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2011 | Book

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Environmental Change and Agricultural Sustainability in the Mekong Delta

Editors: Mart A. Stewart, Peter A. Coclanis

Publisher: Springer Netherlands

Book Series : Advances in Global Change Research

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

The Mekong Delta of Vietnam is one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world. The Mekong River fans out over an area of about 40,000 sq kilometers and over the course of many millennia has produced a region of fertile alluvial soils and constant flows of energy. Today about a fourth of the Delta is under rice cultivation, making this area one of the premier rice granaries in the world.

The Delta has always proven a difficult environment to manipulate, however, and because of population pressures, increasing acidification of soils, and changes in the Mekong’s flow, environmental problems have intensified. The changing way in which the region has been linked to larger flows of commodities and capital over time has also had an impact on the region: For example, its re-emergence in recent decades as a major rice-exporting area has linked it inextricably to global markets and their vicissitudes. And most recently, the potential for sea level increases because of global warming has added a new threat. Because most of the region is on average only a few meters above sea level and because any increase of sea level will change the complex relationship between tides and down-river water flow, the Mekong Delta is one of the areas in the world most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

How governmental policy and resident populations have in the past and will in coming decades adapt to climate change as well as several other emerging or ongoing environmental and economic problems is the focus of this collection.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
The Mekong Delta of Vietnam is one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world. The Mekong River fans out over an area of about 40,000 km2, and over the course of many millennia has produced a region of fertile alluvial soils and constant flows of energy. Today, about a fourth of the Delta is under rice cultivation, making this area one of the premier rice granaries in the world. The Delta has always proven a difficult environment to manipulate, however, and because of population pressures, increasing acidification of soils, and changes in the Mekong’s flow, environmental problems have intensified. The confluence of agriculture and economy in the region with larger flows of commodities and capital over time has also had an impact on the region: For example, its reemergence in recent decades as a major rice-exporting area has linked it inextricably to global markets and their vicissitudes. And most recently, the potential for sea level increases because of global warming has added a new threat, one that makes the Delta a place where local, regional, and global environmental changes are dramatically converging.
Mart A. Stewart, Peter A. Coclanis

