3. Specialized disciplines                                                                                Go top

The COA consists of the following 9 departments, 1 administration office:
1.      Crop Sciences
2.      Soil Sciences & Land Management
3.      Plant Protection
4.      Food Technology
5.      Animal Sciences
6.      Veterinary Medicine
7.      Administration Office
8.      Biochemistry - Plant Physiology Department
9.      Department of Agriculture Genetics and Breeding

Personels: 278 Staff; 120 Lecturers; 116 reseachers and 42 others; in which: 13 Ass. Prof.; 28 Doctors; 88 Masters

4. Physical facilities                                                                                       Go top

The COA is a well-rounded operational unit of the university based on its long term activities and research programs. Due to the recent ODA project under Japanese Grant-Aid together with programs granted by the Dutch Government and other international organisations, COA currently have facilities such as laboratories, lecture rooms, auditoriums as well as up-to-date audio-visual teaching aids. Presently, all related departments have their own modern laboratories and research equipment comparable with other Colleges of Agriculture in the Southeast Asian Region.

Stocked with thousands of specialised magazine, scientific research articles, books, CD ROMs and other necessary equipment, the College Library meets the need of more than 100 readers at the same time. New computer models have been installed and  linked with the international Internet, available for the use of lecturers, scientists, students and staff.

Moreover, in light of upgrading scientific research, experiment, and production, the COA also maintains the following local research and production stations where staff and students of college can carry out research and training programs on farm and at production levels.

-      The Fruit Tree Collection Garden and Bonsai Nursery: these units are in charge of collecting, growing and crossing a diversity of fruit trees, flowers and rare species of orchids in the Southern part of Vietnam and other countries in Southeast Asia.

-    The agricultural model “Agronomy-Animal Husbandry-Fisheries” had been widely applied and the recycling of animal waste has also been tested and put into use to meet the need of fertilisation and power supply such as biogas.

-    The Animal Husbandry Farm: Raising domestic animals and poultry (pig, chicken, duck, cow, and buffalo) with different indigenous and imported breeds. It aims at crossing and making the best use of gene sources. It further trains students in both the above – mentioned methods and regional animal husbandry development.

Animal clinic: in the process of being established to improve students' practical skills in pest control of domestic animals.

5. Undergraduate training program                                                                Go top

Up to now, the COA has trained more than 15,000 agricultural engineers for the Mekong Delta (MD). Many of them occupy key positions in government offices, companies, and business enterprises. Some are notably successful in their own agricultural private companies.

In order to meet the ever-increasing labour force requirement in the MD, the COA has been actively expanding its degree courses and personnel competence.  Academic curriculums have been appropriately adjusted to correspond with students' basic and specialised knowledge. This provides them the experience on actual situations as part of their training. This in turn, gives them a positive view of practical production situations with will be useful in their future work.

At present, the COA is able to yearly admit around 1600 students and provide them with engineering training in Agriculture, Agronomy, Animal Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, Food Technology, Land Management, Soil sciences, Plant protection and Enviromental Sciences. Students of the COA are given many opportunities to study and self –develop. Many scholarships sponsored by study extended to outstanding student and to those in financial need.

Furthermore, thanks to the body of young cadres trained in countries together with the foreign staff currently working at the college, students have more chances to upgrade their foreign language knowledge, especially English and French. At the moment, their French language course sponsored by AUPELF-UREF Organisation offering lectures to students of Agronomy and Food Processing right in their first year.

The competence of the graduates have been widely recognised. Their services are requested by business enterprises, governmental organizations and foreign companies. Often, they have been assured of employment even prior to graduation.

6. Postgraduate program                                                                                  Go top

Furthering university-training programs, COA offers postgraduate programs for Master’s degrees in the fields of Agriculture, Soil Sciences, Animal husbandry-Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Environmental Sciences, Food Technology and Plant protection; and PhD.' degrees in the fields of Agriculture, Soil Sciences, Animal husbandry-Veterinary Medicine, and Plant protection

Also, students of COA have made significant contributions to scientific research. Thanks to the knowledge attained, a good number of students’ research theses have been highly appreciated by the local and central government.

