Mekong Delta farmers find opportunity in climate change
Mekong Delta climate change plan in motion
More research needed for climate resilience

Farmers in Chau Thanh District, Tra Vinh Province have switched from planting rice to growing chili peppers, increasing their profits fourfold. VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Hoa

Farmers in the last five years have converted about 18,000ha of ineffective rice fields in the province to other crops, and have also been breeding aquatic species and animals.

The converted areas offer 1.5-3 times more profit than rice, according to the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Since 2017, 10 farmers in a cooperative team, for example, have been breeding blood cockles on a 0.6ha alluvial ground in Duyen Hai District’s Long Khanh Commune.

The team invested VND170 million (US$7,300), including VND120 million from the Project for Adaptation to Climate Change in Tra Vinh to buy blood cockle seeds, nets and stakes.

Blood cockles breed for eight months and the harvest season lasts about two months.

Each team member makes a profit of VND8 million ($343) from selling the cockles in each harvest. Members are also paid VND100,000-150,000 ($4-6) each a day for preparing the breeding area, harvesting blood cockles or grading blood cockles.

Nguyen Thi Nguyet Nga, head of the team, said that five of the 10 members once belonged to poor and near-poor households but were able to escape poverty after harvesting two crops.
The breeding of blood cockles requires little up-front investment as only seeds, nets and stakes are needed.

Importantly, blood cockles can live in water with a salinity content of up to 3.5 per cent and feed on natural food in water.

Located between the Co Chien and Hau rivers with a 65 km coastline, Tra Vinh is often affected by saltwater intrusion, rising sea levels and erosion.

The province has more than 186,000ha of farmland, accounting for 79 per cent of its total land area.

More than 90 per cent of the province’s land is affected by saltwater intrusion between December and June in the dry season.

Pham Minh Truyen, director of the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that farmers were adapting to climate change by shifting from rice to other crops and breeding animals or aquatic species.

The province has encouraged them to sign contracts with companies to guarantee outlets for their products, establish large-scale rice fields, and apply good agricultural practices (GAP) standards in agriculture, aquaculture and forestry production.

The province’s Co-operative Alliance has also urged members to build brand names for their products, and has provided them with management training.

The province has 119 agricultural co-operatives, accounting for 67 per cent of its total cooperatives.

To mitigate the impact of climate change, the province has built embankments and sluice gates, and has dredged irrigation canals to store freshwater.

Crab farming

The breeding of mud crabs has also brought higher incomes under extensive farming in mangrove forests.

The An Khang Mud Crab Breeding Co-operative Team in Duyen Hai District began in 2017 with 10 members who were given financial support to buy mud crab seeds, food and other inputs.
The team’s 10 members breed mud crabs in a 4.6ha mangrove forest, earning a profit of VND20 – 30 million ($858 – 1,287) a crop each.

Co Van Tam, head of the An Khang Mud Crab Breeding Co-operative Team in Duyen Hai District’s Long Vinh Commune, said the breeding model was simple for poor households to carry out as it needed less tending and the crabs mostly eat industrial food, small fish and mussels.

Nguyen Van Phung, deputy director of the province’s Agriculture Extension Centre, said: “The model is sustainable and suitable for developing in climate-change affected areas.”

The model would be expanded in Duyen Hai’s Don Xuan, Don Chau and Ngu Lac communes, he said.

The province is one of the delta’s largest mud crab producers. It has more than 9,000ha of mangrove forests and protective forests along the coast.

It has allocated nearly 5,460ha of forests to poor and near-poor households to tend and harvest. In the forests, the households breed aquatic species to earn additional income.

VNS