The study examines factors affecting the relationship quality between coffee farmers and local traders. This study uses data collected from 201 coffee farmers. The results show that there are five factors affecting the relationship quality, including collaboration, perceived price, profit/risk sharing, power asymmetry, and effectiveness communication. Profit/risk sharing is the most important factor positively influencing the relationship quality between coffee farmers and local traders while power asymmetry negatively affects the relationship quality. The study also claims that relationship quality positively impacts farmers’ profit and relationship continuity intention between coffee farmers and local traders. Policymakers should focus on increasing transparency and information sharing between coffee farmers and local traders to improve relationship quality.

After years of experimenting, the “One must do, five reductions” (1M5R) (in Vietnam referred to as 1P5G) is being promoted by Vietnam’s Department of Crop Production as an advanced technique in rice production. Nevertheless, a certain proportion of rice farmers in the Mekong Delta are reluctant to implement 1M5R. This study collected data from 116 rice farming households in Soc Trang province to assess factors influencing the decision to adopt the new technique. The result showed that the 1M5R model offers better economic efficiency than the traditional producing model in terms of profit, revenue/cost ratio, and profit/cost ratio. The estimated Binary Logistic model revealed that labor, production experience, and production area significantly contribute to farmers’ adoption of 1M5R. These results are empirical evidence of the potential of 1M5R, which supporting its promotion in Vietnam’s Mekong River Delta

Basil (Ocimum basilicum var. pilosum) is an herbaceous plant species exhibiting various economic and medicinal values. This study was conducted to determine the effect of three different organic fertilizers, namely cow manure, worm castings manure, and Komix organic fertilizer, on the growth, yield, and essential oil content of basil in Thu Duc City. The results showed that using worm castings manure (25 tons/ha) decreased the growth parameters including the average height of main stems and the average number of leaves and lateral branches, whereas increased significantly the plant height (41.8 cm), stem diameter (6.0 mm), number of primary branches (13.5 branches), number of leaves (16.8 leaves), chlorophyll index (41.3) and number of shoots after regeneration (20.2 shoots), compared to the control. Besides, using worm castings manure (25 tons/ha) also helped increase the average fresh weight of basil stems and leaves (93.3 g/plant), theoretical yield (24.9 tons/ha), actual yield (14.7 tons/ha), essential oil content (0.5 mL) /100 g), and yield of essential oil (1.1 L/ha). The study also confirmed that using worm castings manure (25 tons/ha) created the highest economic efficiency with total profit reaching 737,570,000 VND/ha/3 harvests while using worm castings manure at a rate of 5 tons/ha gave the highest real rate of return (3.26).

This study was carried out to evaluate effects of loading density on water quality and survival rate of Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer) juvenile during live transport. The experiment included four treatments of different biomass: 50 kg/m3 (T1), 70 kg/m3 (NT2), 90 kg/m3 (T3) and 110 kg/m3 (T4) with three replicates for each treatment. The fish with an average weight of 20.50±0.25 g and length of 11.52±0.22 cm were fasted for 24 h before transporting in aerated and oxygenated heat-insulating tanks. The water temperature in transport was set at 22⁰C and the concentration of isoeugenol was 6 ppm. The fish was acclimatized to the transport temperature by gradually cooling water with ice to 22⁰C for 30 minutes. Then, fish were transferred to transport tanks containing 40 L water and closed with lids. After transporting, the fish were kept in hapas suspended in an earthen pond with routine management. Water quality and survival rates of the fish were recorded after transport 6 h and 12 h (end of experiment), and 3 and 7 days after the end of transporting. The results showed that the water quality was declined expressed by the decrease of DO and pH, and the increase of CO2, TAN and NO2 during transport but still in suitable ranges for seabass. The survival rates of the fish of all treatments were reduced following transport duration. The fish were well recoverd after the transport. At the end of the study, the survival rate of the fish of T1 was highest (96.00%), followed by T2 (95.33%), T3 (90.00%) and T4 (87.63%). Based on accumulated mortality, loading biomass of 70 to 90 kg/m3 and 50 to 70 kg/m3 were reccomended for live transport of seabass juvenile in cooling water (22⁰C) and sedation with isoeugenol (6 ppm) during 6 h and 12 h, respectively.

New product development is one of the most effective methods to expand the economic value of corn, which is currently a low-cost agricultural material. The present study was conducted to determine the production process of straws from corn under the laboratory scale, in which the influence of mixing formula, steaming time, screw speed, and drying temperature on hardness and expansion time of the drinking straws from corn kernels. In addition, the biodegradability of the resultant straws was also tested in the natural environment. The study determined the most suitable recipe for producing the drinking straw product, including corn flour (75%), tapioca starch (20%), rice flour (5%), with the addition of 0.5% xanthan gum and 0.2% potassium sorbate (w/w). The operating conditions of steaming time (10 min), screw speed (40 rpm), and air drying temperature (40°C) were found to be the most appropriate. For the decomposition study, the results indicated that the drinking straw product was capable of decomposing after 40 days at a temperature 30 ± 2°C. As such, it can be concluded that it is highly potential to build up the production process of the drinking straws from corn kernels that are environmentally friendly and ease of practical applications.