Recommendations on interventions and policy experiments for micro, small and medium enterprises in Viet Nam (Hanoi and Son La province)

The main goal for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the food sector is to optimize their profits and potentially to grow their businesses. Although some MSMEs have found a market niche by beginning to supply safe and nutritious products to the market, the number of such MSMEs remains limited, and has not yet established a strong mainstream trend. Given the dominance of MSMEs in supplying food to consumers in the retail sector in Viet Nam, if consumers are to choose healthier diets, they will need improved options in markets. As a result, improving the retail supply of safe, nutritious products hinges on improving the options for MSMEs to sell more healthy foods.

However, MSMEs face several barriers in selling additional healthy foods. A primary barrier is a lack of knowledge about what is meant by healthy food. Moreover, MSMEs currently possess little understanding and lack the know-how to effectively apply nutritional information into marketing strategies and product packaging. As a result, healthy products may not attract appropriate consumer attention to more nutrient dense products, reducing the incentive to invest in this segment. Finally, even those MSMEs that participate in safe food supply chains often lack in-depth knowledge regarding the specific nutritional value of the products they create.

In Viet Nam, several projects and programs that support MSMEs are funded and implemented by both the state budget and international organizations (ODA, NGOs). But topics related to nutrition, nutritious foods and healthy diets have not yet been included in training. Utilizing and integrating nutrition content into existing support programs is urgent to attempt to create a spillover effect in a cost-effective manner.

The primary goal of CGIAR’s Better Diets and Nutrition Science program (BDN) is to catalyze a shift of consumption patterns towards more sustainable, healthier diets. To meet this goal, it is important to remember that consumers regularly obtain food from MSMEs - in urban areas and more often in rural areas as well. Therefore, an intermediate goal is to help food MSMEs overcome constraints inhibiting the delivery and sale of sustainable nutritious foods to marginalized populations. This document will help develop a plan for further activities to help attain that goal that will take place in 2026-2027.