Tra Vinh Research Articles

Description of Echolocation Call Parameters for Urban Bats in Vietnam as a Step Towards a More Integrated Acoustic Monitoring of Urban Wildlife in Southeast Asia

This study is the first step towards more systematic monitoring of urban bat fauna in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries by collecting bat echolocation call parameters in Ho Chi Minh and Tra Vinh cities. We captured urban bats and then recorded echolocation calls after releasing in a tent. Additional bat’s echolocation calls from the free-flying bats were recorded at the site where we captured bat. We used the obtained echolocation call parameters for a discriminant function analysis to test the accuracy of classifying these species based on their echolocation call parameters. Data from this pilot work revealed a low level of diversity for the studied bat assemblages. Additionally, the discriminant function analysis successfully classified bats to four bat species with an accuracy of >87.4%. On average, species assignments were correct for all calls from Taphozous melanopogon (100% success rate), for 70% of calls from Pipistrellus javanicus, for 80.8% of calls from Myotis hasseltii and 67.3% of calls from Scotophilus kuhlii. Our study comprises the first quantitative description of echolocation call parameters for urban bats of Vietnam. The success in classifying urban bats based on their echolocation call parameters provides a promising baseline for monitoring the effect of urbanization on bat assemblages in Vietnam and potentially also other Southeast Asian countries.

Current status of agricultural tourism development in Con Chim - Tra Vinh

Con Chim is a small islet with unspoiled beauty on the Co Chien river. Agricultural tourism activities in Con Chim officially exploits from September 2019, which is an attractive tourist destination today. This article aims to understand the current situation of agricultural tourism development in Con Chim. Field survey research methods, combined depth interviews and synthesizing secondary data on agricultural tourism are employed in this study. The results of the study show that agricultural tourism activity in Con Chim is developing at an early stage. All households are consensus when participating in the supplying of agricultural tourism products, accompanied by the effective management of the Department of Culture and Rural Development of Tra Vinh province and the professional advice of experts. This article contributes to an empirical study to the theory of agricultural tourism destination development and contributes to affirming that the model of agricultural tourism will be more likely to develop successfully when there is effective participation of all stakeholders. However, whether this operation is sustainable and stable in the long term, there needs to be more further research and a longer-term observation of tourism activities in Con Chim.

Assessment of groundwater resources management capacity in Tra Vinh Provine by sustainable indicators

Tra Vinh province is one of the coastal provinces in the Mekong Delta, which is greatly influenced by the tidal regime of the sea and main rivers such as the Tien and Hau rivers. In addition, surface water resources are increasingly contaminated with salt and polluted due to natural conditions and human economic activities. In addition, groundwater resources have played a major role in providing fresh water for daily life and the people's economic activities. However, with complex hydrogeological characteristics (distribution of pale surface between aquifers) that has made the design of exploitation well systems not synchronized, the awareness of the use of water resources of the country has not been achieved. The population is not high, leading to an unreasonable arrangement of exploitation wells between aquifers and between areas, causing the water level in the province to decrease, salinization in exploitation wells. increasingly widespread. All these factors can be seen that this resource is being managed and used unsustainably, so the research team wants to synthesize data on exploitation, monitoring, use, and policies. policies, planning, management organization, and the level of knowledge of people in the area to comprehensively assess the sustainability of groundwater resources. Research results show that there is a difference in the number of assessment scores in Tra Vinh province that reflect the level of socio-economic development of each area. Based on the selected set of criteria, the research team has assessed that the level of management of groundwater resources in Tra Vinh province is "highly sustainable" through 5 evaluation criteria of the sustainability index: (1) “Pressure on groundwater resources” average score of 41.9/60; (2) "Knowledge management" assessment scores in the whole province, the score in this criterion is quite high, the average score is 41.4/50; (3) “Policies & Laws” index average score is 28.4/30; (4) “Stakeholder involvement” Average score is 26/40; (5) “Organization & Capacity” average score is 30/40. The results of this study will help managers have an overview of the picture of groundwater in the province, thereby taking zoning measures, more reasonable exploitation planning, and people. It will also raise awareness of the use of water resources in scarce areas.

