Community-based sustaiable agriculture

Community-based sustaiable agriculture

November 27, 2018

The Dong dyke area of Binh Dinh Province is located at the end of the Kon River, which is adjacent to the estuarine; hence, for nearly four months in a year it is widely affected by floods, inundation and waterlogging, including sea surge and seawater intrusion damaging the rice production. As the water volume of the Kon River flows downstream it becomes more and more intensified, and with the rainfall increased, expands the area of deep submerged land and sea level rise, causing saltwater intrusion into the inland and affecting agricultural production and people’s lives. When sea surges happen, waterlogging increases, the rice production cannot be practised in many lowland areas and they might be abandoned. In addition, saline intrusion due to the sea surge causes the soil to gain salinity, the soil is quickly degraded, becomes compact, and is fallow.

The two districts of Tuy Phuoc and Phu Cat have areas of over 12,000 hectares of rice annually, of which 690 hectares of rice production is heavily flooded and suffers from salinity intrusion, namely: Phuoc Son commune (140 ha), Phuoc Thuan commune (80 ha), Phuoc Hoa commune (90 ha), Phuoc Thang commune (110 ha) of Tuy Phuoc District; and Cat Chanh commune (120 ha) and Cat Tien commune (150 ha) of Phu Cat district. These areas are located at the end of the Kon River, adjacent to the sea mouth; thus during the rainy season from October to November, there is widespread flooding, and in the dry season (April - August) it is heavily salinated due to seawater penetrating deeply into the fields. Due to the low-lying terrain of the rice fields, inundation, salinity and alum conditions, most of the land areas along the Dong dyke of Tuy Phuoc and Phu Cat districts are unsuitable for the development of shallow plants and vegetables. Rice is the main plant. Four villages: Phu Hau (Cat Chanh commune); Phu Hau (Cat Tien commune); Kim Dong (Phuoc Hoa commune); and Vinh Quang 2 (Phuoc Son commune) are the most heavily submerged and saline-intruded areas, where rice is a mono-cropping plant, and there are no secondary occupations for the people. Therefore, the number of poor households in these villages is very high. At present, rainfall, floods, inundations and sea surge are increasing in an abnormal direction, causing increasingly serious salinisation and flooding; the local people have not been able to adapt to these conditions, leading to declines in productivity; there is no productivity at all in some areas. As a result, part of the rice cultivation land may be abandoned due to increasing saltwater intrusion and flooding. The livelihoods of the local communities would be severely affected if no support to sustain the rice production is provided.