How Vietnam Brought Science and Agricultural Markets Closer Together

In Vietnam, the World Bank’s Support for the Autonomous Higher Education Project (SAHEP) aims to support government efforts to strengthen the linkages between university research and market demand at Vietnam’s leading higher education institutions. 

The Hanoi University of Science and Technology and the Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) are two major public universities participating in the program. At VNUA, professors and students strive to address pressing issues facing agriculture, a backbone industry of the national economy. In recent years, one of their top priorities has been to explore high-value and climate-resilient agricultural products, and one such product is honey. 

Raising the bar for the beekeeping industry

Vietnam exports about 54,000 tons of honey annually; however, this honey is mostly used in industrial processing. Even domestically, most Vietnamese consumers prefer buying imported honey. 

In some instances, Vietnamese beekeepers rush to harvest their honey using methods that include adding adulterants to increase volume. Industry insiders have called for efforts to increase the quality of Vietnamese honey and diversify export markets.

Associate Professor Pham Hong Thai, director of the Faculty of Agronomy’s Center for Tropical Bees and Beekeeping, has made it his lifelong mission to improve the quality of the product.

“It’s time to return the respect back to Vietnamese honey,” he said.

In recent years, Thai and his colleagues have succeeded in testing the use of double brood boxes to improve the purity of honey. So far, the center has transferred the double brood technique to beekeepers in Son La and Nghe An provinces, who have doubled the selling price of their honey on average.

Under Thai’s guidance, the center has been piloting a beekeeping monitoring system and is working with companies in Hanoi and the central province of Dak Lak to deploy the technology. 

Sensors track the temperature, humidity, and amount of honey produced. An app enables honey traders and consumers to trace information along the supply chain and allows beekeepers to demonstrate the quality of their honey and demand higher prices. 

Thai is confident that more can be done. With support from SAHEP to access lab equipment, the VNUA faculty members believe they can use their knowledge about bees and honey to help increase the quality and market value of honey.

“We can diagnose diseases of the bees more accurately in different environments and provide timely suggestions to beekeepers,” Thai said. “Students can analyze the components of honey products at the request of businesses.”  

Multiplying the benefits of microalgae

Another research area with market potential is the cultivation of microalgae, tiny organisms that may deliver massive health benefits.

Microalgae are commonly used in dietary supplements, cosmetics, feeds, and biofertilizers. For example, some microalgae strains can contain up to 70 percent of protein in addition to acting as sources of omega-3 fatty acids. They also offer promising options for climate action because of their ability to capture CO2 from the atmosphere. 

At the Institute of Microalgae and Pharmacosmetics under the Faculty of Biotechnology, Associate Professor Nguyen Duc Bach and his colleagues have been identifying the best species of microalgae across the country for mass cultivation.

Farmers can rely on VNUA to identify the most appropriate microalgae species for developing biomass as food for fisheries. Providing a sustainable source of aqua feed is critically important for Vietnam to remain one of the world’s leading seafood exporters.

“Wider production and use of microalgae can strengthen the climate resilience of the whole agri-food system.” Bach said. “I truly believe the future belongs to bio-products like microalgae.”

In 2020, Bach led a SAHEP-funded investigation that suggested different ways for Vietnam to scale up industrial production of spirulina – a type of blue-green microalgae, known to carry high levels of protein, vitamins, and antioxidants. 

The study revealed that the domestic production of spirulina hasn’t been able to keep pace with growing demand, and as a result, local consumers have to buy imported products. 

As part of SAHEP, the VNUA scientists also implemented a sub-research project to synthesize antioxidant-rich products from three species of microalgae. This has culminated in the production of a supplement product that is believed to slow down the aging process of eyes and improve vision. 

VNUA has created a spin-off company to commercialize the product, which has been widely sold via both online and offline channels.

“The research product has generated revenue, even though it is still modest,” he added. “That has encouraged us to continue researching and supporting the goal to produce high-quality made-in-Vietnam supplements.”

In 2015, VNUA was granted its autonomy status by the Vietnamese Government under a pilot program. This means the university has the freedom to organize its finances and personnel, and tailor its curriculum to industry needs. SAHEP has given a much-needed boost to VNUA’s autonomous capacity.

For Thai, greater autonomy has other intangible benefits. It can incentivize students and teachers to explore new frontiers in their intellectual pursuits.

“The pressure to be autonomous will lead to a higher level of creativity and innovation,” he said.