Khmer people’s perception of cultural changes in the New Year festival (A case study in Don Xuan Commune, Duyen Hai District, Tra Vinh Province)

The New Year festival (Pithi Chol Chnam Thmay) of the Khmer people in Southern Vietnam is a traditional one, which has undergone changes under the influence of modern society. This paper was based on the survey results of 42 correspondents representing 42 Khmer households in Don Xuan Commune, Duyen Hai District, Tra Vinh rovince to investigate their perception of cultural changes in celebrating the New Year festival. The quantitative and qualitative research result have reflected Southern Vietnam Khmer people's perception of changes in the content, form, and festival audiences, namely that (1) few Khmer people find the changes in the activities of the New Year festival, (2) Khmer people have limited understanding of the significance of the New Year festival activities, (3) the process of transmitting traditional culture values of the New Year festival is one-way, passive, and incomplete, and (4) young Khmer people tend to migrate to big cities for their livelihood, which separates them from the traditional cultural space of the Khmer people. This paper aims to provide the realistic data, contributing to the practical assessment of the economic and cultural life of the Khmer people in Don Xuan Commune, Duyen Hai District, Tra Vinh rovince nowadays as well as offer helpful suggestions on the formulation of ethnic policies and the preservation of the intangible culture of the Khmer people in Southern Vietnam.

Application of SWOT and GIS for building strategy of land-use in Cang Long district, Tra Vinh province

Land management in Cang Long district requires solutions to promote effective land use to serve socio-economic development. Land use planning is a tool for state management of land, one of the fifteen contents of state management of land that needs to be invested in order to rationally use land resources in Cang Long district. In making land use planning, after making the land use plan it is necessary to have a solution to implement the selected plan. In this study, the application of SWOT and GIS analysis is to identify specific solutions to support the implementation of effective land use planning. The factors related to land use are listed, collected, processed and formatted to build a database in GIS in four groups: land resources, land use, infrastructure and business. socio-economic. In the SWOT analysis from the GIS database, the S, W, O, T factors are analyzed spatially, from which the results of the study are proposed to propose four groups of strategic solutions (Using the strengths of grasping opportunities: S-O; Leveraging strengths to reduce risks: S-T; Overcoming weaknesses to take advantage of opportunities: W-O; "defensive" plan to avoid being more severely impacted: W-T) support for those out decide in the formulation and implementation of planning, land management process, serving socio-economic development in Cang Long district.

Morphometric and meristic variability in Butis koilomatodon in estuarine and coastal areas of the Mekong Delta

The study aimed to investigate morphometric and meristic variability in the mud sleeper Butis koilomatodon (Bleeker, 1849) in the Mekong Delta. This species is a commercial fish species with a small-size and is mainly distributed in some coastal areas from Tra Vinh to Ca Mau provinces. In the present research, the parameters of morphometry and measurement, including the head length, body depth, eye diameter, distance of the two eyes, and the interrelationships among the morphometric variables, were determined. The results revealed that the total length and weight of the fish changed by sex, season, habitat, and the interaction between the seasons and habitats. Likewise, the meristic criteria were different between males and females, and the dry and wet seasons, but not by their interactions. The growth rate of males was faster than females. The outcomes also showed that the body size of this species was larger in the dry season and the largest fish were found in Duyen Hai and Tra Vinh provinces. The Findings would be useful not only for further effects of environmental factors on morphology but also for comparisons between congeners Butis morphologically.

