VIETNAM SRI ARCHIVES (2003-2014)
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Activity Archives (2003-2014)
(See main Vietnam page for 2015-2018 progress)2014
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VN joins Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture Meeting -- Mentions SRI Projects
[September 25, 2014] In an article in the Saigon GP Daily, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan delivered a speech at the inaugural meeting of the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture (GACSA) in New York on September 25. He said Vietnam is joining with international communities to apply the Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA) practices, which includes projects on SRI. For more information on the event and its subject matter, see Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture website and Huffington Post blog item.
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Buddhist Global Relief Renews SRI project in Thai Nguyen Province
Buddhist Global Relief renewed it SRI project in Vietnam for the fourth time during 2014. Conducted in partnership with the International Cooperation Center of Thai Nguyen University, the program expands training in SRI to village farmers in three villages of Vo Nhai district, Thai Nguyen province.
- SRI Included in World Bank Grant for Irrigated Agriculture Improvement
According to a Thanh Nien News article, Vietnam’s central bank and the World Bank Thursday signed agreements for several projects worth US$390 million to support infrastructure, agriculture and livelihoods in the country’s poorest areas. One of these projects, the Irrigated Agriculture Improvement Project ($180 million) will increase water and land-use efficiency, enhance agricultural productivity, and reduce vulnerability to adverse climatic events for farmers and rural families in the Central Coast Region and selected provinces in the Northern Mountainous Region. The project will support farmers in adopting climate-smart farming techniques, including System of Rice Intensification and crop diversification, use of bio-fertilizer, and integrated pest management. It is expected that when completed, the project will also serve 83,400 ha of agricultural land with better and reliable irrigation services.
2013
- Vietnam Included in EU-Funded Project To Study and Promote SRI in the Lower Mekong River Basin
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand has been awarded a grant by the European Union for the implementation of the Action titled “Sustaining and Enhancing the Momentum for Innovation and Learning around the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in the Lower Mekong River Basin”. The project, which will begin January 1, 2013, and end December 31, 2017 will cost approximately 3.4 million Euros. The main objective of the project is to contribute to enhance resilience of rainfed small-scale farmers of the Lower Mekong Region confronting climate change. The project will be implemented in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The main applicant for this project is AIT along with its partners – FAO Regional IPM Programme in South and Southeast Asia, Oxfam America, and Institute of Development Studies University of Sussex in UK. The associate partners for the project are the SRI-Rice secretariat of the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD) in USA, and the University of Queensland in Australia.
- GIZ Shares Experiences in Publication on Promoting SRI in the Southern Province of Trà Vinh
While most promotion of SRI in Vietnam has been in the northern provinces, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammen-arbeit (GIZ) implemented the project "Poverty Alleviation in Rural Areas" (PARA) in close cooperation with the IFAD-funded project "Improving Market Participation of the Poor" (IMPP) in Trà Vinh Province in the southern part of Vietnam. PARA introduced SRI and subsequently promoted it in Trà Vinh Province during four crop seasons between late 2011 and early 2013 as a method to increase yields, to reduce dependency on external inputs and as a measure for climate change adaptation. The project promoted SRI awareness, trained Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) staff and used Farmer Field Schools (FFS) to help farmers evaluate and adapt SRI for themselves. (See GIZ's excellent report on lessons learned from the project for details.)
- Climate-Smart Agriculture Case Studies Publication Includes SRI Experience in Vietnam
A recent publication by CGIAR's CCAFS Research Program and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) cites SRI in Vietnam as an example of Climate-Smart Agriculture that helps farmers both adapt to and mitigate climate change. According the article "Sustainable intensification of rice production in Vietnam" in a publication by Paul Neate, "SRI brings immediate benefits to smallholder farmers in terms of increased yields, it builds long-term resilience by reducing the amount of water they use and enhancing long-term soil fertility, and helps mitigate climate change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and sequestering carbon in the soil." (For details, see article on p.11 in Climate-smart agriculture success stories from farming communities around the world. This publication is adapted from a more comprehensive work: Large-scale implementation of adaptation and mitigation actions in agriculture, CCAFS Working Paper no. 50).
