Working toward sustainable agricultural intensification in the Red River Delta of Vietnam

Abstract

D ense networks of rivers, canals, ditches, dikes, sluice gates, and compartmented fields have enabled the farms of the Red River Delta to produce 18% of Vietnam's rice ( Oryza sativa ) crop (figure 1), 26% of the country's vegetable crops, and 20% of capture and farmed aquaculture (Redfern et al. 2012). Agriculture in this fertile delta was transformed in the 11th and 13th century AD by large-scale hydraulic projects to protect the delta from flooding and saltwater intrusion, and provide field drainage during the wet season and crop irrigation in the dry season (Tinh 1999). The 20th century brought advancements in agricultural science globally—new crops and livestock genetics, inorganic fertilizers, mechanization, and pesticides that could double and triple food production per unit of land. It was the diesel pump combined with post-Vietnam War agricultural collectivization from 1975 to 1988 that brought the Green Revolution to the Red River Delta. Yet the very success of this agricultural revolution capable of feeding more people brought unintended harm to the waters, soil, coastal mangrove forests, and delta ecosystems that made it all possible. Intensification of fish production destroyed wetland habitats; polluted waterways; and led to eutrophication, biotic depletion, and increased disease (Nguyen 2017; Ahmed and Thompson 2019). Exponential increases in shrimp ( Penaeus monodon ) farming devastated mangrove forests that protected against coastal erosion and mitigated the impacts of sea level rise (Joffre et al. 2015; Ahmed and Thompson 2019). Pesticide concentrations in soil and sediments were found to be high and persistent in rice fields (Braun et al. 2018). The need to take the Green Revolution to the next level using innovation and technologies to create sustainable agricultural systems has …