THE CURRENT STATUS OF INTENSIVE WHITE-LEG SHRIMP (Litopenaeus vannamei) FARMING IN THE SYSTEM OF EARTHERN AND TARPAULIN PONDS AT TRA VINH PROVINCE

This study was conducted to evaluate the current status of the intensive white-leg shrimp farming in earthen system and tarpaulin pond system in Tra Vinh Province by interviewing 110 farmers in Trà Vinh from May to December of 2019. The results of the study showed that an average stocking density in earthen systemand tarpaulin pond system were at 195 and 87 inds/m2 and the number of crops for earthen and tarpaulin ponds are respectively from 1 - 2 crops and 2 - 3 crops per year. The harvested shrimp size and the productivity in tarpaulin ponds (35 inds /kg; 48 tons/ha/crop) were significantly higher than those in the in earthen ponds (58 inds /kg; 12 tons/ha/crop). The net income obtained from the tarpaulin ponds model (1.760 millionVND/ha/crop) was significantly higher than that in the earthen ponds (267 million VND/ha/crop). Food change ratio in tarpaulin ponds was higher than in earthen ponds. The advantages and disadvantages of white - leg shrimp farmers in two models are also mentioned in this report.

DEVELOPING THE KHMER FEMALE HUMAN RESOURCES IN TRA VINH PROVINCE

The paper uses primary and secondary data from expert, descriptive statistics, comparative, analytical and synthetic methods to survey the development of Khmer female human resources in the period of 2014 – 2018. The results of the study show that the development of Khmer female human resources in Tra Vinh Province is lower than the development of female human resources in Tra Vinh Province in general. Based on the results, the researcher proposes policy implications as reference for stakeholders in planning development strategies of Khmer female human resources in Tra Vinh Province in the coming time.

TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF FROG CULTURE (Rana tigerina) AT TRA VINH PROVINCE

This study was conducted through the direct interview of 90 households applying the alternative system of culturing frogs in Tra Vinh Province from 9/2020 to 3/2020. The study aimed to determine current status of frog farming. The collected data includes the technical and financial aspect of culturing frogs. The results showedthat there are two models of frog farming: culturing frogs in canvas (65.56% of households), and culturing frogs in cages (34.44% of households); Both models applied the same average farming area of 36.27 m2 with stocking density of 115 inds/m2. After 2.6 months of culturing, the average frog size was 257 g. The average frogyield produced 21,024 kg/1,000 m2/crop and the net income of 100 million VND/1,000 m2/crop was achieved. The result indicated that it is easy to raise frogs because the households can take advantage of the surrounding area of their houses for raising frogs and therefore the farmers’ could improve by this method.

ASSESSMENT OF LIVELIHOOD MODELS WITH HIGH ADAPTABILITY TO CLIMATE CHANGE FOR APPLICATION IN TRA VINH PROVINCE, VIET NAM

Tra Vinh Province is an important agricultural production area of the Mekong Delta in Viet Nam, but its economic development is being heavily affected by climate change. In this study, a set of 14 quotas with the Delphi method were used to assess the climate change adaptability of 24 livelihood models (horticulture, animal husbandry, and aquaculture models) in Tra Vinh Province to find livelihood models with the greatest adaptability. The adaptability was calculated using relevant parameters including weighted scores, raw data points, and mean points of each model. Calculations show that two models have great adaptability (CN01 and TS14), twenty models have relatively pretty good adaptability (CN01, CN03, TS02, TS03, TS05, TS06, TS07,TS08, TS09, TS10, TS11, TS12, TS13, TS14, TS15, TS16, TT01, TT02, TT03, TT04 and TT05), two models have average adaptability (TS04 and TS01), and no models have low adaptability. These two successful models can be applied to farmers in Tra Vinh Province but attention needs to be paid to economic issues such as capital or market. These twenty good adaptive and two average adaptability models should be improved for future applications.

