Vice-president of the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences, member of the 2020-2025 scientific committee of the Center for International Cooperation in Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD), Dao The Anh is one of the key partners in the implementation implementation of the Asset program (for Agroecology and Safe Food System Transitions) designed to bring innovations to Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian farmers in terms of agroecology. Professor Dao had a decisive role in Vietnam’s inclusion of the principles of agroecology in its new agricultural development strategy. Trained in France, he took up the torch from his father, Dao The Tuan, considered the “father of spring rice” and one of the pioneers of cooperation with France. Dao The Anh, in Vietnam, in 2021 NGUYEN NGOC MA How did Vietnam “succeed” in its “green revolution” so well? After the War of Independence with France [1946-1954]it was necessary to intensify food production such as rice, because the population needed it. We established cooperatives, carried out agricultural research and invested in irrigation. As the agricultural area per capita is very small, 0.07 hectares per person, it was imperative to achieve several harvests per year. This is what we call the “green revolution”. Vietnam implemented it almost at the same time as African countries, after decolonization. But the trajectories are very divergent sixty years later. Vietnam has had great success with its green revolution, much more than African countries: we have become self-sufficient in rice. We started exporting from the 1990s. Exports today represent around 20% of rice production. 7 to 8 million tonnes of rice are exported to Asian countries and some African countries. The yields are among the best because we have irrigation rates on the total rice area of around 70%. So, we can grow between two and three rice per year. Without irrigation, in Africa, it is often a single annual harvest. But this success has created new problems… Today, we have reached a ceiling. We have to pay! Intensification has led to the use of improved seed varieties, lots of chemical fertilizers, and lots of insecticides, because more yield means more insects. The other factor is the reduction in the agricultural workforce, which encourages the use of herbicides for weeding, which is no longer done manually. So, soil and water pollution and methane emissions are very significant. The latter contribute to global warming: we have 3.5 million hectares of rice fields, with two harvests, that’s 7 million hectares per year, or 25% of Vietnam’s methane emissions. Methane comes from fermentation in flooded areas: with two or three harvests per year, it is constantly flooded, there is no time to rest the soil. These emissions are the direct consequence of intensification. You have 74.78% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
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Author : News7
Publish date : 2024-12-09 12:39:56
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