Thẻ: Agriculture adaptation to climate change

As Saltwater Intrudes More of Mekong Delta, Durian Farmers Struggle to Stay Afloat

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Saigoneer.com

Friday, 25 April 2025. Written by Minh Ha and Lue Palmer. Photos by Minh Ha. Top graphic by Ngàn Mai.

AAANguyễn Văn Quại, 63, walked slowly on the muddy dirt path in his yard, his hands clasped behind his back. He stopped beside a tree split in half, its branches dipping into the stagnant water of a narrow moat, and gestured towards the rest of his leafless crop — their trunks yellow, their bark cracked and brittle.

This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.

Nguyễn Văn Quại points to his durian trees in Ngũ Hiệp.

For decades, Quại has called Ngũ Hiệp home. The small island on the Mekong River in Tiền Giang Province is less than two hours inland from the sea. His family first farmed rice but turned to durian, a more lucrative crop, in the early 1990s. Now, more than 200 trees stand in his yard, their thorny fruit bringing in hundreds of millions of VND.

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Corn in peril: Viet Nam’s Hmong struggle to save indigenous seeds

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Mekongeye.com

By Khang A Tủa and Alex Nguyễn 29 January 2024 at 18:36 (Updated on 30 January 2024 at 10:29)

After decades of pursuing development goals, Hmong people in northern Viet Nam face a battle to preserve disappearing indigenous corn

Cúa bua (in Vietnamese), or quav npua (in Hmong) , an indigenous corn variety in Chế Cu Nha, Mù Cang Chải district, Yên Bái province.

YÊN BÁI & SƠN LA, VIET NAM – Early one winter morning, Khang Chờ Dê of Chế Cu Nha hamlet in Yên Bái province was woken by loud knocking on his door. Sào, his relative, needed some red corn kernels, an indigenous crop used by Hmong people in northern Viet Nam for spiritual offerings to ward off bad luck.

The son of a shaman, Dê understood the importance of red corn in ritual practices. He quickly took some kernels from his kitchen, wrapped them up neatly and handed them to his relative.

Back in bed, the 46-year-old farmer pondered the scarcity of the indigenous cúa bua (in Vietnamese), or quav npua (in Hmong)corn seeds in Chế Cu Nha, his family’s ancestral home. For generations, indigenous corn crops have been essential to Hmong spiritual and cultural traditions, as well as helping to strengthening their autonomy in agricultural cultivation.

Source: Mapbox
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Vietnam to cut annual rice exports by 44% to 4 million tonnes by 2030

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

reuters.com

HANOI (Reuters) -Vietnam aims to cut its rice exports to 4 million tonnes a year by 2030, the government said in a document detailing its rice export strategy, down from 7.1 million tonnes last year.Slideshow ( 2 images )Vietnam is the world’s third-largest rice exporter, after India and Thailand.

The move is aimed at “boosting the exports of high-quality rice, ensuring domestic food security, protecting the environment and adapting to climate change,” according to the government document, dated May 26 and reviewed by Reuters.

Rice export revenue will fall to $2.62 billion a year by 2030, down from $3.45 billion in 2022, the document said.

“Although Vietnam’s rice farming area is shrinking due to climate change and some farmers are switching to growing other crops and raising shrimp, the strategy appears to be too aggressive,” a rice trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said on Saturday.

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If your coffee’s going downhill, blame climate change

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

by Reuters

Monday, 16 August 2021 10:00 GMT

Brazil is turning to stronger and more bitter robusta coffee beans, which are hardier in the heat than the delicate arabica, in a sign of how climate change is affecting global markets

* Robusta coffee more heat tolerant than arabica

* It can be grown at lower altitudes than rival variety

* Top roasters ramping up use of Brazilian robusta

* Yields in Brazil now match top robusta grower Vietnam

By Maytaal Angel, Marcelo Teixeira and Roberto Samora

LONDON/NEW YORK/SAO PAULO, Aug 16 (Reuters) – Coffee leader Brazil is turning to stronger and more bitter robusta beans, which are hardier in the heat than the delicate arabica, in a sign of how climate change is affecting global markets – and shaping our favourite flavours.

Brazil is the world’s biggest producer of arabica, yet its production has stayed largely flat over the last five years. Meanwhile its output of cheaper robusta – generally grown at lower altitudes and viewed as of inferior quality – has leapt and is attracting more and more international buyers, new data shows.

The expansion is challenging Vietnam’s longstanding robusta dominance, while squeezing smaller players, increasingly leaving output concentrated in fewer regions and more vulnerable to price spikes if extreme weather occurs.

It also promises to gradually alter the flavour of the world’s coffee over the coming years as more of the harsher and more caffeine-charged robusta variety, widely used to make instant coffee, makes its way into the pricier ground blends currently dominated by arabica.