Environmental Change in the Mekong Delta – Actions and Agencies

Frontmatter
Chapter 2. Think Global, Act Global in the Mekong Delta? Environmental Change, Civil Society, and NGOs
Abstract
The Mekong delta is experiencing rapid growth in foreign investment and trade, urban development, industry, agriculture, and fisheries. With these come externalities of river-flow interruptions, habitat destruction, and pollution interacting with climate change to weaken environmental services. Results can present unprecedented livelihood challenges to communities in one of the most environmentally vulnerable areas of Vietnam. Overcoming the increasing stress and its consequences requires new skills, a forward-looking governance framework, and engagement of millions of delta households. Questions therefore arise about how to address the magnitude and geographic scale of such challenges by developing appropriate institutional and human resources how and to ascertain society’s proper role in this process. Civil-society studies have mostly examined the political and societal context of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Vietnam, but NGO initiatives in environmental restoration are at an early stage and less frequently studied. Defining the urgent environmental pressures on the Mekong delta, especially in aquatic systems, this chapter outlines the need for an expanded vision in identifying solutions and widening society’s contributions. This chapter also details the institutional constraints to society and NGO action. The chapter argues that more visible global engagement in restoration and management is needed given Vietnam’s position as an emerging, natural resource-dependent society and its increasingly ­international-linked delta economy.
Boris Fabres
Chapter 3. Fixing the Delta: History and the Politics of Hydraulic Infrastructure Development and Conservation in the Mekong Delta
Abstract
Historians and many other writers have widely acknowledged the political ­importance of flood control and land reclamation in river deltas. Whether one is considering ancient dikes on the Red River near Hanoi – works first planned 1,000 years ago by Emperor Ly Thai To following the hoof prints of a magical white horse – or modern levees on the Mississippi River in New Orleans – works built by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers following a mantra of rationalization and efficiency – the importance of these works to the states that maintain them is clear. The fortunes of Vietnamese emperors and American presidents have risen and fallen with the successes and failures of flood control. With the global spread of environmentalist movements and increasing concerns, especially in river deltas, about rising sea levels, political debates about building or maintaining infrastructure have become more complicated with concerns about environmental impacts.
David Biggs
Chapter 4. Outline of the Process of Red River Hydraulics Development During the Nguyễn Dynasty (Nineteenth Century)
Abstract
The history of water management in the Red River Delta presents a stark contrast with the Mekong Delta. While the latter was an ancient site of contact between the Khmer, Siamese, Malay, Chinese, Chăm, and Vietnamese populations, its large-scale hydraulics planning are of relatively recent date, having been initiated during the seventeenth century under the Nguyễn lords. In the Red River Delta, the conquest and development of the territory is intimately related to the history of water management, as well as to the hydrographical network which shaped it through a long process of alluvial deposit. The basic need for self-protection against the river’s violent floods is a constant feature of the ancient past and the modern period in Vietnam’s history and largely contributed to the structuring of relations between the state and the peasantry.
This chapter’s aim is to present several important features of the history of hydraulics policy implemented in the northern delta during the nineteenth century by the Nguyễn dynasty, drawn from one principal documentary source, the imperial annals. Indeed, it was in the nineteenth century that the most concerted efforts were made, to such an extent that on the eve of the colonial intervention, the construction of the Red River Delta’s dike system was complete. This unprecedented investment should not mask, however, the instability and ambiguity of the hydraulics policy implemented by this dynasty’s successive emperors; this was illustrated by discontinuity in the administration and management of the dikes and alternating periods of state involvement and withdrawal, whereby part of its prerogatives was abandoned to peasant communities. Looking beyond this contrasting conclusion, we may consider that the Nguyễn dynasty played a key role in the area of water management, establishing the foundations for a modern and rational system in the delta.
Olivier Tessier
Chapter 5. “A Kind of Mylai … Against the Indochinese Countryside”: American Scientists, Herbicides, and South Vietnamese Mangrove Forests
Abstract
In a 1972 book review of Harvest of Death, a collection of essays examining ­chemical warfare in South Vietnam, plant biologist Arthur Galston compared the US herbicide campaign to the “willful destruction of an entire people and its culture” that had happened during World War II and had been condemned at the Nuremberg trials (Galston 1972). Developing his analogy further, Galston noted that a crime of such magnitude against humanity was labeled genocide. In the case where “the willful and permanent destruction of an environment in which a people can live in a manner of their own choosing ought,” according to Galston, “to be designated by the term ecocide.” Harvest of Death, then, became “a document of a kind of Mylai perpetrated against the Indochinese countryside.” Galston represented one side of a sometimes bitterly divided group of American scientists as they sought to assess the damage done to the South Vietnamese countryside, most ­particularly the coastal mangrove forests of the Mekong Delta.
Amy M. Hay
Chapter 6. The Politics and Culture of Climate Change: US Actors and Global Implications
Abstract
Despite the scientific consensus on global warming, many people in the USA,—both ordinary citizens and elected leaders alike—remain skeptical of the need to act, and in fact remain skeptical of the idea that humans are contributing to global warming at all. Thus, environmental justice arguments based on United States carbon emissions and the disproportionate impact of rising temperatures and rising sea levels on tropical developing nations such as Vietnam frequently fall on deaf ears. This chapter explores the political and cultural construction of this deafness, seeking a better understanding of how and why so many Americans refuse to act to address global warming. The two main sources of this deafness that this chapter address are (1) the politics of carbon-intensive energy producers such as the coal and oil industries, demonstrating the ways in which those industries have distorted the debate over global warming, have found eager allies in political candidates willing to accept large campaign contributions, and—with the help of other industries such as automobile manufacturing and home construction—have encouraged the second main source of denial: (2) a culture of aggrandized individualism that places greater value on personal identity construction than on the national and global common good. Once these sources are established, the chapter recommends strategies for using narrative to overcome cultural and political resistance to climate change mitigation that may be effective not only in the United States, but in Vietnam as well.
Charles Waugh

