Ma village, Vinh Kien commune, Yen Binh district, Yen Bai province has been
selected to be one of Climate Smart Villages (CSVs) under the CGIAR Research Program on
Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) in Southeast Asia. The village
baseline survey (VBS) of Ma village, was therefore conducted as part of the baseline effort.
This VBS aimed to provide baseline information at the village level about some basic
indicators of natural resource utilization, organizational landscapes, and information
networks for weather and agricultural information, which can be compared across sites and
monitored over time. The study was conducted using the method developed and provided by
CCAFS. The study’s findings show that Ma Village is rich and diverse in natural resources.
There are three main resources of vital importance for the local people livelihoods, namely
farmland, forest and water resources. However, improper exploitation and management have
caused negative impacts on these resources. As mentioned by farmers, in the past, farmland
of the village used to be very fertile, but has now become severely degraded due to overexploitation
and improper management. Regarding forest resources: before 1980s, natural
forests existed in large areas and consisted of valuable timber and wild animals. Today, much
of the forest area has been converted to production forests or to food crop production land.
Water resources, including lakes, rivers and streams have been severely polluted with
pollutants from processing cassava, wood and also from animal husbandry and crop
production. Degradation of water, farmland and forest resources are causing increasing
challenges to agricultural production and also to other human activities. Results of farmer
group discussions also demonstrate that there are 34 organizations operating in the village.
Most of them are governmental. Very few are private or non-governmental organizations.
The number of organizations involving in food security accounts for nearly 50%, the figure
for those involving food crisis is 41.6% and in natural resources management is 25%. Those
organizations working in food security and food crisis focus mainly on providing support
(financial, seed and agricultural inputs) to local farmers to implement some production
activities. Insufficient attention and input spent for sustainable development by these 34
organizations, especially those working in the area of natural resources management, could
be one of the main reasons for the degradation and erosion of natural resources. There was no
activity supporting Ma Village to develop production systems which can respond well to
climate change. The study findings however show that local people are very flexible and
creative, especially in exploitation of information. Among media channels, television is the
most popular. Nevertheless, organizations, in particular, extension networks, Farmers’ Union,
local authorities, etc., also have an important role in information dissemination. Exploitation
of information from the internet and mobile phones has also been given attention, but mostly
by young people only