New rice helps Mekong farmers battle worsening floods, salt intrusion | Thomas Reuters Foundation
17 million farmers in the Delta in Vietnam’s southern tip - where 60 percent of the country’s rice is produced – need solutions
CGIAR Climate's insight:
Rice farmer Ho Thai Benam’s crop was hit by disease earlier in the year. “I have children studying in the city and with low rice productivity I don’t have enough money for their tuition,” she said.
She is looking for rice that is disease-resistant, high-yielding and fetches a good price, she said. After a workshop in her community about improved rice varieties, she selected new seeds that should help her protect her crop from disease and flooding, and boost yields.
She is among hundreds of farmers targeted by an Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research-funded project investigating challenges facing farmers including lack of suitable rice varieties resistant to flood and salt water tolerance.
Climate Change Affecting Land Use in the Mekong Delta: Adaptation of Rice-based Cropping Systems (CLUES) is led by researchers at the International Rice Research Institute and part of global efforts to tackle climate change in the region under the international agricultural research group CGIAR’s Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).