Outcomes of CCAFS Work in Vietnam

The study explored how CCAFS SEA outputs have helped the country achieve its development outcomes in the agricultural sector. The assessment showed that CCAFS SEA, although still on-going, has contributed to specific outcomes in Vietnam, which include changes in knowledge, approaches, practices, and strategies related to climate change, particularly in the agricultural sector. These outcomes were observed among decision makers, policymakers, technical staff, and farmers

Factors Affecting Farmer’s Decision to Adopt Climate-Smart Agriculture Technologies and Practices in a Climate Smart Village: The Case of My Loi Village, Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam

The study focused on the adoption of 17 CCAFS-introduced Climate Smart Agriculture Technology and Practices (CSA T & Ps) among farmers in My Loi village, Ha Tinh province, Viet Nam. Specifically, the study identified the factors influencing farmer’s decision to adopt CSA T & Ps. Primary data from 215 farmers were collected through face-to-face interviews in September 2021. Results showed that 159 farmers have adopted at least one CSA T & Ps since 2014. Currently, they have adopted four CSA T & Ps, on average. Using logit regression, the factors identified to significantly and positively influence the ever adopt behavior of farmers were attendance to any training on CSA T & Ps, having a fellow farmer as source of information, growing rice, own farmer’s experience as a source of information, and number of crops grown. On the other hand, the two factors that significantly and negatively influence adoption were having men in the family in the labor force and membership in farming organization. Using ordinary least squares, the factors identified to significantly and positively influence intensity or continuous adoption were attendance to any CSA T & Ps training, the agriculture extension officer as source of information, TV as a source of information, positive attitude of looking for better ways of farming, owns farmland, and number of crops grown. Significant but negatively influencing the decision to continuously adopt was having a male family member in the labor force and also ease in finding farm labor. The results highlight the importance of 1) training given for CSA T & Ps; 2). “champion farmers” that can promote new ways of farming; 3) well-informed and highly-skilled agricultural extension officer; 4) having TV at home; 5) favorable attitude of the farmer; 6) ownership of land and growing rice; and 7) number of crops grown. However, having more men family members in the labor force negatively influences adoption behavior. In the context of My Loi, this is understandable because men leave temporarily or permanently the village for work elsewhere. This suggests that farming in My Loi is a space and time for women

Outcome Harvesting in a Climate-Smart Village: The Case of Guinayangan, Quezon, Philippines (2014-2020)

The pioneering work of establishing a Climate-Smart Village (CSV) in Guinayangan, Quezon Province in 2014 became an avenue for promoting interventions to address climate change in a local government in the Philippines. The CSV served as a laboratory where climate-smart technologies and practices were tested, promoted, and scaled out. Through a CSV, Climate-Smart Agriculture was introduced as an integrated approach that aims to achieve short- and long-term agriculture development priorities in the face of climate change. With the project coming to an end, the immediate, intermediate, and ultimate outcomes were identified among different sectors through the process of outcome harvesting. Evidence of change were collected and analyzed to identify the outcomes through engagement with farmers, key persons, and other local leaders. Identified outcomes included changes in awareness, knowledge, practices, approaches, and strategies, particularly with individual farmers, community organizations, municipality, and even at the national level. Significantly, the CSV became a learning platform to farmers – experiences and knowledge were gained and spread not only within their learning groups, but also to other farmers, community organizations, and local executives in the municipality. The achievements and contributions of CSV in Guinayangan has reached a higher scale – it influenced the national implementation of the Adaptation and Mitigation Initiative for Agriculture (AMIA) Program, a flagship program by the Department of Agriculture (DA). AMIA villages were established across all regions of the Philippines, many of which were inspired by the opportunities to visit the CSV in Guinayangan on at least two occasions. The CSVs established by the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) served as an advanced CSV in the initial years of the DA AMIA National Program. IIRR supported the DA and FAO efforts to develop policy briefs based on experiences from the DA AMIA Program

Assessing Impacts of Early Rice Planting on Rice Farming Households’ Welfare in the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam

