- If the 3 dye products of the project are allowed to be circulated in the market, the local government will certainly work out policies to enlarge the area of conserving and developing the genetic resources of food-dyeing plants in the locality in order to form an area of raw materials serving the dye extracting and screening industry.
- If markets for the 3 dye products or raw materials of the food-dyeing plants can be found, the local government will include these plants into the local plant structure to develop the production of these plants into a kind of commodity as a source of local people?s income.
- The development of food-dyeing plants itself will help conserve biodiversity and safeguard the knowledge of using them as a cultural character of the ethnic minority peoples.
- The project has partly attracted the attention of the local governments of Mêng Kh¬ng district to the conservation and development of the genetic resources of the 3 food-dyeing plants (MËt m«ng hoa, CÈm and Chµm mÌo) in the locality. However, owing to the specific features of the project, such as the search of markets for the project products still facing with problems of finding a certain business who would undertake the formalities for the ?Certificate of product standards? to be issued by the Administration of Hygiene and Food Safety (of the Ministry of Health) and of waiting for an output for the products, the impact of the project on the policies was not very clear-cut.
- The Project Management Board formulates a revolving loan programme suitable to the project models (criteria on electing borrowing households, rights and duties of the Management Board and the borrowing households, loan duration, loan capital, interest rates ...) and asks GEF SGP financial managers and the participating communities to elect borrowing households on the basis of criteria formulated by the Project Management Board;
- The Project applies the revolving loan programme to households developing the dye plants on their own land. Upon the completion of the project, the loans will be reclaimed and turned over for the building and enlargement of the models;
- The project loans will be granted in kind to the borrowing households to set up the model during 3 years, including: (i) Seedlings; (ii) Fertilizer; (iii) Pesticides and insecticides
- The loans will be managed by the community with simplified and effective loan formalities at interest rates similar to those regulated by the Bank for the Poor.
- The farming households can borrow the loans with a duration of 3 years for the building of models, including:
+ A loan of VND 1,500,000/household to be invested in productive activities
+ Compensation for the crops of the area of planting food-dyeing plants: VND 500,000/household
+ Initial financial support for the seedlings and fertilizer: VND150,000/household.
Notable Community Participation
- The project gives priority to community participation. During the project design phase, knowledge and traditions of local people were studied and taken into consideration in project design. The local people were in consultations about the project issues and solutions at community meetings and through surveys/interviews.
In order to promote the role and responsibilities and to ensure community ownership, during the project implementation and M&E, the project will:
- Provide the community with full information on the project. Representatives from the community will be given the opportunities to attend project opening, mid term and final meetings, and project workshops.
- Give community opportunities to participate in all project activities.
- The project team will develop the revolving loan mechanism to assist the participating community in purchasing the materials for the project model building. The community select among themselves the participating community based on the selection criteria developed by the project team. The community manage the revolving loan programme.
- The community is given opportunities in project monitoring and evaluation.
- Mobilising the community to invest their labor and resources in model building.
- The project take into consideration the community needs and cultivation techniques when developing training materials.
- The community ownership, benefit and participation are cornerstone in project implementation and M&E.
Project sustainability
- With the completion of the project, the loans were reclaimed and revolved to continue model-building. However, as the natural dye products had not been permitted to be sold out, the sustainability of the project was somewhat affected.
Gender Focus
- Women are given prioroties in the project capacity building activities and revolving loan programme.
- Women take part in most activities of the project model building, including making seedlings, planting, caring, harvesting, and selling products.
Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment
1. One of the key objectives of the project is to enhance awareness and understanding of the project stakeholders on the following issues.
-global environmental issues such as biodiversity conservation, climate change, land degradation and desertification
-linkage between poverty and enviornemntal degradation
-enviornemntal protection and sustainable development
-millenium development goals (MDGs)
2.The project has awareness raising activities on global enviornmental issues, focusing on the project issue of biodiversity conservation.
-Oragnising training workshops, dialogues, community contests on the issue of biodiversity conservation
-Mainstreaming the project issue in the farmers? association activities and programmes
-Using public media when possible
-Attending in exchange visits, workshops and environmental communication activities organised by GEF SGP where GEF issues are discussed.
Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods
Emphasis on sustainable livelihoods
- The project aims at primarily conserving plant species used in food dyeing highly threatened by extinction, of high economic value, of much use by the community and with marketable potential. These include Mat mong hoa (Buddleja officinalis), CÈm (Peristrophe bivalvis) and Cham meo (Strobilanthes cusia).
- The conservation and development of the genetic resources of food-dyeing plants used by Vietnam?s indigenous peoples is a pressing need as it brings about the following benefits:
+ Conserving food-dyeing plants helps conserve biodiversity, traditional knowledge, cultural characters of the peoples, and the people?s economic benefits.
+ Conserving food-dyeing plants helps improve the awareness of the community of biodiversity conservation.
- Conserving local food-dyeing plants will contribute to diversifying the plant structure, carrying out the policy on plant re-structuring, and promoting economic value of the cultivation area.
