Assessing the Performance of Climate Smart Rice Production Systems in the Upper Part of the Vietnamese Mekong River Delta

Abstract

Climate smart agriculture (CSA) has gained considerable attention in Vietnam due to its potential to increase food security and farming system resilience while decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. In recent years, several CSA practices have been introduced in rice production, the most important sub-sector of Vietnam’s agriculture. However, few studies have been done in Vietnam to produce comprehensive assessments of CSA performance in the rice sector. This research proposes a comprehensive approach to assess CSA practices through a new set of evaluation indicators. A case study in An Giang province of the Vietnamese Mekong River Delta was implemented to evaluate the performance of five CSA models versus that of the triple rice crop system (i.e., benchmarking model). Results show that rice-shrimp and rice-lotus rotations are most profitable, low-risk, and applicable at a larger scale. Given that the current study analyzed and calculated only a small number of indicators and types of CSA practices, further research is necessary to test all indicators and diversified types of CSA models.

Salinity Intrusion Trends under the Impacts of Upstream Discharge and Sea Level Rise along the Co Chien River and Hau River in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

“…There were many solutions to adapt to salinity intrusion proposed or implemented for the VMD. The appropriate solutions for Tra Vinh included (i) sluice gate systems for salinity prevention (currently in operation) [90,91], (ii) changing crop structure to adapt to drought and salinity (for example, salinity-/drought-resistant varieties) [7,76,92,93], (iii) reducing the number of crops per year (from three crops/year to two or one crop yearly) [7,94,95], desalination for domestic water use [96], (iv) monitoring, forecasting and early warning of salinity intrusion [97,98], (v) climate-smart agriculture (rice-shrimp) [92,99,100], and (vi) improving agro-fishery value chains [101][102][103][104]. However, despite the vast array of strategies, there still remain implementation challenges, such as farmers' low awareness, lack of investment in production equipment [105], and the complicated socio-hydrological factors in the region.…”

Rural Adaptation to Climate Change: New Findings and Existing Knowledge

“…The farmers carry out these adaptation measures as coping mechanisms during disasters and as precautionary measures in normal years. Dang, et al (2021) studied farmers' responses to drought and to salinity intrusion in the Mekong Delta in 2010-2016. Using data from a panel sample of 340 farm households in the Ben Tre and Tra Vinh provinces, they learned that more traditional adaptation practices were adopted in the years when serious disasters occurred and government support, along with other household characteristics, influenced those adaptation practices.…”