Ecological impacts of sustainable systems for smallholders in Vietnam

Abstract

The smallholder agricultural systems in Vietnam today, although still based largely on traditional systems and practices, are undergoing considerable change as a result of the economic and social reforms enacted under the process of “Doi Moi” and the resulting rapid economic growth of the 1990s. In particular paddy rice production has risen from an annual average of around 15 million tonnes for the period 1981-88 to over 20 million tonnes in 1999–2002, and this, and increases in the production of other major crops have been important factors behind the rise in both the numbers and productivity of the main livestock species, due partly to increased quantities of crop residues and agro-industrial by-products (e.g. rice bran) becoming available for feed.