Towards transition pathways in agriculture and livestock in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta from an agricultural water management perspective

Drought is one of a major natural disaster that causes tremendous damage to the ecological environment and social-economic in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD). Drought characteristics are invaluable knowledge for better management of water resources and agriculture production, especially under climate change context. This study investigated the spatiotemporal trend, intensity, duration, and frequency of meteorological droughts over VMD by using the Standardized Precipitation Evaporation Index (SPEI). The SPEI at multiple time scales (3, 6 and 12 months) are determined by using the monthly precipitation and temperature data between 1985 and 2018 obtained from ten meteorological stations in VMD namely Ba Tri, Cang Long, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Rach Gia, Ca Mau, Chau Doc, Can Tho, Cao Lanh, and My Tho. SPEI detected ten extreme drought events from 1985-2018 that matches with the historical extreme drought events reported in VMD. It means SPEI could be a useful indicator to support for drought management and mitigation in the future. The extreme drought event from October 2013 to September 2016 was the highest intensity and most prolonged duration from 1985-2018. The El Niño is considered to strongly influence on extreme drought events in VMD as all extreme drought events are highly associated with El Niño periods. The intensity, duration and frequency of drought events increased from 1985 to 2018. Drought events are more severe in VMD in recent years. Extreme drought also tends to cover for over VMD region. Adaption measures are essential to cope with drought disaster, especially in the agricultural and aquacultural sectors.

Land use change driven out-migration: Evidence from three flood-prone communities in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

Development strategies increasingly emphasize agricultural development, employment, and equity; it is therefore important to examine the role of education in light of these new emphases. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the conclusions of a number of studies of the effect of a farmer's educational level and exposure to extension services on his productivity. Eighteen studies conducted in low-income countries provided 37 sets of farm data that allow a statistical estimation of the effect of education. The overall conclusion of this paper is that farm productivity increases as a result of a farmer's completing at least 4 additional years of elementary education rather than none. Also, the effects of education were much more likely to be positive in modernizing agricultural environments than in traditional ones.

Environmental pressures on livelihood transformation in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: Implications and adaptive pathways.

The Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD) is an internationally significant region for agricultural production and biodiversity, yet it faces escalating challenges to its water resources. Total Suspended Solids (TSS) represent a critical water quality parameter within this complex deltaic system, with profound implications for its ecological integrity and socio-economic activities. TSS in the VMD originate from a combination of natural processes, such as riverbank erosion and sediment resuspension and increasingly dominant anthropogenic activities, including intensive agriculture, aquaculture, urban and industrial wastewater discharge, upstream hydropower dam development leading to sediment trapping and localized sand mining. Elevated TSS concentrations and alterations in sediment composition directly degrade water quality by increasing turbidity, reducing light penetration essential for aquatic photosynthesis and acting as a transport mechanism for nutrients and various contaminants, including heavy metals and pesticides. These TSS-induced changes in water quality have substantial adverse consequences for key water uses. Agricultural productivity is affected through impacts on irrigation infrastructure and alterations to soil fertility due to reduced beneficial sediment deposition. Aquaculture operations face challenges related to fish and shrimp health, pond management and overall productivity. The suitability of surface water for domestic supply is compromised, necessitating more complex and costly treatment processes and posing potential health risks. Furthermore, TSS contributes to the degradation of aquatic ecosystem health by altering habitats, affecting biodiversity and disrupting fundamental ecological processes. The cumulative effect of these impacts, particularly the long-term reduction in sediment delivery to the delta, also threatens the VMD's geomorphological stability in the face of land subsidence and sea-level rise. Understanding and effectively managing TSS loads and their sources are therefore paramount for the sustainable development and environmental protection of the VMD.

Most riverine societies in the Lower Mekong Basin have made substantial efforts in many ways to adapt to the accelerating complexities driven by climate change, hydropower development, and local flood management policies. However, little effort has been devoted to the change in rural livelihoods to adapt to social-ecological constraints in the wake of these ‘wicked problems’. This study attempts to investigate how farming households in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta have changed their livelihoods to accommodate the operation of flood control schemes. It employs the qualitative data gathered from focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with farming households and government officials across the administrative levels. The findings suggest dramatic fragmentation in flood governance at the local level. The comparative analysis of the pre-dyke versus post-dyke contexts suggests households’ flexibility in self-organising their livelihood activities. Alteration of cropping patterns, diversification of agricultural production, and migration were found as the primary livelihood strategies adopted by different household groups. The study reveals the polarity among household groups in their capacity to adapt to change. While the better-off and medium households are more likely to enjoy advantages from the schemes, their poor counterparts are plagued with constraints in accessing resources and capacity to switch to other alternative livelihoods. This study suggests important policy implications for the adjustment of flood management options to support better the adaptive livelihood practices in the delta.

The Vietnamese Mekong Delta faces severe flooding challenges due to variations in Mekong River flows combined with extreme weather conditions. Despite these adversities, agricultural sectors in VMD have demonstrated remarkable development and resilience in flood circumstances over time. This study examines the participatory efforts of farmers and governments of the social hierarchy in Cho Moi district, An Giang province, to improve flood resilience for agricultural development. The investigation draws on information collected through a focus group discussion, a semi-structured survey of 10 government officials, a structured survey of 127 farmers, and secondary documents. The analysis reviews that the full implementation of the South Vam Nao scheme, led by the government following the success of the earlier North Vam Nao project, has encouraged farmers to innovate their farming practices. The study also underscores the crucial role of innovative strategies and policies in directing farming practices; for instance, introducing flood-tolerant rice varieties, implementing seasonal planting calendars, and organizing formal group discussions and training sessions. Such initiatives have motivated farmers to take advantage of the flood-control infrastructure established under the scheme to enhance their agricultural productivity. Notable models include growing durian on raised beds, converting rice fields to fruit tree cultivation, adopting the 3B model (Cow - Corn - Biogas), and using crop rotation systems such as the “2-year-5-crop” and “3-year-8-crop” models. The experience learned in the Cho Moi case indicates the value of coordinated flood resilience measures and is referable for other areas in the VMD and beyond.

