Abstract
This study employed the propensity score matching approach to empirically assess the effects of climate smart agriculture participation and climate change adaptation response on the technical efficiency of rice production. Observational data were collected from in-depth interviews with 352 rice farm households in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The findings indicate that 71% of local farmers adapted their rice farming to climate change related to salinity intrusion and drought, while 29% of farmers did not. Additionally, only twenty-two rice farmers were typically chosen as participants in the climate smart agriculture pilot program by local government and institutions. The choices for adaptation response and climate smart agriculture participation are significantly influenced by agricultural extension services, belief in climate change, the area of farming land, as well as geographical locations (e.g., province and access to water sources). The results also reveal that climate change adaptation response, including climate smart agriculture participation, played a crucial role in improving technical efficiency of rice production by 13%–14% compared to no adaptation response. Regarding the individual effect of climate smart agriculture participation, participants could achieve higher technical efficiency by 5%–8% compared to non-participants.
Highlights
Rice is the most important crop in the agriculture of Vietnam
Regarding the nearest neighbor matching, the average average treatment effect for the treated (ATT) of 0.1357 shows that farmers who have responded to climate change effects related to salinity intrusion and drought, by the application of adaptation practices, have a 13.57%
The study attempted to examine the factors affecting the performance of climate smart agriculture (CSA) and climate change adaptation response and associated effects on technical efficiency of rice farming in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam
Summary
Rice is the most important crop in the agriculture of Vietnam. It occupies more than 89% of total grain food production. Climate variability in relation to water scarcity results in serious environmental and social consequences that threaten agricultural production, and destabilize rural livelihoods in most regions in the Mekong Delta. To cope with these risks, farmers decided to perform their adaptation response by adjusting or adapting their farming practices. Competitiveness improvement in rice production is important for maintaining the volume and value of rice exports in the world trade as well as its contributions to a long-term economic development This will require improvements in technical efficiency level, which is defined as a principle component of competitiveness [12].
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