Social and Economic Dynamics

Frontmatter
Chapter 7. Precarious Paddies: The Uncertain, Unstable, and Insecure Lives of Rice Farmers in the Mekong Delta
Abstract
In recent decades, the concept “precarious work” has gained great ­currency in the literature of the social sciences. Generally speaking, “precarious work” is defined as work that is uncertain, unstable, and insecure, wherein the preponderance of risks is borne by workers rather than by employers or government. Up until now, the concept has almost always been used with reference to wageworkers employed, whether formally or informally, in the manufacturing or service sectors. In this chapter, we broaden this valuable concept by extending it to the agricultural sector and by including various types of “insecure” agriculturalists – whether wage laborers, tenants, or owner operators – in its embrace. More specifically, we apply the concept to farmers and farming in the Mekong Delta. Rice farming in the Mekong Delta has never been easy, seldom been secure, and never been risk-free. Year-to-year fluctuations in weather conditions alone are enough to render farm life in the region so. Over the past two decades, though, uncertainty, instability, and insecurity have risen for many Delta farmers as a result of market reforms in Vietnam beginning in 1986, the vagaries of world commodity prices, changes in health care, disability, and pension schemes in the country, a variety of environmental changes associated with the modernization of rice agriculture and the increase of poorly monitored industry, and now, the threat of significant, if not drastic climate change, which has the potential to increase uncertainty, instability, and insecurity exponentially. We have used a variety of sources, including field investigations, to demonstrate the relevance of the “precarious work” concept to the Mekong Delta’s rice cultivators.
Peter A. Coclanis, Mart A. Stewart
Chapter 8. Analysis of Labour Migration Flows in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam
Abstract
Migration occurs as a response to economic development as well as to social, cultural, and environmental causes. This chapter explores migration patterns in the Mekong Delta (MD) region of Vietnam by using information in the Vietnam Household Living Standard Surveys for 2004 and 2006. The main purposes of the chapter are: (1) to gain insight into migration flows in the Mekong Delta region and (2) to identify the determinants of the migration flows regarding commune-related variables. From the description and the multivariate analysis, there are several interesting findings. First, the number of migrants in the Mekong Delta region has been increasing in recent years, and their destinations are the leading industrial and commercial cities in Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh and Binh Duong. Second, “push” factors such as poverty and challenges in farm production are the key causes of migration flows. In addition, policy makers should take advantage of economic development programs as an adjustment tool in migration matters.
Huynh Truong Huy, Le Nguyen Doan Khoi
Chapter 9. Dynamic Resilience of Peri-Urban Agriculturalists in the Mekong Delta Under Pressures of Socio-Economic Transformation and Climate Change
Abstract
Globally and in Vietnam, coupled social-ecological systems in the peri-urban fringes are amongst the most dynamic as well as strained systems as they are at the same time drivers and results of comprehensive transformation processes. Based on a literature and policy review, we argue that – globally and especially in Vietnam – there is a neglect of the specific needs and challenges faced by popu­lations in the peri-urban interface. At the same time, the chapter suggests that, in the Mekong Delta in particular, agriculture-based population groups in the ­peri-urban areas are at risk of being negatively affected by overlapping trends of (a) socio-economic transformation (including, e.g. liberalisation or urbanisation), (b) biophysical degradation (including, e.g. pesticide residues in water bodies) and (c) climate change impacts. This hypothesis is tested based on empirical research in one of the most rapidly urbanising districts in the Mekong Delta, that is, Cai Rang District in the peri-urban fringe of Can Tho City. We find that formerly agriculture-based population groups in this district are facing substantial decreases in resilience due in particular to the effects of expropriation, relocation and inadequate compensation schemes. In addition, the population of the district will experience changes in water-related pollution patterns as sources of contaminants are likely to shift