Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh and Swiss Ambassador to Viet Nam Ivo Sieber have just signed an agreement to extend the project "Remote sensing based Information and Insurance for Crops in Emerging Economies (RIICE), funded by Switzerland.
The project helps the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and agricultural departments apply remote sensing technology to monitor and manage risks in rice production.
A remote sensor map showing rice growing area by day during the 2020-2021 winter-spring crop in Dong Thap province. Maps like these are important tools for monitoring and managing risks in rice production.
According to the agreement, the project will last until the end of 2021. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh said: “The Vietnamese government is implementing an ambitious agricultural transformation program, in which, digital transformation is an urgent task to help increase productivity and better protect the environment. RIICE directly contributes to the accomplishment of the Government of Vietnam's goal of transforming the agricultural sector”
Implemented in Viet Nam since 2012, RIICE provides maps and data for rice monitoring and insurance. RIICE is currently being implemented in 7 provinces in Viet Nam and can be completely replicated nationwide with a negligible additional investment. RIICE is a public-private partnership project funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by partners including Swiss Sarmap, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), National Institute of Agricultural Planning and Projection (NIAPP), Can Tho University (CTU), in cooperation with insurance companies Bao Viet, Bao Minh and Swiss Re.