Local Technical Agroclimatic Committees enhance resilience of farmers in Vietnam

Background

Climate change is threatening Vietnam’s agricultural production with significant implications for its food security and export value. Agroclimatic information and advisory is critical to inform planning and decision making by smallholder farmers who are still dominating agricultural production. Through "Local Technical Agroclimatic Committees", seasonal and short-agroclimatic bulletins were disseminated using multiple media to over 130,000 farmers (520,000 beneficiaries) in 351 communities in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta and South-Central Coast to adapt to climate change and improve resilience, directly contributing to Vietnam’s NDC and NAP.

Activities

Since 2020, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT has been working with Vietnam’s Department of Crop Production (DCP) to improve climate risks management among smallholder farmers, introducing Local Technical Agroclimatic Committees (LTAC) approach, as part of the DeRISK SE Asia project. This new methodology helps to develop and disseminate seasonal agroclimatic advisories, in a participatory way. The LTAC approach entails an extensive dialogue process, involving experts, local authorities, technicians, representatives from the public and private sectors, and farmers; it is aimed at understanding the climate forecast in a province and generate context-specific recommendations to reduce risks associated with climate variability. They provide farmers with information about the expected weather conditions, such as rainfall, temperature, humidity and related risks.

This process results in seasonal, monthly and 10-day provincial and district level local agroclimatic bulletins distributed to end-users or farmers, which contains tailored seasonal climate and short-term weather forecasts, potential impacts on crops, as well as recommendations for agricultural production planning and decision-making. The advisories are generated with support of Crop Decision Trees that provide specific information on crop stages, agricultural practices, climate risk and response strategies under different climate scenarios. Farmers can access agroclimatic advisories via multiple communication channels, including messaging apps, farmer-to-farmer sharing, loudspeakers, printed posters among others.

Impact

Supported by Germany, the project reached 130,000 farmers by the end of 2022 and the number keeps growing, as the approach is being expanded to additional provinces through the new CGIAR initiative ‘Asian Mega Deltas’. In fact, following the successful implementation and positive feedback from the provinces, Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has decided to extend the reach of the initiative to all 13 provinces in the Mekong River Delta, making the dissemination of the bulletins an integral part of the Vietnamese government’s national climate change adaptation strategy.

Farmers have used the agroclimatic advisories for seed varieties selection, land preparation, planting methods, water management, pest control, and harvesting dates identification based on predicted climate and weather forecast. Evidence shows that agroclimatic advisory services are a cost-effective way to improve agricultural productivity and resilience to climate change. Improved access and enhanced understanding of seasonal forecasts and agroclimatic advisories has helped farmers better plan and manage their farms and make informed decisions about their crops. It has also helped to reduce the use of pesticides and cope with climate risks related with excessive rainfall, flooding, drought, among others.