The Social Profile, Constraints, and Its Impact on Swine Herd Size in Tra Vinh Province, Vietnam

The objective of this study was to describe social profile, constraints of swine farmers, and its impact on swine herd size in Tra Vinh Province. This study was conducted in Tra Vinh Province, one of the provinces in Mekong delta, Vietnam. A total of 120 swine farmers selected from small swine farms to commercial swine farms were surveyed with information gathered on 11,466 swine. All of the swine farmers in this study were purposively chosen and interviewed with the questionnaires for data collection. All swine farmers have kept at least 1 swine per farm or had experience at least 1 year for raising and trading swine. The results showed that the majority of farmers were males (57.5%), with the age range of 20-40 years old (47.5%), having more than 10 years of experience (52.5%), having 1-3 members in the family (87.1%), 85% of farmers focused on farm, farmers having livestock farming plus cropping accounted for 55.8%, and farmers having medium farm size with an average of 95-96 heads/farm. In addition, there were 4 constraints that farmers confirmed, i.e., capital (31.6%), disease outbreak (75%), low bargaining power (40%), and the fluctuation of feed price (59.16%). Moreover, experience (p<0.01), education (p<0.01), disease outbreak (p<0.05), and the fluctuation of feed price (p<0.05) had a strong influence on swine herd. It could be concluded that farmers having higher experience and education kept a larger number of swine than others. In contrary, when disease outbreak and the fluctuation of feed price emerge, farmers tended to control their swine herd size.

Individual Customers’ Access to Credits at Commercial Banks in Viet Nam: The Case of Tra Vinh Province

Individual Customers’ Access to Credits at Commercial Banks in Viet Nam: The Case of Tra Vinh Province

DETERMINING THE FACTORS AFFECTING THE E-LEARNING COURSE ACCEPTANCE OF STUDENTS AT TRA VINH UNIVERSITY

The study is done to confirm the factors that affecting on the acception of the students about electronic atTra Vinh University. The research sample is surveyed from 278 university students of various sụbjects to April 2020 to May 2020, including 254 students are using electronic courses at the university. The study is basedon the method of assessing the reliability of scale by Cronbach’s Alpha, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and linear structure analysis (SEM). The research result shows that the positively influencing factors on the acception of Tra Vinh University including usefulness, social influence and habits. This study also contributes some solutions to complete the policy of attracting students to use e-learning courses at Tra Vinh University.

The Digestive Tract Morphology and Clark index of Mud Sleeper Butis koilomatodon Living in some Coastal and Estuarine areas belonging to Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau

This study provides new data on the characteristics of the gastrointestinal morphology and the variation of Clark index according to sexes, fish size groups, seasons and sampling sites of mud sleeper Butis koilomatodon, one of the commercially valuable gobiid species in the Mekong Delta. Analytical results of 1,227 fish samples collected monthly from April 2019 to March 2020 in Duyen Hai (Tra Vinh), Cu Lao Dung (Soc Trang), Tran De (Soc Trang), Hoa Binh (Bac Lieu), Dong Hai (Bac Lieu) and Dam Doi (Ca Mau) showed that this species had a slightly sloping mouth, the length between two jaws was relatively equal, teeth were small and grew in long lines on both jaws with the outer row having larger teeth. The length of the gut was shorter than the total length of the fish and so this species belonged to predator group. The Clark index depended on length of fish, sampling time and site but excluding season and gender. It was also effected by interactions of fish length x season; fish length x site and season x site. Conversly, the interactions of gender x season and gender x site did not impact on the Clark index. The outcomes of research will provide useful data in artificial aquaculture Butis koilomatodon.

Impacts of farmers' adaptation to drought and salinity intrusion on rice yield in Vietnam's Mekong Delta

PurposeThe Vietnamese Mekong River Delta (VMD) is one of the most affected deltas by climate change in the world. Several studies have investigated factors influencing farmers' climate change adaptation behaviors in the region; however, little is known about the effectiveness of such measures. This paper examines the determinants of adaptation strategies among VMD rice farmers and assesses the impacts of such practices on rice yield.Design/methodology/approachEndogenous switching regressions were employed using a survey data of 300 rice-producing households in An Giang and Tra Vinh provinces in 2016.FindingsThe results show that farmers receiving early disaster warnings are more likely to adopt adaptation measures to climate change. If nonadaptors had chosen to respond, their rice yield would have increased by 0.932 tons/ha/season.Research limitations/implicationsThe data sample is small and collected from two provinces in the VMD only; therefore, the results may be specific for the study sites. However, future research can adopt the proposed method for other regions.Originality/valueThe study estimates the production impacts of farmers' decisions on whether or not to adapt to extreme climate events. The proposed approach allows for capturing both observed and unobserved behaviors.