Whatever your taste, Enrique Alves, a scientist specialising in coffee seed cultivation at Brazilian state agritech research centre Embrapa, said that it might ultimately be thanks to robusta that “our daily coffee will never be missing” as the globe warms.

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Precision agriculture for smallholder farmers in Vietnam: How the Internet of Things helps smallholder paddy farmers use water more efficiently

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

blogs.worldbank.org

“Paddy is our life, but many people don’t want us to grow paddy anymore,” laments Pham Van Tuan, a rice farmer in Can Tho province of Vietnam. “Big people from Ho Chi Minh City say that our paddy is causing climate change and water scarcity in the world.”

Paddy cultivation emits over 10 percent of global agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and consumes 21 percent of the total water volume used for global crop production.  Water is increasingly scarce in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, which has been hit by record droughts in recent years. Solutions that help farmers like Pham Van Tuan to grow rice while drastically reducing GHG emission and water usage would be a game-changer for the Mekong Delta. Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) is one such practice where rice fields are alternately flooded and dried, and water levels kept low during the flooded stage. This irrigation practice reduces water use up to 28 percent and methane emissions up to 48 percent. With such immense benefits, one would expect that this practice is applied far and wide. But that is not so. Why? Tiếp tục đọc “Precision agriculture for smallholder farmers in Vietnam: How the Internet of Things helps smallholder paddy farmers use water more efficiently” →

Environmental changes in the Mekong Delta spell trouble for farmers

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này
phys.org
July 23, 2018, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Environmental changes in the Mekong Delta spell trouble for farmers
Mekong Delta’s dams, dikes, and canals have made the area a major exporter of rice, shrimp, and other seafood, but they are bringing unintended consequences to local farmers. Credit: Mic Greenberg

The Mekong Delta is home to 15 million people, many of whom rely on the delta’s rich soil and water resources for farming and fishing. But their livelihoods are being threatened by rising sea levels, droughts, dams, and other hydrological shifts. A new article from researchers at the University of Illinois and Iowa State University explains the challenges.
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Pushing Vietnam’s shrimp industry toward sustainability

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này
news.mongabay.com
by  on 17 July 2018

  • Shrimp farming is one of the biggest industries in Vietnam, and the government is pushing to expand it, having announced plans last year to boost exports from $3 billion in 2016 to $10 billion by 2025.
  • But there are significant environmental problems associated with current farming methods, which contribute to deforestation, erosion, land subsidence and rising salinity levels that are threatening the stability of the entire Mekong region.
  • The Vietnamese government and a range of international development partners are working to improve the way the country farms shrimp, with an emphasis on small-scale operators.
  • However, the reality is that most farmers are reluctant to change.

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How the coffee industry is about to get roasted by climate change

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

theconverstion

Fall is always a good time to create new habits, and coffee chains know it.

These days, they are desperately trying to find any excuse to get you to drink their java.

Many chains used National or International Coffee Day, just passed, as a reason to offer their coffee at a discount, or even for free — with some conditions, of course.

For restaurant operators, there’s no better hook than coffee to get repeat business. It’s a great scheme that seems to be working for some. Given what’s looming on the horizon, however, offering free coffee may no longer be an option for businesses.

Coffee demand around the world is shifting. Europe still accounts for almost one third of the coffee consumed worldwide, but China has doubled its consumption in just the last five years. Tiếp tục đọc “How the coffee industry is about to get roasted by climate change” →

Nông lâm kết hợp: giải pháp ngày càng phổ biến cho một thế giới nóng và đói khát

~ Lan Nguyen ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Thoạt nhìn, các vùng phía Tây Cameroon trông có vẻ tươi tốt [phủ xanh bởi cây cối và rừng], nhưng khi nhìn gần hơn thì thấy đất đai ở khu vực này đã bị suy thoái do canh tác quá mức, kỹ thuật canh tác không bền vững, thảm thực vật bị tàn phá do bị khai thác làm củi và cháy rừng.

Tuy nhiên, ở một số khu vực vẫn tràn ngập đa dạng sinh học: cà phê phát triển dưới bóng mát của cây chuối, gần đó là những cây mận Châu Phi (tên địa phương là cây safou), cây cô la, cam và các loại cây lấy gỗ như gỗ gụ. Đối với người không chuyên thì đây trông giống như một khu rừng tự nhiên, nhưng thực tế đó là một hệ thống nông lâm – kết hợp cây cho bóng mát với cây trồng.

