Project News

From 21 to 28 April 2012, the villagers from the project pilot sites participated in and practiced marketing their products at Dien Bien Festival held in Dien Bien Phu City. The Festival was organized to commemorate the city's 20th anniversary from late April to early May 2012, attracting hundreds of local people in and around the city. Despite repeated changes of the festival schedule by the organizer, the villagers from five villages from Dien Bien Dong District, Dien Bien District, and Dien Bien Phu City eagerly took part in the festival under the coordination of the project management units at different levels.

At the booth of the Project for Sustainable Forest Management in the Northwest Watershed Area (SUSFORM-NOW), a wide variety of local products from the project target sites were displayed and sold. These products included Thai and H'mong traditional textiles and clothes, music instruments, bags, baskets, bamboo papers, wine, and sticky rice. Among the best sold were the food items such as sticky rice and wine.

Apart from the products from the participating villages, the booth had posters and leaflets introducing the project and its activities as well as some 3D models showing some of the project's pilot activities.

SUSFORM-NOW booth set up at the festival.

Participating villagers at the project booth.

Traditional wine and handicraft sold at the festival.

Thai traditional textiles.

During the festival, the participants from different villages took turn looking after the booth, talking to the customers and managing the sales and inventories. Through the selection, preparation, and sales of their products at the festival, and with the assistance and advice from the project, the villagers were expected to obtain practical experience in product marketing.

The eagerness of the participating villagers at the festival had been further growing towards the end as the villagers requested to stay longer at the festival than originally planned. The project plans to support the villagers' participation in similar occasions to provide more product marketing opportunities for better livelihoods improvement.

3D model of contour cropping (left) and current land use (right).

The Director of Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Hien, also visited the booth.