Since ancient times, people considered the southern delta the "rice bowl” of the country, with vast fields, interlaced canal systems, rivers full of fish and shrimp, orchards full of fruits,... They also said that the southern delta was "blessed" by nature, with abundant material life, where people had the spiritual life of innocence.

But these beautiful images have gone into the legendary past of a "time far away" to be replaced by the image of a "wild southwest region" with a polluted environment, and uncultivated fields due to drought and salinity. The lives of millions of people in the region are being threatened. Many people have left the countryside to cities or abroad to earn their living.

It is a painful paradox. The Mekong Delta has long been a "key economic area" of the country. The massive damage caused by natural disasters (drought and salinity), which was “unprecedented in history", has damaged more than 160,000 hectares of rice and greatly affected the lives of 320,000 households, leaving 775,000 people without fresh water. After that historic drought and salinity, the Mekong Delta will be in more difficult situation.

The Mekong Delta accounts for19% of the national population (over 18 million), 13% of the total area and its growth rate is higher than the country’s average (7.8% in 2015 compared to 6.8% of the country’s average). In this region, the rice cultivation area accounts for 47% and the region accounts for 56% of the country's rice output and 90% of rice export volume.

But the Mekong Delta is poor: per capita income of VND40.2 million, while the country’s average is VND47.9 million. The poverty of the Mekong Delta has also revealed the fact that if the region keeps maintaining the current agricultural production, it will certainly lose in the globalization playground.

Seeking opportunities in difficulty

I recently attended the forum "Mekong Connect Forum 2016" in Can Tho City. The slogan this year was "Seeking opportunities in danger" to deal with "climate change, environmental problems and challenges of integration". That was the right vision and direction. This is an annual forum for businesses, held at the initiative of businesspeople and local authorities to connect the Mekong Delta provinces of An Giang, Ben Tre, Can Tho, and Dong Thap, and it is spreading to other provinces as an example model. The "Mekong Connect Forum" is organized by the non-profit organizations BSA and LBC.

The presentation by economist Pham Chi Lan on "agricultural renovation solutions"was an important document for reference, not only for this forum, but also for others. The speeches by experts and businessmen at home and abroad were very practical. For example, Prof. Philip Zerillo from Singapore presented a report on "Climate change and risk in business"; Julien Brun – CEO of CEL Consulting presented the article "Supply Chain"; Herb Cochran - Executive Director of Amcham Vietnam – spoke about "Food safety for products exported to the US "; and Gal Yarden – CEO of Natafim, Israel – talked about "Safe and smart agriculture".

The forum brought together over 600 participants, including a large number of businesspeople from the Mekong Delta and elsewhere.

It is a pity that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was absent from the event while the Mekong Delta - the "rice bowl of the country"– is being affected by natural disasters.

On October 24-26, the ACMECS-7, CLMV-8 and WEF-Mekong conference took place in Hanoi. All of these important conferences were related to the Mekong Sub-region, which is facing the consequences of climate change and problems between countries in the sub-region. But the forum "Mekong Connect 2016" still has to strive for itself, with knots and barriers that have not been removed.

Opportunities for agricultural innovation 

According to the presentation of expert Pham Chi Lan, to renew agriculture in the Mekong Delta, we need to conduct modernization and commercialization under the motto "more from less", and comprehensive institutional reform. To solve the current deadlock in the Mekong Delta, institutional reform of land ownership is the most important issue.

In the Mekong Delta, as well as in the world, humans cannot fight climate change, but can only find a way to cope with its implications for survival and development, in a changing environment. It's a global story, not just in Vietnam. Any country that is dynamic, with innovative thinking, and knows how to apply new technology and new way of governance then can exist.

Nguyen Quang Dy