The Vietnamese Mekong Delta is the most important agricultural production area in Vietnam. Most of this deltaic plain has an extremely low mean elevation of about 0.8 m above sea level and dissected by an inter-linked system of natural rivers and man-made canals connected to the sea. It is recognized as one of the areas worldwide most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In recent years, saline intrusion into the Vietnamese Mekong Delta has become increasingly serious due to a combination of factors, including the low topography, a dense system of rivers and canals connected to the sea, drought, low flow rates in the Mekong River during the dry season, growing competition for rapidly depleting water resources, sea level rise, and land subsidence. In 2020 saltwater intruded further inland than ever before and affected 10 out of 13 provinces of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta, causing severe damage to millions of hectares of farming land and the livelihoods of thousands of households. Solutions and adaptation strategies include storage of fresh water in ponds, shifting to farming systems and varieties that are more resilient to high salinity, changing cropping schedules, and building sluices to regulate saltwater intrusion. This paper discusses the main causes of salt intrusion, its effects on people’s life and production, and adaptation strategies to mitigate its impacts.

En el libro “sistema de producción y desarrollo agrícola”. Philippe Colín (1993). México. “Un sistema de producción puede ser considerado como el resultado de ecosistemas, de formas de organización socio económica y de técnicas practicables. Los objetivos de la producción, la manera con que los hombres toman sus decisiones, los criterios que ellos optimizan, las racionalidades de sus comportamientos dependen fundamentalmente de la estructura de las unidades socio económicas de base, componentes de las formaciones económicas y sociales”. En esta investigación se comprendió los estudios actuales de los sistemas de producción agrícola en la cuidad- región, en términos de innovación con estándares basado en la ISO 9001. Se logró identificar cuáles era las vocaciones productivas de la zona rural de la ciudad, donde se aplicó instrumentos alrededor de 130 campesino de la zona, quienes son las personas que tiene variedad de cultivo y están exportando a países como, Venezuela, Australia, Canadá y Brasil. La metodología utilizada fue mixta (cualitativa y cuantitativa) que permitió basarse en la descripción de cómo se está llevando a cabo los sistemas de producción agrícola en Cundinamarca y la región. Partiendo de conocimiento que deben aplicarse en los espacios de sistemas de producción, fortaleciendo la innovación, los cuales permitieron un manejo de las soluciones, con actitud más responsable y participativa, donde se logró definir claramente el aprendizaje de nuevas técnicas de alimentos,de sistemas productivos innovadores y de prácticas sustentada a manejos de productos limpios y tecnificados pueden ser el soporte de la innovación, estructurando un sector basado en la información.

Adaptive capacity of high- and low dyke farmers to hydrological changes in the Vietnamese Mekong delta

Transformation of household livelihoods in adapting to the impacts of flood control schemes in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

The implementation of Community-engaged research (CenR) has faced many challenges in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially when researchers are based in another part of the country or the world. This paper presents a researcher’s initiative for implementing CenR in partnership with local universities, particularly engaging local students to become part of the communities and bridge the gap between researchers and communities. The project aims to engage local communities working in tourism services in assessing their adaptive capacity (AC) to climate change in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD). Notably, this study was conducted with the researchers being located in Taiwan while the research area was situated in the VMD. Methods used include field trips, in-depth interviews (IDIs), focus group discussions (FGDs), local workshops, and people participation geographic information system (PPGIS). Two groups of students at Kien Giang University (KGU) and Dong Thap University (DTU) (Vietnam) were involved. The article provides the process of engaging with local students, from searching and selecting them, to obtaining consents, engaging and building trust, training and guiding them in field trips, engaging with local communities, collecting and analyzing data, and developing future projects in those communities. The study offers a novel approach that can be extrapolated in the context of global system crises such as climate change, disasters, or emergency situations in remote areas that often experience limited connectivity with the outside world. By encouraging the creativity of students and researchers, this study promotes the continuity of research efforts even in times of uncertainty and crisis.

Adaptation to flood and salinity environments in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: Empirical analysis of farmer-led innovations

This paper investigates the adaptation processes with reference to the narrative analysis of human–environment interactions in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. From the political ecology perspective, it focuses on the discourses of the power relationships embedded within the ‘state‐society‐flood’ nexus over the course of its ‘opening‐up and closing‐off’ processes (e.g. excavating large‐scale canals for human settlements and agricultural expansion (opening‐up) and human interventions into natural systems through water control structures (closing‐off)). Drawing on empirical data gathered from 33 interviews and nine focus group discussions in three study areas and relevant literature, the paper argues that human interactions with the flood environments are intertwined with adjustments of adaptation patterns as evidenced through three periods: free adaptation (pre‐1975), transitional adaptation (1976–2010) and forced adaptation (after 2010). These processes have witnessed a gradual power shift in the ‘state‐society’ relations in manipulating floods, which moves from the top‐down towards a more collaborative fashion. By unravelling the political ecology of the ‘state‐society‐flood’ nexus, this paper exhibits the skewed development in the delta, which is largely bound to short‐term development planning to prioritise local socio‐economic and political objectives. The paper contributes important policy implications for achieving socially just and environmentally sustainable development in the delta.

Livelihood vulnerability and adaptability of coastal communities to extreme drought and salinity intrusion in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta