Abstract
The increased rice production in the Mekong Delta during the last two decades has improved agricultural income and reduced poverty, but it has also had negative impacts on the environment and human health. This study shows that integrated rice–fish farming and integrated pest management strategies provide sustainable options to intensive rice farming, because of a more balanced use of multiple ecosystem services that benefit the farmers’ health, economy and the environment. The study investigates and compares farming strategies among 40 rice and 20 rice–fish farmers in two locations in the Mekong Delta. Production costs and income are used to compare the systems’ financial sustainability. The farmers’ perception on how their farming practices influence on ecosystem services and their livelihoods are used as an indication of the systems’ ecological and social sustainability. Although rice–fish farmers used lower amount of pesticides and fertilisers than rice farmers, there were no statistical differences in their rice yields or net income. Rice was seen as the most important ecosystem service from rice fields and related wetlands, but also several other ecosystem services, such as water quality, aquatic animals, plants, habitats, and natural enemies to pests, were seen as important to the farmers’ livelihoods and wellbeing. All farmers perceived that there had been a general reduction in all these other ecosystem services, due to intensive rice farming during the last 15 years, and that they will continue to decline. The majority of the farmers were willing to reduce their rice yields slightly for an improved quality of the other ecosystem services.
Highlights
Vietnam started to export rice in the late 1980s and is one of the largest rice exporters in the world (Renaud and Kunezer 2012)
This study shows that integrated rice–fish farming and integrated pest management strategies provide sustainable options to intensive rice farming, because of a more balanced use of multiple ecosystem services that benefit the farmers’ health, economy and the environment
This has contributed to increased agricultural income and reduced poverty, but it has been followed by negative impacts on the environment and people’s health (Berg and Tam 2012; Dasgupta et al 2007), which in the long run could impact on the overall production and quality of agriculture and aquaculture products from the Delta
Summary
Vietnam started to export rice in the late 1980s and is one of the largest rice exporters in the world (Renaud and Kunezer 2012). Tam et al (2015) reported that farmers spraying organophosphates on rice fields resulted in both reduced growth and survival rates of fish, and Dasgupta et al (2007) found that over 35% of 190 rice farmers in the Mekong Delta, experienced acute pesticide poisoning, and that 21% were chronically poisoned To halt this trend, there is a need to develop and adopt more sustainable rice farming practices in the region, which can maintain a high production and well-functioning ecosystem services for the benefit of people’s livelihoods and wellbeing (Berg et al 2012; Johnston et al 2010; Luo et al 2014; Sebesvari et al 2012; Zheng et al 2016). The social sustainability of the different systems is indicated by the farmers’ choice of the different farming systems, and their potential to contribute to diversified livelihoods and increased resilience to future changes, such as upstream dams and climate change
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