The study was conducted to assess the impacts of adjusted crop calendar (specifically, early planting) during the Winter-Spring 2019-2020 season on the rice farming households’ welfare in the Mekong River Delta. Survey data came from 412 rice farmers who were early planters (treatment group) and 764 rice farmers who were non-early planters (control group). These rice farmers came from three provinces (5 districts and 15 communes) in Mekong River Delta: Kien Giang (1 district, 3 communes, Long An (1 district, 3 communes) and Soc Trang (3 districts, 9 communes). Data were collected in September to October 2020. Early planting happens when rice planting for the Winter-Spring 2019-2020 (W-S) season was moved on or before 15 November 2019 and it was the last cropping of the farmer. Basically, the early planters and the non-early planters differ in the number of rice cropping they practiced. Practicing double rice cropping allowed most of the early planters to adjust their cropping schedule during the year 2019-2020, identified as the latest year with worst salinity problem. The results of Propensity Score Matching show that early rice planting increased rice farming income by about VND 22.80 million to VND 24.60 million per farmer or VND 8.62 million to VND 8.77 million per hectare during the W-S season; increased annual rice farming income by about VND 13.7 million to VND 17.1 million per farmer or VND 3.2 million to VND 4.27 million per hectare; increased volume of rice production by about 5.29 to 5.67 tons/farmer or 2.51 to 2.59 tons/ha during the Winter-Spring 2019-2020 season; and increased rice production loss avoided by about 3.88 to 4.14 tons/farmer or 2.33 to 2.62 tons/ha. During salinity years, adjusting rice cropping calendar, specifically early planting as a mitigation strategy can help avert production losses and can increase rice production and income of rice farmers

Functional mechanisms underlying pleiotropic risk alleles at the 19p13.1 breast-ovarian cancer susceptibility locus

A locus at 19p13 is associated with breast cancer (BC) and ovarian cancer (OC) risk. Here we analyse 438 SNPs in this region in 46,451 BC and 15,438 OC cases, 15,252 BRCA1 mutation carriers and 73,444 controls and identify 13 candidate causal SNPs associated with serous OC (P=9.2 × 10-20), ER-negative BC (P=1.1 × 10-13), BRCA1-associated BC (P=7.7 × 10-16) and triple negative BC (P-diff=2 × 10-5). Genotype-gene expression associations are identified for candidate target genes ANKLE1 (P=2 × 10-3) and ABHD8 (P<2 × 10-3). Chromosome conformation capture identifies interactions between four candidate SNPs and ABHD8, and luciferase assays indicate six risk alleles increased transactivation of the ADHD8 promoter. Targeted deletion of a region containing risk SNP rs56069439 in a putative enhancer induces ANKLE1 downregulation; and mRNA stability assays indicate functional effects for an ANKLE1 3′-UTR SNP. Altogether, these data suggest that multiple SNPs at 19p13 regulate ABHD8 and perhaps ANKLE1 expression, and indicate common mechanisms underlying breast and ovarian cancer risk

Identification of 12 new susceptibility loci for different histotypes of epithelial ovarian cancer.

To identify common alleles associated with different histotypes of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), we pooled data from multiple genome-wide genotyping projects totaling 25,509 EOC cases and 40,941 controls. We identified nine new susceptibility loci for different EOC histotypes: six for serous EOC histotypes (3q28, 4q32.3, 8q21.11, 10q24.33, 18q11.2 and 22q12.1), two for mucinous EOC (3q22.3 and 9q31.1) and one for endometrioid EOC (5q12.3). We then performed meta-analysis on the results for high-grade serous ovarian cancer with the results from analysis of 31,448 BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers, including 3,887 mutation carriers with EOC. This identified three additional susceptibility loci at 2q13, 8q24.1 and 12q24.31. Integrated analyses of genes and regulatory biofeatures at each locus predicted candidate susceptibility genes, including OBFC1, a new candidate susceptibility gene for low-grade and borderline serous EOC

Functional mechanisms underlying pleiotropic risk alleles at the 19p13.1 breast-ovarian cancer susceptibility locus

A locus at 19p13 is associated with breast cancer (BC) and ovarian cancer (OC) risk. Here we analyse 438 SNPs in this region in 46,451 BC and 15,438 OC cases, 15,252 BRCA1 mutation carriers and 73,444 controls and identify 13 candidate causal SNPs associated with serous OC (P = 9.2 x 10(-20)), ER-negative BC (P = 1.1 x 10(-13)), BRCA1-associated BC (P = 7.7 x 10(-16)) and triple negative BC (P-diff = 2 x 10(-5)). Genotype-gene expression associations are identified for candidate target genes ANKLE1 (P = 2 x 10(-3)) and ABHD8 (PPeer reviewe

Evaluation of fisheries management options for the Visayan Sea, Philippines : the case of Northern Iloilo

The paper examines the sustainability of fisheries and fishers’ incomes in the Visayan Sea (Philippines) and identifies options to achieve dual goals of protecting resources and helping fishers earn a living. Management options were evaluated. Stage 1 ruled out options that did not also increase fish stocks. Options that passed Stage 1 advanced to Stage 2 where each was evaluated based on criteria: impact on fishers, impact on resources, feasibility, cost to the government, and impact to the community. The current state of the Visayan Sea calls for immediate intervention to arrest further decline