from mainly agrichemicals pollution to microbiological contaminations and pollution from other ‘new’ pollutants such as endocrine disruptors, all linked to changes in land use patterns and industrialisation. On top of this, climate change is in the future likely to imply increasing difficulties for those groups which – in view of the already deteriorated baseline resilience – pose substantial risks of tipping into a crisis situation due to a lack of resources and options for adaptation and coping. This can be true for single households, extended family networks or entire groups (e.g. populations in specific relocation clusters). Yet, the chapter argues that resilience effects may not be understood in a functionalistic or deterministic manner, meaning that entire systems per se will inevitably move along a given resilience trajectory. Rather, a review of overlaying trends in Vietnam as well as empirical case study analysis shows that resilience pathways are highly dynamic and depend on small-scale factors setting the directions. Resilience, therefore, can be differentiated between households or individuals. Acknowledging the importance of those small directive elements within resilience pathways opens up opportunities for resilience management and governance.
Matthias Garschagen, Fabrice G. Renaud, Jörn Birkmann
Chapter 10. Efficiency Analysis of Selected Farming Patterns: The Case of Irrigated Systems in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam
Abstract
The objective of this study is to measure the technical, allocative, and cost efficiency for farmers who grow crops following either rice-monocultural patterns or crop-rotation patterns in the non-flooded and flooded areas of the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam. The non-flooded areas are located within irrigated boundary systems, and the flooded areas are located outside these systems. In addition, the determinants of household income and productive efficiencies are identified in the study.
Related to productive efficiency, the measured results show that the crop-rotation farmers are more efficient in terms of technical and cost efficiency than the continuous-rice farmers and vice versa for allocative efficiency, for the case of non-flooded areas. Similarly, the mean efficiency score is greater with respect to technical, allocative, and cost efficiency for farmers employing the crop-rotation pattern in comparison with farmers following the continuous-rice pattern.
Regarding the factors influencing efficiencies, in the case of non-flooded areas, the estimated results show that although there are some differences in determinants of each component of total productivity, sex, age, education, share of female labor, and farming pattern are found to be the main factors driving changes in most of the components such as technical and allocative efficiency. In the case of flooded areas, all components of total productivity in terms of the technical, allocative, and cost efficiency are impacted by the variation in sex, age, and education.
Quan Minh Nhut
Chapter 11. Living with Floods: An Evaluation of the Resettlement Program of the Mekong Delta of Vietnam
Abstract
The Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD) is a region increasingly affected by flooding. In 1996, the Vietnamese government launched an ambitious Living With the Flood (LWF) program. The objective of the program was to build dwelling houses for residents relocated from the VMD’s flood areas. The program has built more than 1,000 resettlement clusters (RCs) for the 200,000 households and 1 million people previously living in the now permanently flooded areas. Total investment capital has been about US $200 million. While the LWF policy is accepted and popular within the VMD, there are many reasons that make the resettlement program both successful and unsuccessful. Identifying the factors influencing the effectiveness of the program will help local authorities to develop appropriate measures to improve the resettlement program. The rationale of this study was to review and conduct a qualitative analysis of the effectiveness of the resettlement program. The policy recommendation drawn from the study is that to effectively cope with yearly floods in the long run, people need to adjust their habits and their social and ­economic activities, towards living with floods and gaining benefit from them, rather than preventing them. At the national level, economic development strategies and planning in the VMD need to be consistent with the LWF policy. At the local level, authorities need to persuade and assist people to better adapt to flooding.
Vo Thanh Danh, Shahbaz Mushtaq