- Muong Khuong has a tropical climate of the high mountainous area, suitable to the growth and development of Mat mong hoa (Buddleja officinalis), Cam (Peristrophe bivalvis) and Cham meo (Strobilanthes cusia). as there remain large uncultivated areas. Therefore, once the government and the local people are strongly determined, Muong Khuong will be fully capable of becoming a specialized area for cultivating food-dyeing raw material plants in the future.
- However, to conserve and develop the genetic resources of food-dyeing plants in Mêng Kh¬ng to help increase the people?s living standards, much is required from the efforts of the local government, the support ? both spiritual and financial ? from related sectors and agencies for the petition for a ? certificate of publicizing the standards of 3 natural dyes of the Project?.
Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples
IPs
- Muong Khuong is a mountainous commune at the country?s border with 14 ethnic groups living together, mainly: the Kinh, the Nung, the Pady, the H?mong, the Tu Dy, etc. Therefore, the participation of these ethnic communities is of great social significance. Conservation can therefore be said to be of a socialized nature.
- Through the implementation of the project, the ethnic communities had the chance to exchange and share information, experience, and lessons, hence increasing their knowledge in many aspects.
- The ethnic minority communities have been abundant and unique experience in using herbs and plants to provide colors to foods. This is precious experience of national character that needs to be cherished and preserved for future geneticrations.
Capacity - Building Component
The project capacity building activities include the followings.
- Training workshops in planting dye plants
- Community meetings and workshops for assessment on project model building and experience sharing in planting dye plants
- Study tours/exchange visits to learn from other localities in planting dye plants
- In addition to the project capacity building activities, the project team members attend exchange visits, training workshops on project design and implementation, M&E as well as themtaic workshops for sharing experience and lessons learned organised by GEF SGP.
- In addition to the project capacity building activities, key community members attend exchange visits, themtaic workshops for sharing experience and lessons learned organised by GEF SGP.
- Training participants are project participating farmers, and commune key farmers and extension workers of participating commune.
Replication of project activities
The replication of the project depends completely on the efforts of the government and local agencies and sectors in looking for and supporting a business who could undertake the application for a ?Certificate of product standards? to be issued by the Administration of Hygiene and Food Safety of the Ministry of Health.
- If the 3 natural dye products of the project are allowed to be circulated in the markets, Muong Khuong will certainly become a specialized planting area producing and supplying raw materials of the 3 food-dyeing plants (Mat mong hoa, Cam and Cham meo) to the line of extracting and separating dyes.
Project Results
1.Impact on the awareness of the governments and communities of all levels:
- Before the presence of the project, the awareness and understanding of the governments and communities in conserving biodiversity in geneticral and flora resources of high scientific and economic values as food-dyeing plants in particularly had been very limited. And there had been no models of conserving and developing food-dyeing plants linked to the communities? income.
- The loss of genetic resources among the ethnic minority communities is linked to the rule of losing traditional knowledge in the process of socio-economic development. In recent years, due to many different impacts, national knowledge and habits tend to fall into oblivion, including the experience of using food-dyeing plants. Together with modern advances in their living, the people have gradually given up their traditional habits of using food-dyes. At present, many H? mong and Dao ethnic communities tend to leave off their traditional costumes, and the traditional habits of dyeing. This has not only led to forgetting traditional knowledge but has also reduced the concern and awareness of protecting the food-dyeing plants. Some plants used by minority peoples in dyeing their clothes are very rare in nature, and can only be found in home gardens. Many traditional tress, food-dyeing plants included, are seriously threatened, even becoming extinct. In addition, experience of using these plants are only handed down within the family. So far, there have been no investigations nor studies to summary the experience of using dyeing plants with an aim at development and inheritance. with the trend of socio-economic development, the danger of losing the genetic resources together with traditional knowledge related to dyeing plants becomes very threatening unless conservation measures are devised. Since the presence of the Project, the awareness of the governments and communities has been enhanced in terms of significance and benefits of conserving food-dyeing plants towards economic development, biodiversity conservation, and maintenance of cultural traditions of the peoples.
To raise local awareness of environmental protection and biodiversity conservation
- Two meetings were held in Chung Chai A hamlet and an opinion-exchange meeting at the People's Committee of Muong Khuong Commune.
- The Project Management Team and The Farmers' Association in Muong Khuong organised 2 competition sessions among indigenous people in Muong Khuong Commune with the following content:
a. Knowledge on the environment, biodiversity preservation and sustainable use of natural resources
b. Techniques of planting, caring, harvesting and producing food dyes, and experience of conserving and using dye-plants.
These competitions contributed to raising the indigenous people's awareness of the importance of conserving the genetic resources of local dye-plants, and retaining the knowledge on using them as well as the national cultural characteristics.
There were also surveys carried out and experience collected among ethnic communities (Dao, H'mong, Nung, Tudi, Padi, Thu lao, Phu la and Muong) concerning the use of 14 plants to dye clothes, implements and traditional dishes.
