Publications

What is PGS? How does it work? What has it achieved? What lessons have we learned? This policy brief answers all those questions and more and makes a series of recommendations about what policy-makers can do to support the development of PGS in Vietnam.

In 2017 and early 2018, Vietnam National University of Agriculture and Rikolto investigated all existing PGS in Vietnam to assess their strengths and weaknesses and come up with recommendations on how to improve PGSs in the Vietnamese context. This Executive Summary compiles the study’s main findings and recommendations.

This case study investigates the factors that made PGS Thanh Xuan, established by the Danish NGO ADDA in 2008, the most successful PGS model in Vietnam and identifies some of the features that should be replicated by other PGS to improve their sustainability.

Over the 10 years of their existence in Vietnam, Participatory Guarantee Systems have encountered many successes but also sometimes serious struggles. This case study dives into the challenges experiences by one PGS in northern Vietnam and proposes recommendations on how to avoid some of the common pitfalls.

The toolbox contains a series of documents to help trainers set up and operate PGS and train farmers on the BasicGAP standard. It is composed of:

1. Technical guidelines on PGS for trainers,
2. A training guide on BasicGAP, and
3. Three posters aimed at farmers on the functioning of PGS, the BasicGAP guidelines for safe vegetable production and Good Agricultural Practices compatible with BasicGAP.

The trainers’ toolbox on PGS is work in progress and we are continuously striving to make it better. We very much welcome any feedback that would help us improve future versions of the documents.

This short case study provides information on a wide range of issues such as the main motivations and obstacles to safe and organic food consumption, consumers' willingness to pay for safe and organic vegetables, and their preferred shopping places for vegetables in Hanoi.