Consequences of Environmental Change

Frontmatter
Chapter 12. Climate Change in the Mekong River Delta and Key Concerns on Future Climate Threats
Abstract
The Mekong River Delta in Vietnam is the largest agriculture and aquaculture production region of the nation. As the most downstream part of the Mekong River to both the East Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, the majority of the Delta is slightly under 2 m above sea level. Historically and practically, the people of the Delta have settled in the highest densities along the river and banks of the connected canals. Human life, agriculture and aquaculture production, and domestic water supplies in the Delta depend highly on the meteorological and hydrological regimes of the region. However, Delta livelihoods are sensitive and could be threatened by climate change and hydrological cycles. Future climate projection from the regional climate model indicates that the Mekong River Delta region will likely be warmer in the future with longer and drier summers. Seasonal ­patterns could be altered under the influence of global warming. Moreover, changes in climate patterns in the upstream region of the Mekong River may affect the flood regime of the Mekong Delta, which may lead to an extension of the ­current boundaries of flooding patterns. These changes raise many concerns, especially in terms of those who make their living from agriculture and aquaculture, because of their significant potential for creating new environmental challenges in the Mekong River Delta.
Le Anh Tuan, Suppakorn Chinvanno
Chapter 13. Climate Change Adaptation and Agrichemicals in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam
Abstract
Since the implementation of economic reforms in 1986, the Mekong Delta has experienced an extensive transformation process in its agricultural sector. This transformation has been characterized by agricultural intensification, the enhanced use of agrichemicals (fertilizer, pesticides), and emerging concerns for human health and the environment. The predicted impacts of climate change such as sea level rise, greater seasonal variability in precipitation and river flows, and elevated temperature and CO2 concentration will all likely also influence the agricultural landscape and thus agrichemical use. Against the background of the anticipated climate change impacts in the Mekong Delta, this chapter aims to draw a scenario for future agrichemical use and attendant environmental problems. This scenario is achieved through a review of the main climate change-mediated drivers for agrichemical use, with a focus on land-use changes and changes in pest and disease patterns. In addition, the chapter identifies possible adaptation measures that may be implemented by the agricultural sector in the Mekong Delta and explores the potential environmental effects of these adaptation strategies.
Zita Sebesvari, Thi Thu Huong Le, Fabrice G. Renaud
Chapter 14. Role of Villagers in Building Community Resilience Through Disaster Risk Management: A Case Study of a Flood-Prone Village on the Banks of the Mekong River in Cambodia
Abstract
Floods are a normal feature of the monsoon season around the Tonle Sap Great Lake and areas neighboring the Mekong River in Cambodia. In some years, floods are much more severe than others; in particular, when there is a combination of high discharge from upstream and a high run-off from rainfall within the area. Actions taken by villagers could help build resilience at household and community levels against these more serious floods and thus reduce the risks of disasters, loss of life, and costly damage. In a detailed study of impacts and responses to floods in Angkor Ang village in Prey Veng Province, we found evidence of major barriers to effective actions by villagers and other actors working at community and other levels. Building and maintaining resilience in flood-prone communities requires that attention be given to local capacity and knowledge, differences in wealth or poverty, gender relations, and local participation. Moreover, these factors need to be examined in various social processes before, during, and after major floods.
Serey Sok, Louis Lebel, Ram C. Bastakoti, Sokkalyan Thau, Sela Samath

