Vietnamese smallholder rice farmers have lifted profits by 10 per cent and cut production costs by 5 per cent thanks to a University of Queensland-led research partnership.
The results were presented by Professor Jaquie Mitchell from UQ's School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability at the Crawford Fund's 2026 Annual Conference in Canberra on 11 August.
Professor Mitchell detailed the impact achieved via a public-private partnership between UQ, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and SunRice Group, aimed at building a traceable, quality-assured rice value chain in Vietnam's Mekong Delta.
“The partnership had exceeded the team's early expectations,” she said.
“From the outset, we believed this partnership had the potential to deliver real impact for both commercialisation and sustainability, and it's gratifying to see our research demonstrate the benefits across the value chain, particularly for smallholder farmers.”
The project, delivered with An Giang University, Can Tho University, the Cuu Long Rice Research Institute and Ricegrowers Vietnam, originally ran from 2022 to 2025, and has now been extended.
It replaced traditional spot markets with contract-based purchasing and a direct farmer-to-mill delivery system supplying SunRice's Lap Vo mill in Dong Thap Province.
The results extended well beyond farmer incomes.
Pesticide use fell by 10 per cent, two promising short-grain japonica rice lines were identified for commercial release, and a Centre of Excellence in Rice Quality was established at the Lap Vo mill.
Improved production and post-harvest protocols developed through the project have since been written into provincial guidelines across the Mekong Delta.
Building on that success, ACIAR and SunRice are preparing to launch a new Small Research Activity within the next month, backed by more than $1 million in combined in-principle investment.
The follow-up activity will focus on climate adaptation and mitigation, gender-responsive finance training for farmer cooperatives, and breeding new premium fragrant long-grain rice varieties for SunRice's branded export markets.
UQ has also been invited to begin developing a Phase 2 Tripartite Agreement with ACIAR and SunRice to formalise the partnership's next stage.
"We're excited to continue building on this collaboration and to deliver even greater benefits for the farming communities in the Mekong region," Professor Mitchell said.
The original partnership was announced in March, when Australian Ambassador to Vietnam HE Ms Gillian Bird visited the Lap Vo mill and described the collaboration as a model for the Australia–Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
