Most small-scale fresh food producers and distributors of perishable products, such as dairy or vegetables, have limited market opportunities because the product quality deteriorates fast. At least 40% of the produce is lost due to poor post-harvest practices and inadequate distribution systems. One of the biggest challenges in these value chains is the need for affordable, flexible and resilient cold storage options near the production areas.

This pilot builds on the extensive local experience of the Vietnamese company Fresh Studio Innovations Asia. During the last 5 years they have developed strategies to improve the performance of Vietnamese fresh food producers in Vietnam and other Asian countries. The project involves smallholder vegetable farmers in the lowlands of the Red River Delta, as well as the poorer and more remote farmers located in the mountains in the North West, in order to develop year round supply of guaranteed high quality and safe vegetables from North Vietnam. The climatic advantage of the cooler mountains in North Vietnam is used to develop a regional solution to supplement the vegetable supply from the Red River Delta during the summer period.

A large and viable horticulture sector in the Northern Highlands could create an enormous amount of jobs for the poor in remote rural areas. This could play an important role in diminishing the migration streams from the rural areas to the already over-crowed urban areas in Hanoi and Hai Phong.

The aim of this pilot is to:

• - Develop a low cost and innovative cold chain and distribution system for vegetables from the highlands in the North
• - Setup trade company as ‘chain coordinator’ linking vegetable smallholders to urban consumers in North Vietnam
• - Improve the coordination and planning between production (farmers and collectors) and sales of safe vegetables (trade company and F&V shops)

Theme: Sustainable food

Partners: Fresh Studio, The Food Republic and local partners

BoP region: Asia (Vietnam)

Role of the BoP Innovation Center: support and facilitate the project, capture and share learnings

Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Partnering for Prosperity is an initiative launched by the CEO's of Unilever, DSM and TNT. It is operationalized by Global Compact Network Netherlands and BoP Innovation Center.

Partnering for Prosperity seeks to achieve breakthroughs in the effectiveness of cross-sectoral co-operation in pursuit of Millennium Development Goal 1, “to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty”, taking locally formulated needs as a starting point. The initiative focuses on strengthening sustainable food systems and increasing access to quality food. It does this through sharing knowledge, executing actions that promote prosperity and creating synergetic combinations between the private sector, public institutions and NGO’s.

To read more about the initiatives falling under the Partnering for Prosperity umbrella:

• 2SCALE, Towards Strategic Clusters in Agribusiness through Learning in Entrepreneurship

Partners: IFDC, ICRA & Unilever, Rijk Zwaan, DSM, TNT, Rabobank Foundation, Friesland Campina.

• Develop small-scale storage for fresh food

Partners: DGIS, SNV, Wageningen University and Research, Spar International, local partners (to be confirmed)

To read the brochure of Partnering for Prosperity, please click here.

Contact person: Myrtille Danse (danse @bopinc. org), Eric Bouwmeester (ecb @hecht-ericbouwmeester. nl)

Enhancing MDG1 through a new Dutch initiative aimed at connecting the private sector, NGOs and government