Human Responses to Environmental Change

Frontmatter
Chapter 15. Community-Based Fish Culture: A Viable Coping Strategy for Farmers in the Mekong Delta?
Abstract
Floodplains are characterized by a period of several months when the land is not available for agriculture and large and open areas are used for fisheries. Enclosures in the flooded areas can be utilized to produce a crop of stocked fish, in addition to naturally occurring self-recruited species. The WorldFish Center and the Research Institute for Aquaculture no2 (RIA 2) tested options for community-based fish culture in floodplain enclosures in the Mekong Delta. The trials yielded fish production in the range of 61–179 kg ha−1. Results indicate that the models tested are sensitive and dependent on flood patterns and limitations imposed by the rice culture calendar. Other technical challenges included a short grow-out period and fingerling size. These initial trials have shown that community-based fish culture is an innovative approach for the Mekong Delta and has the potential to provide an alternative livelihood option in the face of environmental change and development. To increase uptake, the technical design of the approach could be further optimized, and mechanisms for community participation could be enhanced to increase economic incentives for adoption of the technology by farmers.
Olivier M. Joffre, N. Sheriff, H. H. Ngai, N. V. Hao
Chapter 16. From Rice to Shrimp: Ecological Change and Human Adaptation in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam
Abstract
In the last few decades, structural transformation in agriculture has been considered a key to rural economic development in Vietnam. In the Mekong Delta, the most important rice basket of Vietnam, farmers have diversified their economic activities and engaged in production which involves high risks, partly due to global market price fluctuations. This change in livelihood patterns has resulted in a significant change in the Delta’s ecology.
This chapter analyzes socio-economic changes of human adaptation to a new living environment in two shrimp-farming communities in the Mekong Delta, one in the lower part (Ca Mau Province) and the other in the upper part of the Delta (Long An Province). It examines the changes in livelihood and local ecology when farmers shift from conventional rice cultivation to high-value shrimp-farming and thus, from fresh water to saline water ecology. The chapter concludes that the human environment is a social process in which people constantly shape their landscape and have to adapt to the “created” environment by changing their socioeconomic lives. In the shift from rice to shrimp, when people cannot adapt to ecological changes locally, labor migration is the best solution for their livelihood. This phenomenon can be seen as an indicator of agricultural unsustainability. My comparative study seeks to contribute to the understanding of socio-economic changes from an environmental perspective.
Ngo Thi Phuong Lan
Chapter 17. Relationship Quality in Fish Value Chains: Buyer–Supplier Management in the Pangasius Industry, Vietnam
Abstract
This study deals with the importance of investment and trust in designing a high-quality, export-oriented fish value chain. It analyzes relationship quality in the Pangasius industry in order to improve product quality through closer supply-chain coordination. According to findings from several research streams, we argue that relationship quality must be conceptualized as a function of trust and investment. Consequently, we derived a conceptual model that links commitment and trust to relationship quality. The analysis brings together assumptions and concepts from a variety of sources ranging from Porter’s value chain to transaction-cost economics to institutional economics.
To verify the applicability of the model, we conducted a survey in the Pangasius industry of Vietnam. The data were obtained from a sample of 120 Pangasius farmers and 5 Pangasius processing/export firms in the Mekong River Delta (MRD), Vietnam. Each interview made was taped and properly transcribed. We collected relevant information by interviewing the managers of four processing/export firms. In addition, we consulted secondary data by making use of documentary information, archival records from relevant organizations, and secondary sources. Hence, using different sources of evidence, we were able to triangulate our findings on the main issues under study.
Le Nguyen Doan Khoi, Nguyen Phu Son
Chapter 18. The Relationship Between Natural Conditions and the Formation and Development of Clam Grounds (Meretrix lyrata) in the Mekong Delta
Abstract
Vietnam’s overall mollusk production is estimated at 300,000–350,000 tons a year, of which clam production is estimated at about 60,000 tons. In the Mekong Delta, this species is concentrated mainly in six coastal provinces – Ben Tre, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, and Ca Mau.
In October 2009, the Ben Tre clam fishery received Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, becoming the first fishery in Southeast Asia to meet the Council’s sustainability and management standards. Meretrix lyrata– “Ben Tre” clam – became a famous commercial brand, a highlight of fresh aquaculture not only in Vietnam but also in the world.
This chapter focuses on assessing the relationship between natural conditions and the formation and development of clam grounds in Ben Tre Province as well as other parts of the Mekong Delta.
Statistical analysis based on survey data in 2007–2009, linked with the assessments of live server data and processed satellite image data, revealed the quantitative relationship between various environmental parameters and clam yield. The optimum environmental criteria set for the growth of clams have been established.
Based on the analysis of remote sensing data (aerial photographs, archived satellite images) in comparison with survey data, the evolution, formation, and development of clam grounds in these regions have been defined. Some recommendations on expanding the findings in the area studied to the whole Mekong Delta have been proposed, and the findings have been assessed in relation to various climate-change and human-interference scenarios.
Tong Phuoc Hoang Son, Nguyen Thanh Tung
