Project Detail

Contributing to climate change adaptation through conservation and development of salinised and drought tolerant rice varieties in Phuoc Long Commune, Bac Lieu Province

The project ?Developing a community-based model on conservation and sustainable use of drought and salinity tolerant rice varieties to adapt to climate change impact in Phuoc Long Commune, Phuoc Long District, Bac Lieu Province? aims to contribute to minimizing vulnerability and strengthening local adaptive capacity in order to reduce the impacts from droughts and salt water intrusion in rice production at Phuoc Long Commune, Phuoc Long District, Bac Lieu Province. The project has two
specific objectives as (1) To enhance the awareness and understanding of the local authorities and people on the impacts of climate change on socio-economic development and (2)To build a model for applying technological advances in conservation and sustainable use of local rice varieties which are tolerant to droughts and salinity. This is in line with the strategic directions in terms of restructuring in agriculture production for the socio-economic development of the People?s Committee of Phuoc Long district. The project will be undertaken in 3 villages of Phuoc Long commune with a focus on the model building while awareness raising activities will be conducted widely in the whole commune.
The project main activities include the followings.
1. Organizing awareness raising activities to enhance understanding and knowledge on CC and its impacts, and adaptation measures
2. Building a model of 100-105 ha of 2-3 drought and salinity tolerant rice varieties
3. Establishing 2-3 groups of farmers to meet the demand of the commune and other neighboring communes in drought and salinity tolerant rice seed production
4. Organizing 10 technical training workshops and one study tour for the participating farmers
The key results of the project is to enhance the capacity of rice farmers to cope better with the droughts and salt water intrusion as impacts of climate change. Income of rice farmers will be secured and increased by 10-12%. The drought and salinity tolerant rice varieties which are tested successfully will be promoted for wide application in the commune and other areas through the dissemination of the project technical document and availability of provision of seeds.

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Farmers' Associations of Bac Lieu Province

Country:

Viet nam

Area Of Work:

Community Based Adaptation

Operational Phase:

OP4 - Y2 (Jul 08 - Jun 09)

Grant Amount:

US$ 50,000.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 6,000.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 42,000.00

Project Number:

CBA/VN/SPA/08/001

Start Date:

10/2009

End Date:

4/2012

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Capacity - Building Component

- 3 talks and conferences (100 participants) on the impacts of climate change and adaptation with the participation of the authorities local responsible deparments and the community of Phuoc Long. - 10 training classes (400 participants) on the methods of farming for drought- and salinity resistant varieties of rice, introducing the technical advances in alternative intensive cultivation of rice and shrimp in the rice-shrimp model - A field trip (30-35 participants) focused on climate change adaptation farming practices, such as rotation of rice and shrimp in Kien Giang Province, including a field trip to some coastal sites in Ha Tien, Kien Giang. - Community meetings, conferences, workshops focused on the experience sharing and evaluation of the design, implementation and supervision of the rice-shrimp model and management experience of the Management Board and the Experts Group.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

- Phuoc Long commune has 159 Khmer households with 569 people, 102 poor households with income 200.000 VND/person/month making up 3.2%, reliant on aquacultural activities and the shrimp- seasonal rice farming(60% income) and pure farming (40%). Average paddy equivalent food output is one of the lowest in the Mekong River Delta (770 kg/person/year). - The commune has 3.800 ha of land with 2 shrimp seasons, 1 rice season, 430 non-arable ha on which the shrimp-crab-fish combination is applied. Local rice varieties have relatively long growth phase (4 months), low productivity, suffering from degeneration and decreasing productivity.

Notable Community Participation

? During idea generation and design phase, the project investigated the community?s most essential needs and researched on solutions to problems caused by droughts and floods to community livelihoods. ? During implementation phase, the project encouraged the community to participate in every project activity, and benefit from training and education, as well as the project?s technical and financial support efforts. ? Community participation approaches were integrated in all investigations, surveys, planning as well as policy recommendations. ? The community benefits directly from the project?s achievements. ? Information about the project is disseminated through local mass media, meetings, training sessions, conferences and project?s media kit. ? The community is the participants in the project?s preliminary and final assessments. ? During the model building phase, the community elected households to participate in the project based on criteria proposed by the Management Committee and signed the commitment contract ? a mechanism to ensure equity in benefits to the community during the implementation of project models.

Policy Influence

? Government and other departments of Bac Lieu province have given priority to the development of rice-prawn model due to its environmental sustainability, limiting risk and generating high economic efficiency

Replication of project activities

? Replication project activities require additional funding from other sources such as the private sector and foreign sources due to limited local resources. ? Areas suitable for replication: communes and districts with similar land and biological conditions such as Phuoc Long Commune, Phuoc Long District.

