How Well Can Mekong Delta Rice Farmers Adapt to Changing Floods?

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How Well Can Mekong Delta Rice Farmers Adapt to Changing Floods? Farmers on the Vietnamese Mekong Delta's floodplains cope well with extreme floods, but their adaptive capacity is remarkably weaker as floods diminish. That emerging challenge faces both high- and low-dyke farmers. Long Phi Hoang and co-authors, including Dung Duc Tran (HAPRI Senior Research Associate). A farmer in a small wooden boat checks a fish net on a flooded rice field during flood season in the Mekong Delta. A tree-lined high dyke separates it from green rice fields, and another farmer walks along the dyke path.

How Well Can Mekong Delta Rice Farmers Adapt to Changing Floods?

www.hapri.org

Dung Duc Tran — Senior Research Associate

A study co-authored by Long Phi Hoang, Miriam Pot, Dung Duc Tran (HAPRI Senior Research Associate), Loc Huu Ho and Edward Park finds that farmers on the Vietnamese Mekong Delta's floodplains generally have strong adaptive capacity in extreme floods, but remarkably weaker adaptive capacity when floods diminish, an emerging phenomenon. The authors conclude that both high- and low dyke farmers have to cope with new challenges, including fluctuating flood patterns and the depletion of natural resources.

Context

Rice farming on the floodplains of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta depends on the annual flood, and that flood is changing. According to the study, climate change and socio-economic developments induce extreme and diminishing floods, which in turn increase farmers' vulnerability. Extreme floods are the familiar threat, since they can instantly destroy crops. Diminishing floods are newer and pose a different kind of challenge.

The study looks at two prevalent farming systems on these floodplains: high dykes featuring triple-crop rice farming, and low dykes where fields are left fallow during the flood season.

*Poorer soil and water leave natural capital low*

Methods

The authors examine farmers' perceptions of a changing flood regime and their current vulnerabilities, and assess farmers' adaptive capacity through five sustainability capitals. Methods include a literature review and qualitative interviews with high- and low dyke farmers, using a semi-structured questionnaire, in two communes, Phu Huu and Vinh Hau, in An Phu district, An Giang Province.

Key findings

The results show that extreme floods are becoming less frequent and damaging, depending on their arrival time, depth, residence time and velocity.
In extreme floods, farmers' adaptive capacity is generally strong, and only low dyke farmers experience damage.
For diminishing floods, an emerging phenomenon, farmers' overall adaptive capacity is remarkably weaker and varies between high- and low dyke farmers.
Financial capital is lower for low dyke farmers due to their double-crop rice system, and natural capital is low for both farmer groups due to a decrease in soil and water quality, affecting yields and increasing investment costs.

Policy implications

The authors conclude that increasing farmers' resilience should focus on exploring better crop varieties, adjusting crop calendars, and shifting to less water-intensive crops.

Keywords:

Vietnamese Mekong Delta
Adaptive Capacity
Dyke Systems
Diminishing Floods
Rice Farming
Vulnerability

Link:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2023.115423

Citation:

Hoang, L. P., Pot, M., Tran, D. D., Ho, L. H., & Park, E. (2023). Adaptive capacity of high- and low dyke farmers to hydrological changes in the Vietnamese Mekong delta. Environmental Research, 224, 115423.