2. In due time, the building of the model for conserving and developing the genetic resources of food-dyeing plants in Muong Khuong commune has helped recover the genetic resources of the 3 mentioned species of Mat mong hoa, Cam and Cham meo with great amounts and active supplies of raw materials for the extraction and separation of dyes on the experimental line of the project. This is also an activity contributing to conserving the biodiversity and preventing the gradual loss of a precious resource in the locality. Accumulated experience during the process of model building serves as a basis of developing a specialized planting area of raw materials of food-dyeing plants in the future at Muong Khuong.
Demonstration model
- 17 households selected in Chung Chai A hamlet and 14 households selected in Ma Lu hamlet of Muong Khuong commune participated in the model of conserving the genetic resources of food-dyeing plants.
- Agreement was reached on the area and density for planting each species of tree; participating households received consultancy to select those plots of land suitable to the growth and development of the plants. The area of each model is 300 m 2.
- The farming households can borrow the loans with a duration of 3 years for the building of models, including:
+ A loan of VND 1,500,000/household to be invested in productive activities
+ Compensation for the crops of the area of planting food-dyeing plants: VND 500,000/household
+ Initial financial support for the seedlings and fertilizer: VND150,000/household.
Experimental production of the 3 dyes:
A production line for experiment pigment extraction was installed in Muong Khuong Commune, Muong Khuong District, Lao Cai Province.
- Laboratory research was done and perfected on the process of extracting yellow dye from Mat mong hoa, purple dye from Cam, and indigo-blue dye from Cham.
- The process of producing these 3 dyes has been set up on the experimental production line of the project.
- The amounts of dyes obtained from the tress: 5 kg of yellow powder from Mat mong hoa, 5 kg of purple powder from Cam and 1 kg of clean Cham powder.
- The dyes were tested and standardized in terms of hygiene and food safety.
- The dyes were reported to be non-toxic according to the results obtained in tests done by laboratories of Ha Noi University of Pharmacology.
- The basic standards of the 3 natural dyes of the project were established by the Institute of Pharmaceuticals.
- Experimental production of a number of food products was carried out, using the 3 natural dyes: wines, beverages, cookies, candies, agars, and the dyes were also used in providing colors to tablets at the Institute of Food Industry and the Institute of Pharmaceuticals.
Project studies
The project has carried out a number of necessary studies to perfect the documentation and formalities of publicizing the standards of the 3 natural dyes:
Implemented contractual research studies include:
"Establishing standards of natural pigments" and ?Research on preserving the natural pigments? by the Institute of Pharmaceuticals;
"Assessing the acute toxicity of three powder pigments of natural origin" by Hanoi University of Pharmacology,
"Experimental production of food using the 3 natural pigments from project VN/03/006" by The Institute of Food Industry,and
"Research study on chemical components of natural pigments extracted from Mat mong hoa, Cam and Cham Meo" by the Chemistry Institute (Vietnam's Institute of Science and Technology).
- Carrying out research on the possibility of extracting and separating purple matter from dry Cam raw materials and on the drying method of raw materials to ensure the quality of the dyes
- Carrying out research on a number of new forms of products from dry raw materials (Mat mong hoa and Cam) for the convenience in use and processing
The results are these studies served as a scientific basic for asking permission to use the said pigments as additives in foods, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
3. After 3 years of implementing the project, results show that planting Cam and Cham meo for raw materials to extract and separate dyes has a much better yield than planting paddy, corn, vegetables, soybeans and groundnuts. Planting Mat mong hoa is more economically effective than planting paddy and soybeans. However, these are merely relative calculations, as the land used for planting Mat mong hoa is mainly the soil in rocky mountains intermixed with earthen mountains and is often uncultivated land as this species does not need much care. However, Mat mong hoa has not been able to produce high and stable yields after 3 years, with some plants even not reaching blossoming age. In addition, MËt m«ng hoa is a species with narrow distribution, and the climate and land in Muong Khuong are completely suitable to the growth and development of this species. This species can therefore can be regarded as a specialty of Muong Khuong and is sure to bring about proper income to the local people.
4. During the implementation of the Project, a link has been formed among the government, the professional staff, and producers, resulting in efficiency in the transfer of science and technology to the farmers. The interrelationship between science-technology and traditional experience has also received attention, helping promote the efficiency of the activities in model-building.
5. Propaganda work on the project has partly urged the communities to take part and contribute to the success of the project, with lessons and experience shared and exchanged, and results widely propagated.
The project's propaganda documents were formulated and distributed to government authorities, related agencies/sectors, and local communities, contributing to popularising information on UNDP, GEF SGP and this project. The documents include:
- Two compiled hand-books on the techniques of:
+"Multiplying food dye-plants" (100 copies), and
+"Planting, caring and harvesting dye-plants" (100 copies).
- 300,000 sheet calendars designed and printed for project propaganda,
- 500 leaflets and 2 posters introducing the activities and results after 3 years of project implementation,
- A compiled technical document, summarizing project outcome and drawing lessons from project implementation (This document has been assessed and printed for propagation), and
- A documentary film introducing project activities.