7. Domestic and International collaborations                                            Go top

Domestic and international collaborations are one of the strengths of the COA. It co-operates with foreign universities and organisations as well as their provinces in the MD in areas of scientific research, training, and agricultural extension.

-     Domestic collaboration: Agricultural University 1, Soils and soil fertility Institute, NIAPP, Sub-NIAPP in HCM city, Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute, Southern Fruit Research Institute, Forestry and Agricultral University-HCM city, HCM City Tropical Biology Institute .......

-     International Organizations: HEIFER, IRRI, OXFAM, FAO, UNDP, JICA, JIRCAS, DANIDA, SAREC, ACIAR, IUCN, UNEP, WWF,  . . . 

Foreign Countries: Netherlands (Wageningen University, ALTERRA), France (ENSAT Toulous University), Sweden (Uppsala University), Belgium (Gent University and Leuven University), USA (Louisiana State University), Australia (Vetiver centre, Sydney University), Denmark (Arthur University), Japan (Kyoto University, Tokyo University, ....) , Thailand (IAT, Chaingmai University), England (Cambridge University, University of Nottingham,University of Leicester), Cambodia (Royal University), India (Remote sensing center), Philippines (UP), Laos (Forestry and Agriculture University), China (Nanjing Agriculture University), Canada (Laval University), Germany (Inwent, Ludwis Maximilians University Munich), Malaysia (Putra University, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, MARDI), Finland (University of Helsinki, VAPO), Indonesia (University of Palangka Raya, University of Gadjah Mada, University of Sriwijaya, BPPT). . .

8. Scientific research and transfer                                                            Go top

Scientific research at the COA has been one of the most effective and successful activities for over 20 years. The results of scientific research have been widely recognised for its high efficiency and prompt application into agricultural production,which directly contributes to the increase of regional food and foodstuff.

The key areas of scientific research are as follows:

-      Land evaluation and land use in the MD.

-      Land use planning by using GIS and remote sensing in the MD.

-      Management of soil fertility, soil chemistry and physics for sustainable agriculture.

-      Food staples in the MD where rice, soybean, mungbean and vegetable are highly regarded.

-      Fruit trees and trees for industrial use.

-      Integrated pest management.

-      Plant structure and crops.

-      Improvement of domestic breeding quality.

-      Environment and natural resources management.

-      Coastal zone biodiversity and management.

-      Sustainable agriculture development combined with the model “Garden-Fish Food-Livestock” expanded household level and local areas.

-      In vitro culture.

-      Agricultural production plans in the MD.

Transfer:

Owing to the productive and effective results of these scientific researches, many specialised syllabi have been printed out and published fostering agricultural expansion facilitating training processes and agricultural production in the MD.

Training in the field of:

 Crops: technique and varieties

-         Plant protection: crops

-         Soil management

-         Animal production and management

-         Farming system

-         Environmental protection

-         Food storage and processing

Some results:

-         Providing the human resources for MD and other places

-         Changing the land use system in the MD

-         Increasing the cultivated area and cropping index

-         Applying new technology for crops cultivation and animal husbandry

-         Increasing the crops yield and animal production

-         New technology for post harvest

-         Improving the food processing

-         More flexible in farming systems depending on the market demand

-         Improving the income of the farmers and their living standard in the rural areas

9. Future plans                                                                                                Go top

For the furture plans, CoA will continue to:

  - Improve the quality of training: teaching and curriculum development
  - Control and improve soil and water degradation in agricultural areas
  - Reduce and control environmental pollution
  - Increase the quality of agricultural products by (bio-) technology.

  - Natural resources: by management

  - Post harvest and food processing

  - Study and apply the bio-technology in the field of food technology, crops varieties, animal production, and veterinary medicine.

  - Manage and use effectively problem soils: degraded soils, acid sulphate and saline soils

  - Use and manage the sustainable land resources