Agriculture and fishing
Mekong farmers switch to more profitable crops
The Crop Production Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that in 2018, former rice farmers in the southern province switched 68,019 hectares of less productive land to more profitable crops. Mekong delta farmers stopped rice cultivation in 62,233 hectares of land ...
Water resources planning in Mekong Delta should be prioritised: official
Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Le Cong Thanh has underlined the need to focus on the planning and investigation of water resources across the country, especially in the Mekong Delta region. Keep reading ...
Mekong Delta floods inundate over 2,000ha of rice
More than 2,060ha of rice in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta have been damaged due to recent floods, according to the Directorate of Water Resources under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. In An Giang province, over 1,270ha of rice were destroyed, while Kien Giang suffered losses ...
Expert questions need for major irrigation projects in Mekong Delta
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, along with local governments in the Mekong Delta, have continued to voice support for construction of the Cai Lon-Cai Be irrigation project, though one expert has raised questions about the plans. Keep reading ...
Getting high in the drug-riddled mountains of Laos
UN drug agency is leading a coffee cultivation programme across 10 former opium growing villages in Houaphan province, which borders Vietnam. Keep reading ...
Laos' hydropower ambitions threaten Mekong fishing villages
The tiny Southeast Asian nation of Laos champions itself as “the battery of Southeast Asia,” exporting hydroelectricity to its neighbors as it seeks to exit the ranks of least developed countries. Keep reading ...
Climate change will make hundreds of millions more people nutrient deficient
Rising levels of carbon dioxide could make crops less nutritious and damage the health of hundreds of millions of people, research has revealed, with those living in some of the world’s poorest regions likely to be hardest hit. Previous research has shown that many food crops become ...
Waterways in Mekong Delta losing valuable alluvium
For a long time, saltwater in Mekong Delta was always considered an ‘enemy’ because it could not be used for rice cultivation. But it should be seen as a valuable natural resource which could help develop a sea-borne economy. Read more ...
Activists brace for new war on agri-chemicals
THE CALLS for a ban on the use of paraquat and two other farm chemicals seen as dangerous are growing louder again, as a government-appointed panel is set to discuss the issue at its first meeting tomorrow. Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha set up the panel ...
Tackling drug resistance on Asian farms with apps and a dictionary
In his first 12 years working as a vet in Bangladesh, Bikash Chandra Saha routinely prescribed antibiotics. Then he learned of the devastating impact of antimicrobial resistance on human health – and it revolutionized his treatment choices. The growing resistance of deadly diseases to antimicrobial drugs ...