Shifting to hydroponic systems can save 80%–90% of water as compared to open-field irrigation. It also offers a faster growing cycle: crops grown in a hydroponic system can be harvested sooner. Photo credit: ADB.
Shifting to alternative farming systems and ensuring farmers are aware about the challenges of saline agriculture could help them protect their crops.
Farmers in the Mekong Delta are facing severe loss of income as saltwater continues to encroach on the freshwater waterways.
Approximately half of Viet Nam’s total rice harvest and nearly three-quarters of its aquaculture, fisheries, and fruit products are produced in the Mekong River Delta. Rice paddies, floating markets, and pagodas all sit on the delta, making it the region’s agriculture and aquaculture powerhouse.
Under threat
But this vast labyrinth of waterways encompassing swamps, rivers, and fertile floodplains in the country’s southwestern region is under threat.
In recent years, the impacts of climate change have threatened the Mekong Delta’s natural systems. Changes in seasonal rainfall patterns have decreased freshwater availability, and climate change-induced sea level rise has caused inland saline intrusion.
Saline intrusion has resulted in substantial crop loss. Approximately 70% of rice crops have become salt-affected, while the remaining 30% yielded no grain. As a result, thousands of farmers have lost income.
Shifting to saline-resistance crops and transitioning to alternative farming systems, like hydroponics, can stem farmers’ crop losses, according to a case study published by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Ensuring farmers are aware about the challenges of saline agriculture could also help them safeguard their crops.
The case study provided insights on interventions done to help farmers adopt alternative farming systems.
Shifting to hydroponic systems, for instance, can save 80%–90% of water as compared to open-field irrigation. It also offers a faster growing cycle: crops grown in a hydroponic system can be harvested sooner.
Hydroponics farming can also be cost-effective as farmers can use local materials such as plastic lining, walls, and shade net.
The case study also highlighted the importance of providing farmers the means to measure salinity in the water and soil to give them much-needed insights in growing their crops.
Pioneering training
To help farmers, ADB, through the Netherlands Trust Fund under the Water Financing Partnership Facility (WFPF), partnered with the Netherlands Water Partnership that brought together the Can Tho University, Eurofins, Fresh Studio, Royal Eijkelkamp, SkillEd, The Salt Doctors, Wageningen University and Research, and Witteveen+Bos to develop a pioneering training program on saline agriculture.
The WFPF is an initiative to catalyze innovative, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable water investments in Asia and the Pacific. Through this capacity-building initiative, ADB supported the Government of Viet Nam to focus on inclusive economic growth in agriculture and rural development,
A master class was developed, featuring three comprehensive training sessions, each spanning 3 days, in Ben Tre Province, Mekong Delta. The program blended both theoretical knowledge and hands-on practical experience.
The training framework centered on building resilience to salinity in regions with limited freshwater availability.
Key interventions covered soil health, salinity-tolerant crops, water quality monitoring, freshwater harvesting, freshwater lens management, drainage systems, and smarter irrigation techniques.
The training provided knowledge and practical skills for trainees in the fields, said Dang Kieu Nhan Mekong from the Delta Development Research Institute at Can Tho University. “It also offered a living interactive platform where researchers, agricultural extension and farmers’ association staff, cooperative members, and private enterprises have codeveloped adaptive agricultural practices to salinity in the coastal Mekong Delta.”
The sessions attracted a diverse group of stakeholders, including private sector participants, farmers, cooperatives, and government representatives. Participants learned theoretical principles and applied them in real-world scenarios through field demonstrations. Core topics included (i) soil and fertilization management; (ii) water harvesting, irrigation, and drainage; (iii) crop selection and resilience; (iv) capacity building; and (v) transitioning to alternative farming systems, like hydroponics, and accessing markets. The training adopted an innovative blended learning approach. Theoretical concepts were presented interactively, with trainees encouraged to immediately apply their knowledge through group assignments. This hands-on, collaborative method ensured a deep understanding of the material, fostering real-world skills that participants could implement in their communities.
Nguyen Truong Thanh from the Farmers’ Union of Soc Trang lauded the training. “It gave [the farmers’ union] access to new models of successful adaptation from other countries,” he said. “The simple, easy-to-implement, cost-effective, and easy-to-replicate drought-adapted farming models, such as hydroponics, are suitable for the saline intrusion conditions facing the Mekong Delta. This is a practical and effective way and knowledge that the Viet Nam Farmers’ Union staff have learned to propagate and mobilize members and farmers to apply to adapt to salinity.”
