Innovation and farmers

adapting to climate change in

the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

Presenter: Vo Thi Minh Hoang

The Hague Roundtable on Climate & Security

8th meeting – Embassy of Vietnam in The Hague

The Netherlands

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Some main challenges that the

Mekong Delta has faced

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Land subsidence Fresh water supply

Upstream dams

constructionUnanticipated saline intrusion, floods or drought

occurrence

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High dyke and low dyke in the Vietnamese

Mekong Delta

Duong et al. 2016

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• Key elements to strengthen consent among stakeholders when they are

multi-functional and thus attractive to a variety of actors

• Are radical technological innovations in strategic delta planning as they may be

required to enable change for sustainable development in urbanizing deltas

• Solutions that inform a strategic change of development

• Proposed innovation is the introduction of something new that is altered by

something already established

• A new cultivation technique or a new aqua-agricultural model,which in a particular region has not been practiced yet or only a very long time ago

and now receives renewed attention.

“Innovations”:

What, How and

Why?

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Floating

rice

Shrimp-

Mangrove

Room for the

River

Alternatives of water management strategies

& livelihoodsLotus-based

farming

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Room for the River (multifunctional livelihoods) in An Phu – An Giang

Floating rice in Tri Ton, An Giang

Cassava, one of favourite upland-crops combined with floating rice

on the same landShrimp-mangrove in Duyen Hai, Tra Vinh

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Room for the River

(multifunctional

livelihoods)

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DisadvantagesAdvantages

Store water for dry season and create

beautiful landscape

Protect their residential areas

RftR’s flexible design, of which buffer

zones can help for extra cultivation in dry

seasons

Minimize damage caused by floods

Protect local spiritual values

Minimize risks of erosion and dike

breakage

Need a large land areas meanwhile the

farmers are not willing to share their lands

Need of a good plan and proper technical

design

The consent between all stakeholders as

well as the compromise from all related

sectors

Need financial support

Migration (lack of young labors)

Need a great support and assistance from

experienced professionals

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Floating rice-based

farming system

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DisadvantagesAdvantages

Easy to cultivate, do not need many

labors

Create habitats for fishes and other

aqua species

Living with and adapting to floods -

> restore flood water

Higher market price than traditional

rice

Keep the ecology balanced

Has a long history of tradition in

Vietnam

Low profit -> low income

Cultivation is difficult

Low yield that does not meet

requirement of food security

Long time of cultivation

Depends very much on flood

Requires techniques and experiences

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Lotus-based

farming

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DisadvantagesAdvantages

Reduce soil degradation, create

fluvial in soils

Low risk of failure

Better profits than any other types

of cultivation due to its multi-

functions

Higher market price than rice

Creating regional value chain

Create jobs, cultural and recreational

values

Heavy job -> hard to find human

labour (compulsory)

No support from government

Biggest difficulty: unstable market

price (high this year and very low

next year)

Not yet regional consumption

Recent serious disease

Unpredictable flood (quickly come

or quickly go)

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Shrimp-Mangrove

Integration

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DisadvantagesAdvantages

Simple cultivation (no pesticides, no

chemicals or fertilizers) -> organic products

Shrimp has big size -> good profit

Low density of shrimps per pond-> the

water can remain clean and not polluted

Low investment (no food needed)

“Green manure" for the food chain in the

pond ecosystem

Minimize pollution (as shrimps grow in

nature)

Water quality and nutrient flow could be

decreased, due to uncontrolled fallen trunks

and leaves of mangrove

There are no other income while waiting for

shrimp harvesting

The amount of fallen leaves varies according

to the specific conditions and can cause

environmental pollution

Need a big area for shrimp-mangrove ponds

Good design of shrimp-mangrove pond is

needed

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Take-home message

• Any innovation is considered as an improvement in thisadapting process, that needs more collaborating betweensectors, line departments and all involved stakeholders

• There is no such an absolute “sustainable” model oflivelihoods in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta, we alwaysneed to ““Adaptation, proactive adaptation and flexibleadaptation” (Prof. Dao Xuan Hoc)

• “Turning the challenges and threats in the Mekong delta intoopportunities, that we should consider salinity, drought and floodsare our resources” (Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen XuanPhuc)

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