COLLECTIVE RISK ADAPTATION TO SALINE INTRUSION: A CASE IN THE VIETNAM MEKONG DELTA

Saline intrusion causes serious risks for agriculture and social life in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. Maintaining and improving coastal livelihoods under the challenging condition of scarcity of fresh-water places greater pressures for rural societies. This dissertation explores saline water intrusion status, its trend and its impact on the livelihoods of coastal farmers in order to address issues of forms and roles of collective risk adaptation for strengthening group adaptive capacity to sustain development. Based on collective action theory and institutional analysis development framework, the model study of this study had been built to understand the collective adaptation, its forms, outcome, and factors related to both internal and external ones affecting this process. By adapting the social-ecological approach, this research was conducted in Tra Vinh and Kien Giang provinces, the two main coastal areas adversely affected by the saline intrusion in recent years. Stratified sampling and mixed methods using in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, case study and household surveys were used. The results suggested persistent exposure to saline intrusion in the two coastal zones. Farmers’ perceptions are different in the two areas, due to different scales of impacts, occurring more in the West than the East. The trend is also estimated to continue its growth in future time. In addition, increased impacts of salinity and high demands of shrimp in the market enabled farmers to shift from rice cultivation to shrimp cultivation in both sides of the Delta, extensive system in the West and intensive system in the East. This adaptation brought better income for some but created social impacts on those having less adaptive capacity to meet this challenge. Regarding social impacts, social change happens more in the West to solve difficulties of shifting process. In terms of community adaptive capacities had been found to be different between the West and the East that structure various forms of collective adaptation named social groups and formal organizations. It acts in different roles in the West and the East to reduce social impacts. Both social and ecological factors contribute to form and maintain collective adaptation. Physical conditions (water scarcity, the status of irrigation system), social and economic factors (economic status, group size, market demand) and institutional system (rules in use, head of the group) are those factors shaping collective adaptation in facing saline intrusion. For the future, in view of rising sea levels brought about by global warming, dealing with the reality of saline intrusion will become more serious; collective adaptation should be kept and developed as so to enhance community adaptive capacities, and social entrepreneurship and partnership should be adopted into agricultural fields for coastal farmers to organize and optimize resources to create better living conditions. The results of this research also contribute empirical knowledge of how the enhancement of farmers’ awareness of the effects of the impacts saline intrusion can contribute to collective risk adaptation

Irrigation System and Rice Production in the mekong Delta of Vietnam

Materi ini disampaikan pada Webinar Internasional yang diselenggarakan oleh Fakultas Pertanian program Studi Agribisnis Universitas Medan Area dengan tema "Ketahanan Pangan dan Ketahanan Pertanian dalam Perspektif Efisiensi Penggunaan Air" pada tanggal 28 Juli 2020. Adapun pemateri pada webinar ini adalah Duong Van, Dr Pham Huynh Thanh VanNha, Assoc Prof Dr. nalini Arumugam, dan Candra Setiawan, Ph.D - This material was presented at the International Webinar organized by the Faculty of Agriculture in the Agribusiness Study Program of the University of Medan Area with the theme "Food Security and Agricultural Resilience in an Efficient Water Use Perspective" on July 28, 2020. The presenters at this webinar were Duong Van, Dr. Pham Huynh Thanh VanNha, Assoc Prof. Dr. nalini Arumugam, and Candra Setiawan, Ph.

