A brief history

The creation of MALICA in 2002 formalized the collaboration between CIRAD (Centre for International Cooperation in Agronomic Research for Development, France) and Vietnamese Agricultural research institutes which started in the late 1990s and proved to be very fruitful. Collaboration since the beginning has been driven by the interest and need to understand better the new opportunities and threats faced by the Vietnamese agri-food sector in a context of rapid urbanization. The extension to Lao PDR partners in 2010 came logically together with the broadening of the focus of MALICA as depicted below and is in line with the similarities between Vietnam and Lao PDR in terms of political and institutional framework; the growing relationship between Laotian farmers/rural areas and consumers/urban markets in Vietnam and the growing awareness and openness of food systems in both countries to various dimensions of quality.

While market and agricultural linkages for Cities in Asia remains at the heart of MALICA, the scope of the activities carried out by the platform broadened over time, adapting to changes occurring in the region, as evident in the table below. 

Years Focus Example of key Projects
2002- 2006 - Peri-urban vegetable production - SusPer (Sustainable development of Peri-Urban Agriculture in South-East Asia)
2006- 2010 - Urban-driven value chains
- Analysis of retail systems
- Consumer studies

- Supermarkets and the poor (ADB/Dfid, 2006-2008)

- SuperChain (IFAD Vietnam; Laos, 2008-2009) (Linking small farmers to supermarkets and other quality chains)

2011- 2016 - Relationship between changes in production systems and changes in markets.
- Quality standard; certification
- Regional and international markets

- Safe vegetables Moc Chau (Aciar, 2011-15) - Laos organic rice value chain (2013-2015)

- REVALTER, Livestock transition Vietnam (AnR, 2013-16) 

- Support to Geographical Indications in Vietnam and in SEA (Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia) (AFD, 2015-2018)

2017 - 2022

- Agricultural system transformations in relation to urban food system and market changes

- Restructuring of urban systems of food provisioning and retail, and quality standard development

- Impact assessment and prospective approaches in support to policy changes and innovations for more sustainable food systems

- Safe vegetables Moc Chau (Aciar, 2016-21)

- Promotion & Recognition of Geographical Indications (GI) in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar”

- URBAL (2018-2021)

- Food2C (2018-2020)

- StreetFood (2018-2021)

- Wholesale markets (2019-2020)

- Agroecology and Safe food System Transitions (ASSET) in Vietnam 

- Improving coffee and pepper sustainability in Central Highlands, Vietnam (ACIAR, 2020-24)