The primary aims of the planning grant are to promote the participation of key stakeholders of the proposed project, including local authorities and relevant agencies and communities, and provide scientific assistance for the project development. Major activities of the project include conducting surveys on socio-economic conditions of the proposed project site, identifying proposed project objectives and activities and assessing their feasibility, and providing needed technical assistance in project design and writing project proposal which will be submitted to GEF/SGP for review and appraisal; and identifying possibilities for project synergies and resource mobilization.

The GEF/SGP project VN/02/002 was implemented in Hoa Hau and Van Ly Communes, in Ly Nhan District, Ha Nam Province. The project objective was to contribute to conserving indigenous fruit tree species and varieties of Ly Nhan District through developing an on-farm conservation model, which encourages farmers to participate in the agrobiodiversity conservation.
Despite good results of the project VN/02/002, due to constraints in time and funding, there remain some problems to be solved. The project has contributed to the conservation of the local varieties, but the sustainability and replicability of the project models is rather limited because of the following reasons.
1. The model of conservation and development of the local variety of mandarin in Van Ly Commune has not been completed.
2. Limited technical capacity of the community. The local capacity in production of local fruit trees has not met the needs for project expansion. Due to budget constraints, the project gave priority to capacity building only for the project participating households.
3. Technical guidelines on conservation and cultivation of these local varieties of the project have not been compiled and disseminated as planned.
4. The building of a plan on the conservation and development of local fruit trees varieties in Ly Nhan district is not yet complete.
In order to promote the sustainability and expansion of the project, the phase 2 project aims to address the limitations mentioned above by giving priority to the following issues.
1. On technical issues, attention is paid to the issues of seedlings and plant protection. In agricultural extension, the focus is on technical training for the community on the plant protection, the production of high quality of seedlings, and application of advanced cultivation techniques.
2. In order to expand the production of the local varieties of banana and mandarin, the project gives priority to build community capacity in production and marketing. It is necessary to form specialized teams managed by the communities with the technical support from relevant professional organizations to meet the needs of expanding production, support the local communities in producing seedlings, crop protection, apply advanced cultivation techniques and marketing. Attention is given to the building of capacity and management mechanism for the specialized teams to work efficiently.
3. The project develops the demonstration farming models of cultivation and production of banana and mandarin in the direction of commodity development.
4. The project develops a plan for conservation and development of local banana and mandarin in the direction of commodity development and sustainable use of natural resources of the agricultural ecosystem of the low-lying delta, linking production with processing and marketing, and integrating with the local programmes on change the crop plants structures, land redistribution. The project develops the brand for Dai Hoang banana, contributing to the marketing of the product.
5. Compile and disseminate project technical guidelines on conservation and development of local varieties of banana and mandarin.