Scaling up the trust networks for food safety with small farmers

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The workshop was attended by representatives from research institutes and universities, representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Health, inter-agencies in the field of food safety, national and international organizations, donors, as well as agriculture producers, retailers, consumers and media.
The objective of the workshop is to explore available supports for safe food supply networks based on recommendations made in the World Bank report, to give out recommendations for scaling up the trust networks for food safety, and to discover the needs and opportunities for information exchange and traceability.
Food safety is currently a prime priority of the Government of Vietnam. The report "Vietnam food safety risks management: challenges and opportunities" by the World Bank and its partners aims to support and enhance the management and risk assessment capacity of food safety for the Government.
According to the report, recognizing the roles and responsibilities of agents/actors in food safety networks, particularly the role of small-scale production, as well as traceability are important tasks to do in the coming time.
According to Mr Geert Vansintjan – Deputy Head of Mission of the Beligum, small farmer is one of very important actors in the network for food safety. “In the developed countries, small farmers are always received attention from governments”, said Mr. Vansintjan. 
The workshop was provided comprehensive and necessary information on specific identification methods for actors in the food supply chain, thereby enhancing consumers’ trust, providing some directions to build up credible relationships between actors in the supply chain. This platform creates support foundation that enables small scale safety food chains to access the market more efficiently.
According to Embassy of Belgium in Vietnam, Food Technology, food safety and food production are priority areas for the Vietnam-Belgium partnership.   Belgium prides itself – like Vietnam, on its quality of food and the quality of life. Moreover, Vietnam are long-standing partners on food production and food technology: collaboration on aquaculture e.g. with the University of Can Tho city. The Vietnam – Belgium Food network – a partnership between Vietnamese and Belgian Food Technology faculties, Fair trade and safe food support to small farmers with VECO. For Belgium, a partnership on food production and technology goes beyond technology as it is part of the culture and heritage.