Adoption and impacts of ecologically-based rodent management in the Mekong Delta region

• Main Authors: Palis, Florencia G., Sumalde, Zenaida M., Torres, Cleofe S., Contreras, Antonio P., Datar, Francisco A.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2015
• Subjects: Rodents—Control > Mekong Delta; Political Science
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/1408
• Institution: De La Salle University

Since 1995, the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research has funded eight ecologically-based rodent management (EBRM) projects to address rodent problems in three countries in Mekong Delta Region, namely: Vietnam, Lao PDR, and Cambodia. This paper aims to analyze the adoption and impacts of EBRM among rice farmers in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam; the facilitating and constraining factors in its adoption, and lessons learned that could guide EBRM implementation in the future. The study utilized more of a qualitative approach anchored on an impact pathway framework. Data were gathered through focused group discussions among farmers from 19 villages, key informant interviews among key cooperators from collaborating agencies, and review of project documents and scientific papers published from the projects in the three countries. The ACIAR rodent control projects have brought about widespread adoption and significant impacts- economic, environmental, and socio-cultural- of EBRM in Vietnam but were limited in Lao PDR and Cambodia. The interplay of political, socio-cultural, historical, and economic factors is critical in the adoption of EBRM, and therefore, must be considered in promoting EBRM. © 2015, University of the Philippines Los Banos. All rights reserved.