Forms and Factors Affecting Collective Adaptation to Saline Intrusion: A case of Kien Giang Province, Vietnam

Saline intrusion (SI) is causing serious risks for agriculture and coastal life in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. Maintaining agricultural production under that challenging condition places more tremendous pressure on rural societies. This study aimed to get insight into adaptive adaptation's forms and factors influencing farmers' participation process by applying the social and ecological approach. The research was conducted in An Bien district, Kien Giang province, a province in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. A mixed-method integrating quantitative and qualitative methods were used to collect data using key informant panel interviews, group discussion, and household survey. The results showed that local farmers had changed the farming system from double rice crops to shrimp-rice models to deal with the impacts of SI. Group response has emerged as the appropriate adaption in both formal and informal forms. The adaptive group plays an essential role in connecting community members, and two forms of adaptation have worked closely to adapt to SI. Factors affecting the informal group related to relatives, households living close to each other; For the formal group, the main factor affecting participation is when joining the group, the members receive benefits from the group. Besides, prestige and having a lot of experience in the leader's production activities affect the official group participation. In addition to the positive factors, two negative factors affect group adaptation: unfavorable farm location and distrus

Government Intervention and Farmers’ Adaptation to Saline Intrusion: A Case Study in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

The Vietnamese Mekong Delta is located in the southern part of the country where the Mekong River runs through before it empties into the East Sea. Saline intrusion is a recurrent problem causing serious risks for agriculture and coastal livelihoods of the majority of people in the Delta. Collective adaptation plays an important role in improving the capacity of rural community to deal with environmental complexities. This research aims to examine how the collective adaptation supports the farmer and institutional adaptation to the conditions of saltwater intrusion in Tra Vinh and Kien Giang provinces. Statistical analysis was used to examine the trend of saltwater intrusion and the change in livelihoods of farmers in the Delta. The result shows the remarkable increase in salinity over the past twenty years. Various forms of adaptation were demonstrated by farmers’ and governments’ efforts in implementing adaptation practices to address salinity. Farmers have changed from rice to shrimp culture either through an intensive or extensive system where it is favorable to local environmental conditions. Meanwhile, local governments have attempted to establish various mechanisms to support collective actions (e.g., cooperative policies). The study highlights the critical role of formal and informal institutions that assist local adaptation processes. Adaptation practices were most pronounced in areas profoundly exposed to salinity impacts. The study suggests that further attention should be given to the establishment of institutional structures and rural social networks and how they are instrumental to collective adaptation

Factors Affecting the Agricultural Restructuration: A Case of Cham Community in Chau Phu District, An Giang Province, Vietnam

The national policy of agricultural restructuring plays a vital role in adapting to climate change's effects and economic development in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Unproductive areas have been converted into other crops with higher efficiency. Drawn by the sustainable livelihoods approach, this article explores the current situation and factors challenging the Cham community in implementing the agricultural restructuring. The mixed method included in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and a questionnaire survey. The results showed that the Xuong Com Vang longan (Dimocarpus longan) variety has occurred in Khanh Hoa commune for a long time as an indigenous fruit tree of this area. In terms of the farming system, the polyculture system combining fruit trees and upland crops brought more income sources than the monoculture system. The asset abilities of the Cham farmers are various from one to the others. Soil and weather conditions are appropriate for planting. But farm size is small, which is one of the difficulties of developing fruit areas. Human and social assets were good since farmers had enough knowledge to manage the gardens, and a close connection existed among the Cham community. It was not a case of the financial status since a lot of money needs to be invested in the starting year. Therefore, the private loan still exists as one of the farmer's choices. For better future development, land management and financial resource should be considered for better agricultural restructuring aims. To increase farmers' incomes, create production chains helping enterprises and farmers work more efficiently for the better life of Cham gardeners in An Giang province in Vietnam

Impact of Saline Intrusion on Social and Economic Livelihoods of Farmers in the Vietnam Mekong Delta

One of the effects of global climate change is the increasing sea level, which has resulted in higher intrusion of sea water to the mainland in the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam. This study specifically explores the impact of saline intrusion on the socio-economic life of farmers in this region. A socioeconomic survey was carried out in two provinces in the eastern and western regions of the Delta, namely the Kien Giang province in the West and the Tra Vinh Province in the East which represented two regions, each of which experienced different levels of saline intrusion. Data collection methods include secondary data collection, focused group discussions, expert interviews, key informant interviews and 280 household questionnaire surveys. Technically, saline intrusion has changed the farming system from rice culture to shrimp culture at both sides of the Delta. Because of the need for investment in shrimp culture, a group of farming communities with large capital quickly took the opportunity to move to intensive shrimp culture. Meanwhile, other groups of farmers who lack of capital, are only able to carry out traditional rice-shrimp culture by digging around their paddy field for shrimp pond, with lower economic outcomes from their rice and shrimp production. Weak social organizations in the community, making the impact of saline intrusion is only beneficial for a few groups of people

