Improving climate resilience and food production in Vietnam through Climate-Smart Villages
Bernadette Joven(CCAFS SEA)
As climate change affects Vietnam's agriculture, in the forefront of the production chain are farmers who bear the brunt. How can the farmers be helped?
In an article by Sarah Piccini of AsiaLife titled Climate-Smart Villages, a innovative collaborative research approach to tackling climate change is discussed.
Vietnam is a forerunner when it comes to rice production in the Asian region. In fact, it is one of the top four Asian countries that contribute to the global rice market along with Thailand, India, and Pakistan. However, impacts of climate change felt through rising sea level, flooding and soil salinity places the country’s rice industry in a precarious position.
Working with local partners like the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS) has introduced the climate-smart agriculture (CSA) approach with the aim of addressing food security and improving climate resilience. CSA hinges on three pillars, which are to: 1) maintain or increase agriculture productivity, 2) improve climate resilience through effective adaptation measures, and 3) mitigating the impacts of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission.
Depending on the identified needs, various CSA interventions will be implemented in selected Climate-Smart Villages (CSVs) where convergence and integration of research initiatives will take place. In Southeast Asia, six (6) CSVs have been established initially particularly in Vietnam (3), Cambodia (1) and Lao PDR (2). Central to this approach is working across landscapes and not just particular villages. Eventual target is to have more climate-smart communities, provinces and countries.
In the article, Leocadio Sebastian, CCAFS' Regional Programme Leader for Southeast Asia, explains that "in the coming months, specific interventions will be designed based on [assessments of resident’s needs] and further interactions with the community. These interventions could take many forms, such as publishing more frequent weather forecasts and farming recommendations, teaching better water management or enrolling farmers in insurance programs to protect their land."
Read the original story on AsiaLIFE: Climate-Smart Villages
Sarah Piccini writes for AsiaLIFE Magazine, a leading English-language magazine magazine in Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam that provides in-depth feature articles about contemporary Southeast Asia.
