‘Nature – based’ farming a winner in Delta
Over the past three years, Kiên Giang Province, the Mekong Delta’s largest rice producer, has restructured cultivation methods on more than 24,000ha of rice fields to adapt to climate change and improve farmers’ incomes.
The farmers, who had typically planted two or three rice crops a year, switched to either rotating the cultivation of rice and shrimp or intercropping rice and shrimp. Some farmers rotated rice and other crops, and others switched completely from rice to growing fruit or other crops, or engaging in aquaculture.
The Secretary of the Kiên Giang Party Committee, Đỗ Thanh Bình, said: “These measures have increased production value of these fields by 35 per cent.”
All of the delta’s 12 provinces and its major city, Cần Thơ, have been able to turn more unproductive rice fields into fruit tree and other crop growing areas, or for aquaculture.
These measures were taken after Government Resolution 120 was issued in 2017, which called for sustainable and climate-resilient development in the delta.
Tôn Ánh Thu