Identifying biofilm forming bacteria in cow milk in Mekong Delta, Viet Nam

Bacterial biofilms are agglomeration of bacterial cells, stuck to the material surfaces of material in wet environments and formed by a self-produced matrix. The formation of bacterial biofilms is a great risk for the milk processing industry, as the survival of many bacterial species in cow milk may lead to many problems such as microbial spoilage, deterioration in quality, and consumer health risks. This study aimed to identify biofilm formation bacteria from cow milk. The experiment included isolation; biofilm forming assay in 96-well microtiter plates and the identification of microbial isolates using classical and molecular biological methods. A total of 14 bacterial isolates from 10 cow milk samples were evaluated for their biofilm formatting ability. Among them, four isolates were identified as moderate and strong biofilm producers. These four isolates belong to the genera Serratia and Aeromonas. Out of the 4 isolates, Serratia marcescens VL41 was classed as a strong biofilm producer while Aeromonas veronii ST15, Aeromonas sp. ST17, Serratia marcescens VL13 were classed as moderate biofilm producers respectively. The findings of this study suggest that it is necessary to discover the contamination causes and prevention of genera Serratia, and Aeromonas into cow milk

A nutrient method for cutivation of macroalgae Ulva papenfussii

Macroalgae species of the genus Ulva are widely distributed in the wild. Many species of this genus has been used as food as an attractive material for the study of materials, fuels, food etc.. In this paper, we are focusing on nutrient method for cultivation of Ulva papenfussii and A nutrient source for cultivation of U. papenfussii was also investigated with the perspective of utilizing the produced biomass for feed. U. papenfussii is fragmented into 1 × 1 cm size, then it keep in Ulva extract of 0.1 g/l concentrate for 7 days. Then continue to keep fragments in the following conditions: 20 ml/l of PES medium, 700 μmol photon/m2/s of light, 25oC of temperature, 3% of salinity, 28 days of time. Under this condition the productivity U. papenfussii was 17.8 g/l of weight and its growth rate was 4.3–6.5% day. Nutritional cultivation is successful for U. papenfussii speceies, which is of great importance to study the potential of producing seaweed varieties like blades for commercial application of seaweed species.

Interactions between food environment and (Un)healthy consumption: Evidence along a rural-urban transect in Viet Nam

There is limited evidence on food environment in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) and the application of food environment frameworks and associated metrics in such settings. Our study examines how food environment varies across an urban-peri-urban-rural gradient from three sites in North Viet Nam and its relationship with child undernutrition status and household consumption of processed food. By comparing three food environments, we present a picture of the food environment in a typical emerging economy with specific features such as non-market food sources (own production and food transfers) and dominance of the informal retail sector. We combined quantitative data (static geospatial data at neighborhood level and household survey) and qualitative data (in-depth interviews with shoppers). We found that across the three study sites, traditional open and street markets remain the most important outlets for respondents. Contrary to the common concern that urban households are the major consumers of processed foods, peri-urban and rural areas on average had higher consumption of ultra-processed foods than in urban areas. The low price levels of processed foods and the presence of processed foods even among the traditional convenience stores, those in closest proximity to the rural households, offer potential explanations of this result. Regarding undernutrition, low retail diversity and a household’s dependence on own production have important implications for the high prevalence of child undernutrition in rural areas. Our findings add to the current discussion on the critical role of the food environment on nutrition, such as the potential link between economic marginalization and access to food, and the role of food supply channels in consumption of processed foods