2012
- Plant Protection Department (PPD) wins National Golden Rice Award for Success with SRI in Vietnam
The Plant Protection Department (PPD) has been awarded a National Golden Rice Award in the category of agriculture innovation for rural development. The award, which is among the highest commendations in Vietnam for outstanding agriculture-related undertakings, was presented on National Television Channel No 1 (VTV1) in a ceremony organized in Hanoi by the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development on November 14, 2012. (See Vietnews article. For more on the PPD/Oxfam SRI efforts see IFPRI Policy Brief #15.)
- IFPRI Publishes Policy Brief on Oxfam's Experience with SRI in Vietnam
The International Food Policy Research Institute's (IFPRI) June edition of the Scaling up in agriculture, rural development, and nutrition series included a policy brief on what Oxfam has learned from its SRI experiences in northern Vietnam. According to the article, the program "aspired to move beyond local implementation and reach national scale and impact not only SRI implementation but the capacity of farming communities and extension services. At the national level, it had technical and financial support from Oxfam and the government's Plant Protection Department (PPD). At the local level, the program has coordinated with mass organizations, local government, and service providers to work together with farmers. At the provincial level, the PPD advocated for resources from the provincial government for field-level implementation."
The article also documents how farmers have directly benefited from adoption of SRI. On average, SRI farmers increase their yields by 9 to 15 percent while reducing use of inputs compared to conventional practice: 70-75 percent less seed, 20-25 percent less nitrogen fertilizer, and 33 percent less water. Additional income is estimated to be US$95-$260 per hectare per crop season. Farmers also reported positive changes to the environment and their health as a result of less use of pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers (see article for further details)
- Collaborative Publication on SRI in Vietnam Now Available in English and Vietnamese
The English version (at right) of the of the SRI publication distributed at the 2011 GROW Campaign event at Thai Nguyen University is now available on the SRI website. The 28 page booklet, Simple but effective - SRI as an agricultural innovation, was compiled to celebrate the adoption of SRI by over a million small-scale farmers in Vietnam. -
The publication is a collaborative effort of Mr. Ngo Tien Dzung, Agriculture Ministry's Plant Protection Department, farmers (PPSD) from six provinces (Ha Noi, Yen Bai, Phu Tho, Thai Nguyen, Nghe An, Ha Tinh), Oxfam, Hanoi University of Agriculture and several other groups. (See also the Vietnamese version Đơn giản và Hiệu quả - SRI và Nông nghiệp sáng tạo, which was made available on the web earlier in 2012.)
2011 Archives
- SRI Adopters in Vietnam Reach 1 Million Mark
In an October 18 event at Thai Nguyen University of Thai Nguyen province, Vietnam celebrated the adoption of SRI by over a million small-scale farmers. (See articles in the Vietnam Business Forum, and the People's Army Newspaper Online). The event, which is part of Oxfam's global GROW campaign, was jointed organized by Agriculture Ministry's Plant Protection Department, University of Agriculture, Thai Nguyen University, Centre for Community Development Viet Hung and Oxfam. A Vietnamese language publication on SRI (Đơn giản và Hiệu quả - SRI và Nông nghiệp sáng tạo (Simple but effective - SRI as an agricultural innovation) was distributed and is now online.
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As explained in an Oxfam America article, rice production in Vietnam reportedly can increase by as much as 500 kg/ha (or about $130) by using SRI methods rather than traditional rice production techniques. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported that there are now 1,070,384 farmers —about 70 percent of whom are women— applying SRI on 185,065 hectares (457,110 acres) in 22 provinces. The number of farmers using SRI practices in Vietnam has tripled since 2009. SRI farmers now represent about 10% of all rice growers in Vietnam, which is the second largest rice exporter and accounts for one fifth of global rice supply. “It’s a great achievement for small farmers because they are the ones leading the SRI innovation,” said Ngo Tien Dung of the Agriculture Ministry's Plant Protection Department. “We need to build momentum for SRI extension over the coming years. It's a smart investment needed to lift people out of poverty and to boost the national economy.”