Project sustainability

? The project is sustainable, thanks to the sustainability of the rice-prawn model. Through comparing the performance of 03 models (rice-prawn versus rice-only and prawn-only farming) in the area of land of Chu Chi, Bac Lieu, based on criteria of economic efficiency, biodiversity and renewable resource use for the rice-prawn model sustainability and for the highest income 03 times higher than that of the extensive prawn-only farming and 2.4 times that of the rice-only model. The mixed model will help maintain land nutrition which is beneficial to rice thanks to the leftover organic matter from prawn's food. On the other hand, the prawn crop would improve after a rice season. ? In addition, the project also raised awareness and capacity to adapt to climate change for communities, educate local officials in the management of land resources, enhance water and environment management capacity, promote agriculture and raise awareness of gender equality issues, especially among the ethnic female Khmer community and also raise income and create sustainable livelihoods for the community.

Policy Impact

A number of policy recommendations are proposed based on the lessons learned from the CBA projects, including: - For the red rice and other local rice, regular community-based breed screening is necessary to ensure the local variety is not contaminated and degraded. - Diversify the breeds grown in the area to avoid degeneration and crop loss as a consequence of climate change. - Develop the farming techniques for high-yeild rice varieties which are high quality, drought-resistant, salinity-resistant and suitable for local conditions. - Techniques of growing lobsterlobsters will need to be spread among the community.

Project Results

The project aims to reduce adverse impact of droughts and salinisation in rice and shrimp farming. A model of rice-shrimp cultivation is developed with 73 participating households in an area of 105 ha (producing 450-500 tons of rice and about 26-27 tons of prawns) during the project implementation. The result of the project model is as below.

? An increase of 28kg/ha in the productivity of shrimp and profit of 4,981,000VND/ha compared to non-participating farmers.
?
? The indigenous salinity tolerant rice variety of Mot Bui Do is purified and tested in a cultivated area of 6ha, an increase of 1,765 million VND/ha of rice compared to non-participating farmers. However, the profit in 2012 in rice production is much lower than in 2010 and 2011 due to unfavorable weather in 2012 (17.9 to 18.5 million VND/ha in 2010 and 2011 and 13 million VND/ha for 2011-2012).
?
? A decrease of fertilizer (by 25-30%), pesticide (by 20%) and rice seed (by 30%) used in the project rice-shrimp model resulting in the reduction in the investment and especially, reducing soil and water pollution

? Successful experimentation of effective adaptive farming techniques in rice-shrimp cultivation:
- using community-based techniques in purifying salinity resistant rice variety of Mot Bui Do.
- adjusting crop scheduling (time of sowing) to avoid salinization, "Ba Chan? drought season (at the beginning of the crop) and flooding (in the middle of the crop).
- Techniques and procedure in intensive shrimp farming with Mot Bui Do. Thanks to the model, it reduces the pressures in water management in the field to address salinisation.

Adaptive capacity of the community in rice-shrimp production in the project area is significantly enhanced that is very strategic for effective application of adaptive measures. The community also has a better understanding and knowledge on CC issues, especially the real impact in their localities and the adaptive measures. Equipped with the technical adaptive measures, the participating farmers are now proactively coping with the droughts and salinisation in rice-shrimp cultivation¬¬¬.

The effective adaptive farming techniques in rice-shrimp production described above are documented in the project technical materials which will be reviewed by a technical board before providing to the local authority for wide dissemination.

In order to promote replication and upscaling, the project has conducted surveys to develop a replication plan. Results show that Phuoc Long commune has an area of about 3,700 ha which has similar conditions and CC issues (drought and salinisation). The figures for Bac Lieu province and the Mekong delta is 30,000ha and 120,000ha respectively. According to the climatic scenario for the Mekong delta, the area affected by salinisation is about 500,000 ? 700,000ha. The successful experimentation of the project rice-shrimp model is very useful as it has provided an effective adaptation model to Phuoc Long commune in particular and to the Mekong delta in general.

In order for a successful replication and upscaling, it is very strategic in terms of mainstream and replicate the project results in the local programme through a local policy which support the replication of the project adaptation measures. Therefore, the project will recommend the relevant policy issues to the local authority after documentation of these adaptive techniques and lessons learned.

During the project implementation, Phuoc Long commune suffered from a serious drought and high temperature (0.6 to 1.8 degrees C higher than annual mean temperature) and salt water intrusion (4.3 to 5.0 EC mS/cm) in the key crop of 2010-2011, causing huge damage in rice growing area. It was heavily affected by a big flood in 2012. However, the project has achieved all the objectives and expected results stated in the project document. The results of the project show that the project adaptation measures to droughts and salinisation are appropriate and effective, and therefore accepted by the local authority and community. The purifying of the indigenous rice variety of Mot Bui Do contributes to the conservation of this salinity resistant rice variety. As described above, the potential for replication is very substantial as salinisation is the biggest CC impact issue in Phuoc Long commune in particular and the Mekong delta in general. Especially, in the context of unfavorable weather conditions during the project implementation, the project results have confirmed the effectiveness of the project adaptive measures. Thanks to the economic and environmental benefits of the project, it is very potential that the project will be sustainable and replicated/upscaled in the localities with similar conditions and CC issues.

The final project evaluation conclude that the project has provided a very successful model in rice-shrimp production in the face of CC and significantly enhanced local adaptive capacity and resilience of the ecosystems and communities. The project has provided a successful adaptation model to the implementation of the provincial action plan to respond to climate change.

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