Present Status of Rice-Based Farming Systems in Areas Affected by Salinity Intrusion in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

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  • AIZAWA Mayu
    The Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo
  • CAN Nguyen Duy
    Mekong Delta Development Research Institute, Can Tho University
  • KUROKURA Hisashi
    The Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo
  • KOBAYASHI Kazuhiko
    The Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo

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Other Title
  • ベトナム・メコンデルタの塩水遡上地域における農家経営の実態
  • ベトナム メコンデルタ ノ エンスイ ソジョウ チイキ ニ オケル ノウカ ケイエイ ノ ジッタイ

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Abstract

During the 1990s, the Vietnamese government implemented salt-free projects to increase rice production in the areas affected by salinity intrusion in the Mekong Delta. In those areas, hydrological conditions and farming systems have dramatically changed. To clarify the present status of the farming systems and socio-economic conditions of the farmers in the areas, we conducted an interview survey covering a total of 193 farmers’ households in the villages of Dai An II, Long Phu and Tai Van in the Soc Trang Province. Forty one percent of the households practiced rice double cropping combined with livestock raising, 37% practiced a monoculture consisting of rice double cropping, and the others practiced rice double cropping combined with the cultivation of upland crops or fruits. However, almost all the farmers based their household income primarily on rice crops, with other products being only a minor source of income. Land productivity of rice was significantly lower than that of the other products, suggesting that expansion of the farm scale of the other products would be much more suitable for increasing the farmer’s income. Nevertheless, they strongly prefer rice to other products, whose cultivation may be constrained by availability of labor and land. The production scale would be restricted by the number of laborers in the family, because they do not use employed laborers for other products as they do for rice cultivation. Land availability is also a constraint because the upland crops are cultivated in the natural levees, and livestock are raised in the farmers’ back yard. Selling price of rice varied significantly less among the farmers than that of the other products, which may also account for the farmers’ preference for rice. The increase of land productivity through the expansion of the rice fields should have also facilitated their preference for rice over the other crops.

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