In Vietnam, especially in the Mekong Delta, there have been lots of case studies ... It is said that the land use and water use in the Mekong Delta are affected by ...
Classification
of Farming
Systems
in The Mekong
Delta
Ryuichi Yamada (Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences) Vo Quang Minh (Vietnam Can Tho University) Hiroyuki Hiraoka (Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences) Nguyen Van Sanh (Vietnam Can Tho University) 1. Introduction In Vietnam, there have been various researches on farming systems. Farming systems have two aspects. One is the farming systems as the unit of agricultural production. The other is the farming systems as the methodology of farming systems research. The former concept is as follows;There are sub-systems such as crop production, animal husbandry, and non-farm activities under the certain objectives of farm household. These sub-systems is affected by the environment outside such as natural conditions, socio-economic conditions, and also affect these environment. At the same time, these sub-systems affect each other. In this paper, the concept of farming systems includes eco-system and land use system. In Vietnam, especially in the Mekong Delta, there have been lots of case studies on farming systems. But, there are various types of farming systems under various natural conditions of the Mekong Delta. Sometimes it is not clear which areas each case study exactly represents. On the other hand, several classifications of farming systems have been so far conducted. But, they are not perfect. For example, some classification have been done based on own experiences. Indicators used don't reflect whole natural conditions. And classification of rice-based farming systems has been popular. Now, improvement of classification is needed, so that we can make clear what each case study represents. Then, we can grasp each problem by the type of farming systems. In this paper, from the above point of view, previous research will be reviewed, on the basis of which new classification will be done. 2. The Result of the Research on the Classification of Eco-Systems and Land Use Systems Which have been so far done 1) Review about eco-system classification It is said that the land use and water use in the Mekong Delta are affected by the following factors;1 Irrigation
and drainage,
2 Salinity, 3 Flooding, 4 Acidity (Puckridge;1995).
For example, the
possibility of utilizing fresh water in the dry season is basically affected by irrigation conditions. Actually, there are many areas where the cropping pattern has been changed from 1 floating rice to 2 rice cropping. The possibility of choosing rice variety and of raising fish and prawn is affected by flooding depth. And the kinds of crop grown and the yield are affected by the acidity or salinity. So far, by considering these points, some classifications on farming systems have been conducted. Minh(1995) divided rainfed area and irrigated area in the whole rice-growing area of the Mekong Delta. After that, he classified the eco-system by using the flooding depth (maximum inundation depth) as a indicator, as follows; Irrigated rice subecosystems Irrigated-shallow water rice subecosystem Irrigated-medium deep water rice subecosystem Irrigated-deep water rice subecosystem
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Irrigated-very deep water rice subecosystem Rainfed lowland rice subecosystems Rainfed lowland shallow water rice subecosystem Rainfed lowland medium deep water rice subecosystem Rainfed lowland deep water rice subecosystem The classification of rainfed lowland rice area was done by Ni(1993) . He classified rainfed lowland rice area by using the indicators of soil conditions and flooding conditions as follows; (1)Non-acidsulphate soil,floodwater depth30cm (3)Acidsulphate soil,floodwater30cm 2) Review about land use system classification On the other hand, the classification of land use system was done by The Cuulong Delta Rice Research Institute as follows (1995); (1)triple ricecrops, (2)doublericecrops, (3)single ricecrops, (4)doublericecrops-upland crops, (5) double rice crops-fruitstrees and coconuts, (6)singlerice crops-upland crops,
(7)industrial
crops(pineapPle,sugarcane), (8)uncultivated area, (9)forest (melaleuca,mangrove) More preciseclassification was conducted by Chiem (1995),as follows; (1)Uncultivatedarea, (2)Mangrove forest, (3)Winter-spring rice+summer-autumn
rice,(4)winter-
spring rice+summer-autumn jute, (5)Upland crop+summer-autumn rice,(6)High-yieldjingrainy Season rice+shrimp, (7)Summer-autumn rice+localrice,(8)Localricemixed with high-yieldrice,(9) High-yielding rainy season rice, (10)Malaleuca + bee + fish,(11)Floating rice+upland potatoes+high-yielding rainy season rice, (13)Winter-spring rice+spring-summer autumn rice, (14)Hills and mountains
