On the afternoon of September 15, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment in coordination with the People's Committee of An Giang province held a conference to "Evaluate the effectiveness of agricultural and community agricultural promotion activities in implementing the 2-level local government model in the provinces of the Mekong Delta".
Speaking at the conference, Vice Chairman of An Giang Provincial People's Committee Ngo Cong Thuc said that after the merger (Kien Giang and An Giang), the province has the largest agricultural production area in the Mekong Delta and the whole country.
The Community Agricultural Extension Group was established on the basis of restructuring the agricultural Extension organization, agricultural cadres working in agricultural exchanges near communes, diversifying agricultural exchanges and services to serve the development of raw material areas, improving productivity, quality and increasing the value of agricultural products, serving the sector structure and developing agriculture and rural areas.
By April 2025, the province had established 255 Community Agricultural Extension Teams (including An Giang and Kien Giang before the arrangement) with 2,421 members.
According to the National Agricultural Extension Center, after localities implemented the 2-level local government model, the agricultural expansion system has remained effective. Currently, the entire Mekong Delta has 3 provinces of An Giang, Ca Mau, and Vinh Long following the Agricultural Extension Center model. Tay Ninh, Dong Thap and Can Tho City operate according to the model of the Agricultural Extension and Agricultural Service Center. In particular, the whole region is currently operating 1,013 Community Agricultural Extension Teams with more than 10,360 members - considered the "extended arm" of the agricultural sector to each commune and hamlet.
The change in the government model should organize community agricultural promotion to meet the requirements of streamlining to be suitable. The National Agricultural Extension Center suggests 2 options. Option 1 is to keep the existing Community Agricultural Extension Teams, located at the Regional Agricultural Extension Station, the team leader is the agricultural extension officer, within the scope of inter-commune activities. Option 2 is to reorganize on the basis of existing groups, placing them at the Commune People's Committee, commune leaders as group leaders, and the scope of activities on a commune scale.
The core task is still to closely follow the actual needs of farmers, organize short-term training, apply the "hand-to-hand" method combined with online training, build a simple agricultural promotion curriculum, associated with production practices, integrate digital transformation and safe production, reduce emissions.
The conference also discussed linking community agricultural promotion activities with the Project to develop 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice cultivation. The key task is to complete the farming process, issue measurement instructions and emission reports, build a set of identification and communication for the "green Vietnamese rice" brand. At the same time, promote the public-private partnership (PPP) model, promote linkages with businesses and associations to form raw material areas.
Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Thanh Nam emphasized: the community agricultural promotion force needs to develop into a multi-functional force such as technology transfer, production mechanization, cooperative consulting, crop and livestock services, digital transformation consulting, disease control. The Deputy Minister also proposed creating a mechanism for the Community Agricultural Extension Teams to participate in providing services to businesses, closely linking tasks with the 1 million ha rice project and the green growth target of the region by 2030.
On this occasion, the Decision to establish the Mekong Delta Agricultural Experts Club with 118 members was also announced, awarding a comic book series on agricultural promotion to the Community Agricultural Extension Teams.