Results of flood-based livelihood project in Mekong Delta reviewed

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on November 12 organised a closing workshop for the flood-based livelihood project in support of the water retention strategy for the Mekong Delta via video teleconference to review the results and encourage the up-scaling of the project in the region.

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Addressing the workshop, Andrew Wyatt, Deputy Director of the IUCN Indo-Burma Group, said the IUCN has carried out the project in three Mekong Delta provinces of An Giang, Dong Thap and Long An from 2018 to 2021.

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It aims to implement farmer demonstrations of low-risk, flood-based livelihoods across about 470 hectares of rice-growing land and retain some 8.5 million cu.m of flood water.

Through the demonstration of adaption to climate change and moves to preserve and restore the floodplain ecosystem in Dong Thap Muoi and Tu Giac Long Xuyen, the project has helped translated the Government’s Resolution dated November 17, 2017 on Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Development of the Mekong Delta into reality.

Integrated lotus farming, one of the project’s flood-based livelihood models, has proved effective and sustainable enough to be scaled up in the province, said Tran Che Linh from the An Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, taking lotus farms in Ta Danh commune, Tri Ton district as an example.

To expand the project, attendees suggested the three provinces offer financial support to enable farmers to shift to rice-lotus integrated farming and farmers’ cooperatives to acquire equipment for processing of lotus-made products.

Source: VNA