Socio-hydrological trade-offs arising from triple cropping in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: revisiting environmental impacts and adaptation pathways

Trade-offs between socio-economic growth and environmental protection have remained a critical issue of sustainable development, especially in the Global South. In the floodplains of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD), the development of high-dike polders for intensive rice production has degraded ec...

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Main Authors: Tran, Dung Duc, Park, Edward, Tran, Thong Anh, Vo, Thang Tat, Le, Phong Thanh
Other Authors: Asian School of the Environment
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2023
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/169829
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1698292023-08-08T15:36:20Z Socio-hydrological trade-offs arising from triple cropping in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: revisiting environmental impacts and adaptation pathways Tran, Dung Duc Park, Edward Tran, Thong Anh Vo, Thang Tat Le, Phong Thanh Asian School of the Environment National Institute of Education Earth Observatory of Singapore Engineering::Environmental engineering Polders Livelihoods Trade-offs between socio-economic growth and environmental protection have remained a critical issue of sustainable development, especially in the Global South. In the floodplains of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD), the development of high-dike polders for intensive rice production has degraded ecosystems and changed socio-economic patterns. Sustainable development pathways must be considered during policy formulations to keep pace with such transformations. In this study, the interwoven socio-economic development and rice-based agricultural production processes were assessed based on mixed data sources, including 550 interviews with farmers in two major delta floodplain provinces — An Giang and Dong Thap. It highlights the pros and cons of the triple-rice farming systems under high-dike protections compared to low-dike farming systems. Results showed that the environmental degradation due to the overuse of agrochemicals (e.g., fertilizer and pesticides) costs approximately US $565 per hectare per crop season, resulting in the lower marginal benefits for the triple-rice production compared to the double-rice production pattern. This includes higher costs borne by local farmers/communities, given the adverse effects of agrochemicals on their health. The study urgently calls for local governments to consider relevant drivers of environmental degradation in agricultural production, especially in rice cultivation. Future policy needs to consider whether the intensification in agriculture, such as triple-rice production, would be an appropriate development pathway for the rural economy. Our study conveys to central and local governments and associated stakeholders that the agriculture-driven development policies would not be a sustainable development pathway under new environmental complexities in the delta. Ministry of Education (MOE) National Research Foundation (NRF) Published version This research is funded by Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM) under grant number B2021-24-04 and the Ministry of Education of Singapore (#Tier2 MOE-T2EP402A20-0001). This research is partly funded by University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This research was also supported by the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS) via its funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Singapore and the Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) under the Research Centers of Excellence initiative. 2023-08-07T05:35:12Z 2023-08-07T05:35:12Z 2023 Journal Article Tran, D. D., Park, E., Tran, T. A., Vo, T. T. & Le, P. T. (2023). Socio-hydrological trade-offs arising from triple cropping in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: revisiting environmental impacts and adaptation pathways. Environmental Technology and Innovation, 29, 102987-. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2022.102987 2352-1864 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/169829 10.1016/j.eti.2022.102987 2-s2.0-85145253403 29 102987 en #Tier2 MOE-T2EP402A20-0001 Environmental Technology and Innovation © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Engineering::Environmental engineering
Polders
Livelihoods
spellingShingle Engineering::Environmental engineering
Polders
Livelihoods
Tran, Dung Duc
Park, Edward
Tran, Thong Anh
Vo, Thang Tat
Le, Phong Thanh
Socio-hydrological trade-offs arising from triple cropping in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: revisiting environmental impacts and adaptation pathways
description Trade-offs between socio-economic growth and environmental protection have remained a critical issue of sustainable development, especially in the Global South. In the floodplains of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD), the development of high-dike polders for intensive rice production has degraded ecosystems and changed socio-economic patterns. Sustainable development pathways must be considered during policy formulations to keep pace with such transformations. In this study, the interwoven socio-economic development and rice-based agricultural production processes were assessed based on mixed data sources, including 550 interviews with farmers in two major delta floodplain provinces — An Giang and Dong Thap. It highlights the pros and cons of the triple-rice farming systems under high-dike protections compared to low-dike farming systems. Results showed that the environmental degradation due to the overuse of agrochemicals (e.g., fertilizer and pesticides) costs approximately US $565 per hectare per crop season, resulting in the lower marginal benefits for the triple-rice production compared to the double-rice production pattern. This includes higher costs borne by local farmers/communities, given the adverse effects of agrochemicals on their health. The study urgently calls for local governments to consider relevant drivers of environmental degradation in agricultural production, especially in rice cultivation. Future policy needs to consider whether the intensification in agriculture, such as triple-rice production, would be an appropriate development pathway for the rural economy. Our study conveys to central and local governments and associated stakeholders that the agriculture-driven development policies would not be a sustainable development pathway under new environmental complexities in the delta.
author2 Asian School of the Environment
author_facet Asian School of the Environment
Tran, Dung Duc
Park, Edward
Tran, Thong Anh
Vo, Thang Tat
Le, Phong Thanh
format Article
author Tran, Dung Duc
Park, Edward
Tran, Thong Anh
Vo, Thang Tat
Le, Phong Thanh
author_sort Tran, Dung Duc
title Socio-hydrological trade-offs arising from triple cropping in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: revisiting environmental impacts and adaptation pathways
title_short Socio-hydrological trade-offs arising from triple cropping in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: revisiting environmental impacts and adaptation pathways
title_full Socio-hydrological trade-offs arising from triple cropping in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: revisiting environmental impacts and adaptation pathways
title_fullStr Socio-hydrological trade-offs arising from triple cropping in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: revisiting environmental impacts and adaptation pathways
title_full_unstemmed Socio-hydrological trade-offs arising from triple cropping in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: revisiting environmental impacts and adaptation pathways
title_sort socio-hydrological trade-offs arising from triple cropping in the vietnamese mekong delta: revisiting environmental impacts and adaptation pathways
publishDate 2023
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/169829
_version_ 1779156598301655040