Facilitating dialogue between aquaculture and agriculture: lessons from role-playing games with farmers in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Abstract

During the last few years, conflicts between agriculture atid aquaculture have been an important issue in the Bac Lieu province, Mekong Delta. Vietnam. A large area of rice production has been converted to shrimp or .shrimp-rice hased production systems that require the intake of saline water into fresh water zones that have been used for agriculture. To manage this conflict, the provincial authorities have reviewed land use plans und ideniitied a hufter zone with a mixed land use system of shrimp-rice (rice in the rainy season and shrimp in the dry season when sluices are opened). Under the CPWF (Challenge Program on Waier and Food) Project No. 25. role playing games (RPGs) were applied for analyzing the land and water management strategy of farmers in the buffer zone. The RPGs organized in three villages (Phong Thanh, Ninh Thanh Loi and Vinh Loc) indicate that due to much higher revenue eatned from shrimp compared with rice, farmers are attempting numerous techniques to prolong the duration lil saline water in their fields for shrimp cultivation. This strategy makes the growing of a subsequent rice crop impossible even in the rainy season, thus requiring harmonization of water management at different levels (farm ami canal systems). The results from these RPGs also indicate the need for fuither research on cultivation techniques for the shrimp-rice systems and on participatory methods to achieve better understanding of farmers" decisions.

Cross-scale trade-offs and synergies in aquaculture, water quality and environment: research issues and policy implications

“…Hoanh et al (2009) illustrate how such conflicts could be managed, mainly through the development and operation of appropriate water control infrastructure and the application of appropriate land use strategy. Dung et al (2009), through Role Playing Games (RPG), confirm the trend of prolonging the duration of saline water in fields as long as possible by some farmers, although some farmers recognized that changing back and forth between brackish and fresh water environments could reduce the risk of shrimp disease. Prolonging the duration of saline water in' fields reduces salt leaching from the soil profile and hence rice grows well during the seedling stage but dies when roots intrude into the saline layer.…”

“…Given the cost-effectiveness of stocking as a means of increasing production and incomes, it is recommended that the CBFM approach be extended to other semi-closed and floodplain aquaculture systems and be adopted as a key policy for development of fisheries resources in Bangladesh. Dung et al (2009) applied Role Playing Games (RPGs) to analyze the land and water management strategy of farmers in three villages (Phong Thanh, Ninh Thanh Loi and Vinh Loc) in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Their study shows that due to much higher revenue from shrimp compared with rice, farmers are trying many techniques to prolong the duration of saline water in their fields for shrimp cultivation.…”

“…Navy & Bhattarai describe how many of the techniques of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) such as Time Line, Trend Analysis, Focus Group Discussion, Resource Flow Diagram, Venn/Institutional Diagram, Production Cost and Benefits of Production, and Problem Ranking can be combined with individual household surveys to analyse the viability and trade-off in small-scale catching fishery. Dung et al (2009) illustrate how modeling can be complemented by role playing games (RPG); role playing games were particularly useful in improving information exchange between regional water managers and farmers at different locations. This information exchange enhanced the understanding of impacts and vulnerability, the distribution of costs and benefits associated with tradeoffs, and the identification of a broader range of response options that are available in a specific context.…”

“…All the papers highlight different aspects of trade-offs: economic development and environmental conservation (Banadda et ai, 2009;Bharati et al, 2009;McCartney, 2009); rice versus shrimp production (Dung et al, 2009;Hoanh et ai, 2009); freshwater versus brackish water aquaculture (Verdegem & Bosma, 2009); semi-closed versus floodplain aquaculture (Mustafa & Brooks, 2009). Synergies issues are not explicitly addressed, although Navy & Bhattarai (2009) indicate that small-scale fishery should be considered in the common context of rural development efforts.…”

Managing water and agroecosystems for food security

“…Starting in the early 1990s, the expansion of brackish water pond aquaculture in Thailand and Vietnam -at the expense of rice cultivationhas given rise to competing demands between both types of users, while causing dynamic changes in these wetland ecosystems (Szuster et al, 2003;Dung et al, 2009). In particular, the establishment of shrimp aquaculture has proven controversial; for example, in the coastal humid regions of South-east Asia and Latin America it has resulted in mangrove destruction on a large scale (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005).…”