O87 - Participatory development of agroforestry systems in Northwest Vietnam: using quantitative and qualitative data for evaluation and design improvement
2. Individual abstractsNguyen La1, Huu Thuong Pham1, Van Thach Nguyen1, Rachmat Mulia1
1 World Agroforestry (ICRAF), Viet Nam Country Office, 13th floor HCMCC Tower, 249 A Thuy Khue Street, Thuy Khue Ward, Tay Ho District, Ha Noi, Viet Nam
2 SLU, Crop Production Ecology, Box 7043, 75007 Uppsala, Sweden
Introduction
Poor communities and ethnic minorities living from smallholder farming dominate upland areas of the Mekong. In these areas, farmers are facing challenges of land degradation, climate change and limited access to markets. Sustainable land management practices, diversification of the farming system and income sources, improved productivity and linking to markets are needed to improve the livelihoods and resilience of farming families.
We evaluated the participatory development of two long-term agroforestry (AF) experiments in the Northwest region of Vietnam, in order to assist farmers to shift from unsustainable practice of sole annual crops to AFs. The performance of two fruit tree-based AF systems, longan-maize-forage grass and H’mong apple (Docynia indica) - forage grass were compared with sole tree and sole annual crops as controls. Farmer’s perspectives on the two systems were investigated through interviews.
The 7-year (2012-2018) record on plant productivity show lower yield of longan in AF compared to sole plantation (0.38 and 1.04 ton ha-1 year-1 respectively), comparable results in terms of maize yield (4.6-ton ha-1 year-1), and in addition, AF could provide 15-ton ha-1 year-1 of forage grass. The AF system generated a positive annual income, which was 2.4 times higher than sole maize while sole longan did not generate profit due to high investment cost. In the other AF system, the fruit production (i.e. Docynia) was also lower than in sole tree plantation (1.3 and 4.2 ton ha-1 year-1 respectively) but AF provided 64-ton ha-1 year-1 of forage grass, which resulted in an income that was 3.5 time higher than that from sole tree plantation. In addition to higher economic benefit, the two AF systems had a shorter break-even-point than sole fruit tree systems.
The local interview revealed that farmers gained a high economic benefit from the AF systems. However, they emphasized that the income can be optimized through better management that reduces competition between system components, especially as the systems matures (plants are growing bigger). In addition, as ecological benefits, they noticed the importance of grass strips in reducing soil erosion and maintaining soil fertility, but a wider use of grass apart for fodder, is desirable. They also indicated that the expansion of AF practices in the region will need financial incentives to support investment costs. Further, improved market-value chain for fruits are needed, especially in terms of market stability. Better knowledge on field management practices was also identified as an enabling factor for the development.