RTC encouraged him to work more successfully. This is indicated by his success with farmers in Lam Dong.
Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa
Current Position: Researcher, Vegetable Department, IAS
Responsibilities: Transfer of vegetable production technology in Truong Sa (a series of islands off Southern Vietnam)
Class of 24th RTC (2005-2006). Sponsored by SDC
With the knowledge of advanced vegetable production learned at the RTC, Mr. Hoa was encouraged to share the knowledge with farmers. He wished that there was more discussion on how to transfer the vegetable production techniques to farmers. This is particularly so as he is now more involved in working with farmers.
Mr. Nguyen Van Kiem
Current Position: Marketing Executive, Agro-Chemical, Sanyo Trading Co. Ltd.
Responsibilities: Sale of agro-chemicals
Class of 21st RTC (2002-2003). Sponsored by SDC
Was a Research Assistant at IAS when he participated in the RTC. Soon after returning, he joined his present company. The knowledge obtained at the RTC helped him in getting this job. He found the curriculum at the RTC too basic, most of which he knew already from his undergraduate days and recommended that the RTC should focus on practice with exposure to advanced technologies.