Chapter 19. Compost Potential from Solid Waste: Toward Sustainable Agriculture and Mitigation of Global Warming in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam
Abstract
This study was conducted to evaluate the positive effects of compost application in agriculture and the benefit of the composting process for solid-waste treatment in the Mekong Delta region in southern Vietnam (comprised of 12 provinces and 1 centrally city). A simple prediction model for waste generation based on population – and employing time-series analysis– was constructed to assess and forecast waste generation to identify the potential of waste for composting and discharging. The greenhouse gas baseline emission from biodegradable components and the greenhouse gas reduction emission for alternative composting options were also calculated in g(CO2eq.) per capita per day. Scenarios regarding different composting applications for the Mekong Delta region were defined. The estimations focused on such matters as environmental impacts, greenhouse-gas emission and reduction, resource consumption, economic benefits, and the application potential of the composting process. The principal result was that organic-waste composting was beneficial not only for mitigating the waste burden in landfill sites but also for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions compared to baseline emission and the attendant costs. In addition, the compost product was identified as having strong potential to displace chemical ferti­lizers in agriculture. It was shown that the composting process was a sound alternative for moving toward sustainable development in waste treatment and agriculture.
Nguyen Phuc Thanh, Yasuhiro Matsui
Chapter 20. Biogas Production of Pig Manure with Water Hyacinth Juice from Batch Anaerobic Digestion
Abstract
Anaerobic digestion, a series of processes in which micro-organisms break down biodegradable materials in the absence of oxygen, is normally used for wastewater treatment and energy production. Anaerobic digestion has been applied to hog – wastewater treatment and biogas production in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, where a high percentage of the population works in the agricultural sector. However, the supply of pig manure for operating the anaerobic digesters is not always available. Therefore, to stimulate the application and operation of anaerobic digesters that are very significant to water-pollution prevention in the Mekong Delta, there is a need to find supplemental inputs to pig manure to help maintain the operation of the digesters.
The aim of our research was to find out the yield of biogas produced from batch anaerobic digestion by using water hyacinth (WH) – a plant commonly grown in the canal networks in the Mekong Delta – as a supplemental source to pig manure in biogas digesters. We conducted experiments using 50 L plastic bags of pig manure (PM) mixed with three different types of WH (C1, WH juice after 2 days of hydrolysis; C2, WH juice after 2 days of hydrolysis  +  chopped WH; and C3, WH juice after 2 days of hydrolysis  +  crushed WH). Based upon the organic dry matter (ODM) of input sources, we set up 13 experiments (with three replicates for each experiment) of 100% PM; 75% PM  +  25% WH; 50% PM  +  50% WH; 25% PM  +  75% WH; and 100% WH. The produced biogas volume was recorded daily while other parameters of pH, buffer capacity, biogas components (CH4, CO2, O2, and H2S) were recorded once daily for 7 consecutive days during the 35 day period.
According to our experimental conditions, the various preparations of WH showed differences in gas production. The gas production from experiments with C2 and C3 was not significantly different. Meanwhile, the gas production from experiments with C1 and C2 was significantly different.
With respect to C2 treatments, on the one hand, the total gas production tended to be higher in the treatments with high percentages of WH (231 L, 315 L, 392 L, 358 L, and 439 L in the treatment of 100% PM; 75% PM  +  25% WH; 50% PM  +  50% WH; 25% PM  +  75% WH; and 100% WH, respectively). On the other hand, total biogas yield per kg ODM of input materials reached the highest value in the treatment of 50% PM  +  50% WH (122 L, 148 L, 176 L, 153 L, and 171 L in the treatment of 100% PM; 75% PM  +  25% WH; 50%PM  +  50% WH; 25% PM  +  75% WH; and 100% WH, respectively).
These results strongly confirm that the farmers in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam can use water hyacinth as a potential supplement to pig manure in anaerobic digestion in case they do not have enough pig manure for their anaerobic-digestion treatment systems.
Nguyen Vo Chau Ngan, Le Hoang Viet, Nguyen Dac Cu, Nguyen Huu Phong
Chapter 21. Community-Scale Wind-Powered Desalination for Selected Coastal Mekong Provinces in Vietnam
Abstract
Global climate destabilization is exacerbating water problems in Vietnam, most acutely in the South and Central regions where the majority of the inhabited area lies in the low elevation coastal zone. Off-grid community-scale reverse osmosis desalination powered by small wind turbines offers a solution to this problem for the coastal fringe of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. Using a geographical information system (GIS) platform, a wind resources atlas developed by the Asia Sustainable and Alternative Energy, and projected rural population available from Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network, this chapter explores this potential. The GIS analysis estimated that in the absence of all other water supply facilities, off-grid wind desalination could provide clean water to 5.4 million rural residents living in 18,900 km2 of the Mekong Delta coastal provinces at the rate of 60 l/person/day. In addition to providing clean water, the use of wind-powered desalination in the region would have educational benefits to combat poverty and unemployment and ease water-related conflicts, and it has been shown to improve environmental and agricultural sustainability. Thus this technology was found to represent a decentralized and community-based method to adapt to and mitigate climate change in the coastal fringe of the Mekong Delta.
Ha T. Nguyen, Joshua M. Pearce
Chapter 22. Promotion of Organic Cocoa in Mixed Farming System in the Mekong Delta Region: A Preliminary Analysis