The Study on Factors Influencing Incomes of Laborers in Viet Nam: The Case at Industrial Parks, Economic Zones in Travinh Province

This study aims to solve the problem of raising incomes, improving the quality of life of Vietnamese workers in industrial parks and economic zones today, specifically in Tra Vinh province, Viet Nam. By the method of primary data collection of 300 employees working in enterprises in Long Duc Industrial Park located in Tra Vinh City; Co Chien Industrial Park located in Cang Long district and Dinh An economic zones located in Tra Cu district; using multivariate regression model; The study showed that there are 6 factors affecting the income of workers: the occupation of workers, working experience, the qualifications of workers, ethnicity, Religion and working environment. In particular, working experience, the qualifications of workers greatly affect the income of employees. From the research results, the author have proposed solutions to improve the income of workers, ensure social security and stabilize the lives of workers in the future.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Education Activity at Tra Vinh University – Vietnam

The Impact of COVID-19 on Education Activity at Tra Vinh University – Vietnam

Determinants of Retail Banking Efficiency: A Case of Vietcombank Branches in the Mekong-Delta Region

This study focused on researching the factors affecting retail banking efficiency of Vietcombank branches in the Mekong-Delta region. By collecting data from financial statements from 15 branches of VCB in the Mekong-Delta Region between 2015 and 2018, the paper applies DEA estimation to measure the effectiveness of retail banking activities and uses the Tobit regression model to identify factors affecting retail banking efficiency. The results demonstrate that the retail banking efficiency of branches averaged 52.5% during the period. The rating result shows the branches in An Giang, Can Tho, Dong Thap, Kien Giang, Long An, Phu Quoc and Tra Noc rank at the top technical efficiency. In group of medium efficiency, there are branches in Soc Trang, Tien Giang and Vinh Long. In the category of the poor efficiency are the branches in Bac Lieu, Ben Tre, Ca Mau, Chau Doc and Tra Vinh. The results also show that bank scale-related factors, capital adequacy, credit quality, time specific and region impact significantly the retail banking efficiency. The research not, only contributes to enriching the empirical research method but also is significant for the management activities in business developing strategies, improving the operational efficiency of Vietcombank in the region.

POTENTIAL AND SOLUTIONS FOR TRA VINH TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATED WITH THE SEA

Vietnam has a favorable strategic geographic position on the sea. In particular, Tra Vinh is a province with a coastline of 65 km that brings many favorableconditions for the province in exploiting the marine economy, which includes marine tourism. Tra Vinh Province has great potential in developing marine tourism with natural landscapes such as sand dunes, mangroves, primeval forests, along with traditional sea festivals and craft villages. However, the inherent potential and advantages of the province have not been effective in tourism. In this paper, on the basis of analyzing and assessing the potential of marine resources, the authors propose some solutions for developing marine tourism to become a key economic sector of the province.

SOLUTIONS FOR PROMOTING MARINE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF TRA VINH PROVINCE

Marine economic development is one of the key tasks in socio-economic development and Country’s sovereignty protection. Tra Vinh is a coastal province, whichhas a coastline of over 65 km with abundant and diverse resources. With the potential and advantages of a coastal province, over the past years, Tra Vinh has had many policies to promote the exploitation of these potential sources bringing high economic efficiency, which contributes to promoting the province economic growth. This article introduces the potential, current situation and proposes some solutions for marine economic development of Tra Vinh Province in the period of 4.0 revolution integration.