What was it all about?

Vietnamese growers comprise approximately a quarter of the Western Australia vegetable industry. This project, which ran from 2012 to 2015, employed a bilingual Vietnamese Field Extension Officer, Vo The Truyen, to provide extension and communication of R&D outputs and other information to Vietnamese vegetable growers, to increase knowledge and adoption of good agricultural practices.

Over the three years of this project the Vietnamese Field Extension Officer maintained regular contact with a large number of growers in WA and engaged in several R&D projects for the Vietnamese vegetable growing community.

The officer collated and maintained a list of Vietnamese growers and built industry partnerships with them. He provided language assistance, promoted good on-farm practices, represented the group as required and worked with vegetablesWA including translating magazine articles into Vietnamese and writing pieces for the community.

In all, 225 growers were involved, at least 40 per cent of whom reported adopting new innovations as a result of the project. In particular, chemicals were used more safely and effectively, irrigation efficiency was improved, applied innovations were adopted and biosecurity was improved. Stable fly was also managed more effectively.