Abstract
Over the past decades, the Mekong River Delta has become a strategic region for the socio-economic development of Vietnam. While the region is currently producing the majority of the exported products (mainly rice) of the country, the sustainability of its conventional production system is challenged. It is known that organic agricultural systems are more sustainable compared to conventional, chemical-based agricultural systems. Farmers growing crops organically not only can improve their soil fertility and structure with the result of stable yields and better product quality, but also sell their products at market prices plus premium. Organic agriculture also yields lower levels of green house gas emissions than conventional agriculture. To enhance sustainability and fight poverty, Helvetas, the Swiss Association for International Cooperation, in collaboration with residents of selected provinces of Tien Giang and Ben Tre and with Nong Lam University (NLU) in Ho Chi Minh City, has initiated an organic and fair trade cocoa program for a 5-year period. In that period of time, a total of 2,000 selected cocoa cum coconut farmers (men and women) in the two provinces of Tien Giang and Ben Tre are expected to produce certified organic and fair trade cocoa for the international market. For those purposes, the program is aimed to support all key aspects of the cocoa value chain: the development of appropriate techniques, the provision of training for farmers and fermenters, the guidance for qualifying and obtaining key certifications, and the linking of the farmers’ organizations to the market. In 2009, the first 22 pilot farms were converted to organic agriculture by adopting measures such as composting and the biocontrol of pests and diseases. The report of these first positive experiences has been used to convince other farmers to convert to organic cocoa. As a result, there are now 154 farmers in this area registered to grow cocoa organically.
Vo Van Phong, Daniel Valenghi, Nguyen Lam Giang
Chapter 23. The Transition from Conventional to Organic Rice Production in Northeastern Thailand: Prospect and Challenges
Abstract
This chapter examines the process of market integration and its impact on farmer livelihoods and the environment and agriculture of northeastern Thailand. Using an anthropological approach and fieldwork conducted in the northeast of Thailand during 2008–2009, the chapter shows the way in which northeastern Thai farmers have integrated their practices into the ethical niche markets of fair trade and organic food. This chapter also illustrates the impacts of the buyer-driven food chains on social–nature relations in the northeast of Thailand and the changes that have occurred as a result. Competition in the organic trade market depends significantly on the capacity of farmers to comply with international regulations, so this paper will also focus on the distinctiveness of socio-economic and ecological conditions in northeastern Thailand, especially those which have contributed considerably to competition in fair trade products and organic rice commodities.
The chapter argues that conversion to organic agriculture is a strategy employed by northeastern Thai farmers in northeastern Thailand to cope with the problems of environmental deterioration and increasing production costs, yet the emergence of niche markets has brought both opportunities and challenges. The farmers participating in these niche markets can maintain their farmland and gain benefits from the value-added production they engage in, but they confront difficulties related to intensive labor-use, tighter standards and controls, and increasing production costs. In addition, the emergence of niche markets in northeastern Thailand has been an uneven process, as the majority of farmers have been excluded from the rise of niche markets and have not been able to convert to organic agriculture because of a lack of technical knowledge and finances.
Natedao Taotawin
Chapter 24. The Impact of Weather Variability on Rice and Aquaculture Production in the Mekong Delta
Abstract
Understanding the impact of weather variability on current agricultural production systems is of great importance for the development of strategies for adapting to and mitigating the potential impact of climate change on food security in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. This essay assesses the impact of short-term weather variability on rice and aquaculture production, documents ways in which farmers have dealt with weather anomalies, and suggests strategies to adapt to weather and climate variability in the future. Statistical series data (1990–2008) and information collected from previous projects were analyzed. The probabilities of occurrences of weather anomalies were calculated and multiple regression analyses were conducted to identify and estimate significant effects of various weather variables on yields of rice and fish or shrimp in both irrigated and coastal regions. The results showed that temperature and rainfall were the key weather variables that strongly influenced rice and shrimp production. Vulnerability levels to weather variability differed by crops, crop-development stages, cropping seasons, and regions. Rice production was found to be more sensitive to weather variability than was aquaculture, and shrimp production was more sensitive than was Pangasiuscatfish culture. The impacts became more severe during the early vegetative, flowering, and ripening stages of rice crops. The wet-season rice crop and the coastal region were more vulnerable to weather anomalies than the dry-season rice crop and the irrigated region, respectively. Local farmers have coped with temperature and rainfall anomalies in the past by applying appropriate farming techniques. Nonetheless, further measures for adapting to weather and climate variability are essential.
Dang Kieu Nhan, Nguyen Hieu Trung, Nguyen Van Sanh
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Environmental Change and Agricultural Sustainability in the Mekong Delta
Editors
Mart A. Stewart
Peter A. Coclanis
Copyright Year
2011
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Electronic ISBN
978-94-007-0934-8
Print ISBN
978-94-007-0933-1
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0934-8