- Buddhist Global Relief Partners with Thai Nguyen University to Promote SRI in Vo Nhai District
In May 2011, Buddhist Global Relief (BGR) awarded a six-month grant to the International Cooperation Center (ICC) of Thai Nguyen University, an organization dedicated to carrying out international cooperation activities, to promote SRI to rural farmers in Vietnam. Partnering with ICC, BGR is supporting the training of sustainable farming and developing field practice and work group skills in the Vo Nhai district, one of the poorest districts in the Midland and Northern mountainous region. This project aims to improve living conditions by building on these farmers’ capacity to apply sustainable SRI agriculture techniques that farm families in Vietnam adapt to climate variability, thereby increasing rice productivity and profitability. Emphasis is placed on training, workshops and meetings with local authorities. (See article on BGR website for details.)
2010
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SRI Represented at 3rd International Rice Congress and Associated SRI
Events in Hanoi during November 2010
The 3rd International Rice Congress, held at the Hanoi Convention Center on November 8-12, 2010, included a number of oral presentations and posters about SRI. In addition, Norman Uphoff discussed SRI while participating in the opening plenary panel. On November 8, Oxfam America and the Plant Protection Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) co-sponsored a pre-conference 'SRI Day' at the Hanoi Hotel. The presentations from this one-day event, the International Conference to Exchange Experience in Adoption and Adaptation of the System of Rice Intensification, are available on the SRI-Rice website. Mr. Ngo Tien Dung, Deputy Director General of the Plant Protection Department (PPD), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), made a presentation on SRI Application in Vietnam.
Oxfam America and MARD also sponsored a field trip the day after the close of the Congress to meet with SRI Farmers in the commune of Mr. Le Thach, President of Dai Nghia Cooperative in Ha Noi Province. Le Thach recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in the October 20 event Farmers Leading the Way from Crisis to Resilience, which was sponsored by Oxfam, WWF and Africare.
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ICC Project on SRI Wins Vietnam Innovation Day Award
Dr. Hoang Van Phu, director of the International Cooperation Center (ICC) at Thai Nguyen University, reports that ICC is among the winners of the 2010 Vietnam Innovation Day for its project entitled "Improvement of people's awareness on environment protection by application of system of rice intensification - SRI." The project, one of 262 entries, will begin in June 2010 and end in February 2011. ICC is preparing a new training project that will be submitted the to Belgium Development Agency (BTC Vietnam) with the proposed title "Training course of Improvement of People's awareness on environment protection by application of system of rice intensification - SRI."
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SRI Workshop Reports on
Use of SRI Methods in 21 Northern Provinces in Vietnam
A National Workshop on Consolidation of SRI Experiences, Lessons and Networking took place in Hanoi, attracting nearly 100 participants from Vietnam and Cambodia. Representatives of government, NGO, university and farmer organizations working with the System of Rice Intensification in Vietnam gathered on January 21 for a two-day exchange, co-organized by the Plant Protection Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and Oxfam America (workshop presentations are available from an article on the SRI in Vietnam website).
Ngo Tien Dung, head of the National IPM Program of the Plant Protection Department, and Brian Lund, regional director for Oxfam's East Asia program, reported on the progress of a SRI programme that is being jointly carried out in Vietnam with the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development, faculty at the Hanoi Agriculture University, and Oxfam Quebec. Dung reported that farmers in 21 northern provinces had adopted SRI methods, wholly or in part, on 10% of the total rice growing area. MARD data in Dung's PowerPoint presentation showed that in 2009, 440,833 farmers used SRI methods on 232,365 ha. It was reported that 20% of the farmers were using the full set of SRI practices, and the rest were using most if not all, but still getting benefits of higher yields with lower cost and less water usage.