crop, (12)Sweet rice+summer-
3) Discussion The research results so far have contributed a lot to the development of knowledge about diversity of farming systems in the Mekong Delta. The features of these results are as follows; (1) The indicators used in the classification were not enough. Main natural conditions are irrigation conditions, flooding conditions, and soil conditions. But, so far, all these indicators have not been used at the same time according to a certain standard. (2) There has not been enough analysis about relation between eco-system and land use system. (3) The features of ecosystem and land use system by each province have not been made clear. (4) Most of the classification was based on rice-based farming systems. Though in the Mekong Delta, rice-based farming systems are popular, other crops have been recently increased in production. Diversification has become more and more significant. 3. NewApproach for Classification in the Mekong Delta Based on the review on the previous results of research, classification of the farming systems in the Mekong Delta will be newly developed from the view point as follows:(1)Main indicators for classification are derived from irrigation conditions, flooding conditions, and soil conditions. (2)The relation between ecosystem and land use system will be identified. (3)The data will be also clear in each province. Innundation depth, which is the indicator of flooding conditions, is divided into 3 categroies as follows;(1)D60cm"
the
Land",
reaches
Land
occupy
zone.
each
crop
occupies
10.5%.
conditions
60cm"
acreage.
be
Sulphate
followed
province
are
An
follows, (1)
indicators,
"Irrigated-Acid
of this
Thap,
Alluvial
will
table,
half
-Acid
as
above
type
this
Around
use
the
use
According Delta.
3 categroies
with
on
the thus
previous
review,
we
research have
thought
about
the
out
the
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classification new
method
of
farming
of classification.
systems As
in the
the result
Mekong of this
we got new classification land use system.
of farming
Besides,
been also considered.
systems,
the conditions
But, there
and also clarified
for diversification
still remains
the relation
between
and for intensive
some problems
which
ecosystems
farming
systems
and have
should be solved in the future.
These are as follows:
(1) We could not get the land use systems including fisheries classification
is not perfect. In the future, fisheries
classification
of land use systems,
so that
and animal
and animal
we can grasp
husbandry
husbandry
the conditions
That means our
should be included for diversification
into much
more.
(2) In fact, some conditions normaly decisions
the conditions of adopting
Consequently, conditions
rice-fish
in the future,
in a certain
(3) As mentioned
are different, system,
road are different,
VAC systems,
we need to classify
and
other
the farming
For example,
which affect the farmers' integrated
systems
farming
based
systems.
on the locational
small area.
above, farming
of farm household
even in the zone of the same eco-systems.
such as access to water,
systems
should be involved
is a comprehensive into classification
concept. of farming
So, the structure systems.
and the goal
But it's not be able to
put into practice in all the Mekong Delta, but can be done in a certain area such as district, village, and hamlet level, based on farm household economic investigation. That means the direction of micro level classification
from macro level classification.
Refferences Cuulong Delta RaceResearch Institute, 1995:Donald WPuckridge, Bun Chi Buu, Nguyen Van Luat: Agriculture and Agriculture Reaesrch in the Mekong Delta, Cuulong Delta Rice Research Institute. Duong Van Ni,1993:Land Evaluation of Rainfed Lowland RiceAreas in the Mekong l)elta ofVietnam, University of Philippines (Master thesis). John Caldwell, 1997:Farming Systems, Proceedings of Symposium on Methodology of "SogoKenkyu"(MultidisciplinaryResearch) for RegionalAgriculture, pp.46-47. Le Quang Tri,1996:Developing Management Packages for Acid Sulphate Soils Based on Farmer and Expert Knowledge,Thesis Landbouwuunversiteit Wageningen. Nguyen Huu Chiem, 1994:Former and Present Cropping Patterns in the Mekong Delta, Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 31, No.4, p357. Vo Quang Minh, 1995:Use of Soil and Agrohydrological Characteristics in Developing Technology Extrapolation Methodology:A Case Study of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, University of Philippines (Master thesis), pp.94-96.
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