 [Hệ thống nông lâm kết hợp điển hình ở vùng Tây Bắc của Cameroon với chuối và các loại quả địa phương và cây lấy gỗ. Ảnh Ebernezar Asaah]

First global atlas of the bacteria living in your dirt (soil)

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

sciencedaily

Researchers have compiled a ‘most wanted’ list of around 500 key bacterial species that are both common and abundant worldwide

Date: January 18, 2018
Source: University of Colorado at Boulder
Summary:
What lives in your dirt? Researchers are one step closer to finding out after compiling the first global atlas of soil bacterial communities and identifying a group of around 500 key species that are both common and abundant worldwide.
FULL STORY
Soil bacteria account for a large percentage of the planet’s living biomass and facilitate key soil processes such as carbon cycling and nutrient availability.
Credit: © Bits and Splits / Fotolia

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Earthworm numbers dwindle, threatening soil health

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

DW_Earthworms help recuperate soil and enrich it with much needed minerals. But environmentalists are concerned as earthworms have come under threat from intensive use of manure and acidic soil.

  • Regenwürmer (Colourbox)

    SILENT UNDERGROUND HELPERS

    Half truths

    The story goes that when an earthworm is split in two, both parts will live on. That’s not exactly right. Only the front of the worm can survive such a trauma. Even then, it doesn’t always make it. All of the worm’s vital organs are here but if too much of the gut is missing or the wound becomes infected, the half worm won’t recover.

 

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Earthworms, it seems, are the unsung heroes of our world. Labeled slimy and disgusting by many, these lowly invertebrates work unseen and underground where they till, fertilize and improve soil.

But environmentalists are concerned that industrial agricultural practices are making life difficult for this surprisingly important animal.

Intensive use of manure and acidic soil with a pH value below five harm the worm, although it remains unclear whether herbicides affect earthworm’s ability to reproduce. Tiếp tục đọc “Earthworm numbers dwindle, threatening soil health” →

Vietnam’s Homegrown System for Saving Water

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ 1 bình luận

October 24, 2017

A young man returned home to invent an internet-integrated system that helps farmers produce more food with less water.

Tri Nguyen, CEO of MimosaTEK, was born and raised in Dalat, a city in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam, where the land is mountainous and fertile. He grew up surrounded by local farmers who planted a rich variety of products ­— from bell peppers and flowers to coffee and bananas. Tri moved to Ho Chi Minh City to work in the information technology sector as a young man, but when the opportunity came, he decided to return to his roots and start a strawberry farm with his friends in Dalat.

Tri turned to the local farmers to learn everything he could about growing strawberries. But he kept hearing something that didn’t seem right: The farmers instructed him to irrigate until water dripped out of the soil when he picked it up in his hands.

Tri did some research that confirmed his instincts: The farmers didn’t need to be using that much water. But when he told his neighbors, they insisted on continuing to overwater their crops. It was how they were taught and how they had farmed all their lives.

“I realized then that the farmers based their decisions on experiences instead of scientific data,” says Tri.

Smallholder and family farmers in Dalat water their crops based on what they see and feel. They don’t consult data on the weather or rainfall because they were never taught to do so. This is leading to excessive irrigation, which can stunt growth or kill crops, and deplete limited groundwater. Furthermore, Vietnam is still recovering from its strongest-ever drought, and every drop counts. Many of Dalat’s farmers are already suffering from water shortages. Tiếp tục đọc “Vietnam’s Homegrown System for Saving Water” →

Using real-time satellite data to track water productivity in agriculture

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

New FAO tool offers water-scarce countries and river basins a way to boost productivity

Photo: ©FAO/Olivier Asselin

Watering crops in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

FAO 20 April 2017, Rome – Measuring how efficiently water is used in agriculture, particularly in water-scarce countries, is going high-tech with the help of a new tool developed by FAO.

The WaPOR open-access database has gone live, tapping satellite data to help farmers achieve more reliable agricultural yields and allowing for the optimization of irrigation systems.

WaPOR was presented this week during a high-level partners meeting for FAO’s Coping with water scarcity in agriculture: a global framework for action in a changing climate. It allows for fine-grained analysis of water utilised through farming systems, generating empirical evidence about how it can be most productively used.

Worldwide water utilization – the majority of which is used by agriculture – has outpaced the rate of population growth for most of the last century and some regions are close to breaching viable limits. Tiếp tục đọc “Using real-time satellite data to track water productivity in agriculture” →

Using Remote Sensing to Map Rice Paddy Drop in the Mekong Delta

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này
BY SPATIAL ANALYSIS

Gislounge_The Mekong River Delta is an important water source flowing through South East Asia. Primarily feeding the rice fields of Vietnam, the Mekong River Delta has long been an area of great fertility due to water flow and silt build up. However, agricultural efforts in the area have shown a decline in production because of the weather effects of El Niño. This year’s El Niño has been particularly strong, causing droughts in South East Asia.

Satellites including Europe’s Sentinel-1A can now track the rise and fall of different agricultural products around the world. The satellite’s imagery showed that rice production in the Mekong Delta has decreased in the past year, threatening the livelihoods of local farmers as well as food security worldwide. Tiếp tục đọc “Using Remote Sensing to Map Rice Paddy Drop in the Mekong Delta” →