Application of SRI practices is calculated to have helped rice farmers earn 1.8-3.5 million VND ($100-200) more per ha while requiring less water. He cited benefits from SRI management in addition to higher yields: greater income as costs are reduced, reduction in soil and water pollution by agrochemicals, improved rice quality, and reduced risk of crop loss or failure due to storm damage or pests and diseases. Direct-seeding, in place of transplanting, is being experimented with in several provinces to retain all or most of the productivity benefits of SRI methods while reducing labor requirements.
A farmer's perspective can be found in an article on the SRI Vietnam website about Mr. Le Ngoc Thach from the Dai Nghia Cooperative, who was among the farmers who applied SRI the earliest in Ha Tay Province. All 750 family members of the cooperative now plant theri 175 hectares with SRI and after four seasons of success.
2008-2009
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Positive Results from Oxfam America's Multi-Province, Multi-Partner SRI
Program in Vietnam
Following Ha Tay success (19,000 ha implementing SRI during 2008), Oxfam-funded SRI promotion and training is being carried out in provinces of Ha Tinh and Nghe An by Oxfam Quebec, in Phu Tho and Thai Nguyen by the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD), a Vietnamese NGO, and in Yen Bai and Ha Tay by the PPD. Training in all provinces follows the Farmer Field School model and works with existing extension staff from the Plant Protection Sub-Departments (the provincial counterparts of the PPD).
The 2008 summer/fall season in the Vietnam SRI program areas averaged 6.3 tons per hectare, with productivity exceeding conventional yields by an average of 11% across the program provinces (see Gorman report). Urea fertilizer use decreased by approximately 16%, the frequency of pesticide applications by 45%, and average irrigation expenses by 35%. This combination of input savings and output gains contributed to reported income increases of approximately 50%, or roughly 5.4 million Vietnam Dong ($315 USD) per ha per season. In the winter/spring season of 2008, SRI was partially or fully applied on 307 ha in the program areas, with the participation of 2,068 farmers. In the summer/fall season, those figures jumped to 827 ha and 2,589 farmers. During 2009, the program is expanding into additional areas, in addition to intensifying application in existing districts.
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Rapid Uptake in Ha Tay Province Under Oxfam Program
A joint effort by Oxfam America and the Plant Protection Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development made good progress in Vietnam in 2008. A pilot program in Ha Tay province the previous year, where SRI methods were introduced on 3,000 hectares (as described in 2007 report) expanded to 33,000 hectares during 2008, with 95,000 farmers using the methods. (Average farm size is 0.4 ha, so they are using SRI methods on most of their rice area. SRI is also being introduced in additional provinces with the support of Oxfam Quebec. A report on the results of the 2007 season in Ha Tay and on methods for SRI extension has been prepared by PPD/MARD along with a report to Oxfam America on the expansion of SRI introduction in 2008.
2007
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Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Designates SRI as
Technical Advance
Following up an initial decision April 1, 2007, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued a formal decision October 15, 2007, acknowledging SRI as "a technical advance," and directing the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Plant Protection, the Department of Cultivation, the National Agricultural Extension Center, and Provincial Agricultural and Rural Departments to "guide and disseminate " this technical advance.
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Networking of SRI Collaborators in Vietnam Expanding and Becoming More
Formal
With the assistance of Oxfam America, a number of different institutions in Vietnam are beginning to consult and cooperate more in the evaluation and dissemination of SRI in this country. On July 11, 2007, the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences hosted a national workshop on SRI that brought most of these institutions together to exchange experience. The National IPM Program of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development which has done the most systematic evaluation of SRI (see report) is expanding its SRI activities with support from Oxfam America, as are Thai Nguyen University and the Center for Sustainable Rural Development.
