Conservation Agriculture in Vietnam

Presented by

Duong Ngoc Thi, Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural

Development

Contains

• Vietnam agriculture context• Status of Conservation Agriculture (CA)• Opportunities and Challenges to CA• Strategy and Policy Suggestion

1. ContextAfter 25 years reforming, Vietnam agriculture has achieved many success:

Food security;

Agro-products export;

Poverty alleviation;

Rural development etc.

Agriculture share 20% of total GDP, and 25% of export value.

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Fresh, processed vegetables and fruit Pepper

Coffee Rubber

Rice Fishery products

Shelled cashew nut

Major exported commodities in 2012

Rice (3.73 bil. $)

Tea (227 mil. $)

Coffee(3.74 bil. $)

Cashewnut(1.48 bil. $)

Rubber(2.856 bil. $)

Pepper(802 mil. $)

Wood snd furnitures(5 bil. $)

Rau quả (805 triệu $

Aquaculture(6.15 bil. $)

Casava (1.35 bil. $)

Rice growing areas and productivity1989 - 2012

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Rice export in amount and value1989 -2012

Directions to develop agriculture until 2020

• Ensure food security at national level and household level;

• Develop commodities have high advantage to attain high value, increase agro-product competitiveness;

• Apply technical and technology solutions in agro production and business, applying intensification and mechanizations;

• Apply farming systems to adopt and mitigate to Climate Change (CC), using sustainable resources;

• Develop both small scale and large models• Change institutions to cooperate among farmers and

link enterprises to farmers, attract investment from private sector.

Directions on techniques

− Replacing crop varieties tolerant to flood, drought, diseases and short maturity

− Rotating rice with annual crops in area specializing rice cultivation

− Changing relation of crop, livestock and aquaculture in farming system.

− Applying technical measure to reduce fertilizer, pesticide and herbicide application;

− Applying technical measure to reduce water use; reduce glasshouse emission

Practical changing from rice to other crops

2. Conservation Agriculture applied

Seasons:

Winter season in North

Winter –Spring or Spring –Summer in the South

Other seasons in Mountainous area

Crops:

Maize

Soybean

Potato Other crops,

Rice - Shrimp

Maize and Soybean grown by minimum tillage

Potato and pumpkin grown by minimum tillage

• Potato

CA farming system Rice - Shrimp

Process applying CA on the Field (rice –growing land)

Harvesting rice

Cleaning the field. Cutting straw

Maintaining soil humid

Dig network of furrow drain around the field and between beds

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Process growing maize by minimum tillage

these system had minimized expense on tillagethese system had minimized expense on tillage

Benefit of CA

CA have been evaluated highly by farmers and local administrations on aspects:

On economics:− Minimize expense for tillage (60-70%)− Use waste products (using 90% straw), economize fertilizer cost − No need of strong farmers, the older can work easily− Farmers can grow larger area. − Grow crops have been carried in time− Farmer’s expense is reduced, income are increased

On environment:• Using straw, reducing pollution of fresh air due to burning straw• Minimum or zero tillage has contributed to reduce glasshouse emission• Reducing chemical fertilizer => reducing chemical surplus in to soil,

water and products to contribute to protect environment and ensure food safety.

CA Overview

• CA have been implemented by farmers at small scale • Although Ministry of Agriculture and Rural

Development (MARD) recognize CA on Potato as an advanced technique, but in fact local administrations don’t pay more attention to guide farmers;

• CA on other crops (except Potato) has not been recognized yet;

• Database and information on CA system are in shortage

• Farmers income from CA system is low and limited• The awareness on CA has not been disseminated

widespread

3. Opportunities and Challenges3.1. Opportunities

Government set a target to reduce 20% GHE in each decade, so they pay more attention to apply GHE - reduced agriculture system;

Government set a target program to use sustainable resources;

CA on potato production had been recognized by MARD as an advanced technique and encourage farmer to apply

Price of material chemical and industrial input increased, some farmer try to use at least of industrial inputs and towards their own sources;

Consumers and others stakeholders pay more attention on food safety, so that they support the CA systems

3. Opportunities and Challenges3.2. Challenges

No agency of Agriculture sector has been assigned responsibility on CA;

Awareness of Producers and administrators on CA is limited;

Farmers have been implemented by their experience, the training skills on CA has been little

Database and information on CA is in shortage

CA systems have dramatically been competed with another systems (intensive systems, etc.)

No detail policy to support CA while many policies have been support others program and systems;

The price of products from CA system has not been higher than ones producing by other systems

4. Suggestions 4.1. Strategy suggestions

(1) CA should be developed on rice field rotated with annual crops, coastal areas and sloping land

(2) It can be applied minimum tillage with annual crops and zero tillage with CA system rice – shrimp or fish

(3) It is not only small households but large production scale can applied CA systems.

(4) It should combine applying CA system with organic products or products safety

(5) It should be planned and maintain CA system with other program

4.2. Policy Suggestions(1) It should assign the agency (or division in existed administration) to study and develop CA systems

(2) Agriculture sector evaluate and recognize CA systems as advanced techniques

(3) It should be evaluate benefit on environment comprehensively

(4) Policy advocacy to Government in order to issue policy to support and disseminate CA systems

(5) illustrate and persuade the consumers accepting to pay higher price of products producing from CA systems

Thank you for attention.