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Hanoi Agricultural University Reports Positive Results in 10
Provinces
Over the past several years, several faculty at Hanoi Agricultural University have been working with SRI methods, learned mostly from the SRI internet home page, with positive results in ten provinces. Dr. Nguyen Tat Canh began working with SRI in 2001. The Japanese Volunteer Corps is also now introducing SRI in its rural work. More information on these and other SRI activities in Vietnam is contained in a report by Norman Uphoff on his visit to Vietnam, July 7-14, 2007.
2003-2006
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Positive 2006 SRI Evaluation to Result in Government Support
The National Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program in Vietnam has conducted evaluations of SRI methods since 2003, expanding the evaluations from 3 provinces that year to 17 provinces by 2006. When its report summarizing what was learned from these trials was presented to the Science and Technology Council of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in early April, 2006, the recommendation that SRI be recognized as a technological advance for rice production under Vietnamese conditions was accepted. This endorsement means that provincial governments will be able to access government funding to support the extension of SRI use and that research institutions in Vietnam will be able to get support for further SRI studies. SRI dissemination has been very compatibly integrated into the IPM Program’s Farmer Field School activities.
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FAO-Supported Vegetable IPM Program Promoting SRI through Farmer Field
Schools
SRI is also being evaluated and extended in
Vietnam under the auspices of the Vegetable IPM Program supported by FAO and
through the Farmer Field Schools which the IPM program maintains with a
farmer-participatory approach. During 2004, an evaluation of SRI experience in Vietnam was done for FAO by
Max Whitten, as part of a four-country evaluation that he and John Schilling
undertook. SRI was featured on the first page of the National IPM Program 2006
Calendar, widely distributed with DANIDA assistance.
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Elske van der Fliert, program development officer with FAO's vegetable IPM program in Vietnam, reports visiting a field day organized by a farmer group in Hanoi province presenting the results of their SRI trials this past season. Four women farmers (left) reported spreading SRI to about 1,000 farmers in their commune who cultivate a rice area of about 300 ha. This area was hit earlier in the season by a severe storm that lodged conventionally-grown rice but did not affect SRI rice. Van de Fliert was impressed by the awareness among these farmers of the need for collective action, which motivated them to try to involve more farmers in the practice, so that there could be more water savings for the whole block. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
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Trials led by Thai Nguyen University researcher expand between 2004 and
2006
Dr. Hoang Van Phu at Thai Nguyen University, who started SRI trials on campus in spring 2004 and field trials in Bac Giang province in 2005,
reported that from a demonstration
area of 600 m2 in spring 2005 in Bac Giang, the SRI area expanded to 17 ha
there in the summer crop. The area under SRI was about 150 ha in the spring
crop (2006). Hoang is pictured at right with two colleague-trainers (click on
photo to enlarge). Hoang learned about SRI from Klaus Prinz in Thailand, whom
he got to while doing his MS at Chiangmai University. Dr. Hoang Van Phu's
earlier reports of replicated factorial trials have shown SRI yields at 33x33cm
spacing of 8.8 t/ha, with a calculated reduction of 62% in water use, and 85%
in seed rate. More details are given in Uphoff’s trip report (see TNU
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Norman Uphoff Reports on SRI Progress in 2006 Trip Report
Norman Uphoff was able to visit the farmers at Dông Trú in January 2006. His report on their progress, with data on their production (up 21%), costs of production (down 24%), and net profit per ha (up 65%) given in his trip report.
The NGO known now as LÚA (formerly CIDSE) is working with SRI, which will hopefully encourage other NGOs to follow now that SRI performance in Vietnam is better documented. (see LUA section of 2006 trip report.)
Researchers at the National Institute for Soils and Fertilizers in Hanoi, having learned about SRI and the research issues it raises, are interested in developing a number of research efforts that can assess and explain SRI effects under Vietnam conditions (see NISF section of 2006 trip report).
