SUSTAINABLE SUSTAINABLE UTILIZATIONUTILIZATIONTECHNOLOGY OF ECOSYSTEMTECHNOLOGY OF ECOSYSTEMAND BIOLOGICAL RESOURCESAND BIOLOGICAL RESOURCESIN VIETNAMIN VIETNAM

VO-TONG XUANProfessor of Agronomy, President

Angiang University, Vietnam

An Ecological Definition of An Ecological Definition of Sustainable AgricultureSustainable Agriculture..

By By Professor Stephen R.Professor Stephen R. GliessmanGliessman

A holistic systems approach to food, feed, and fiber production that balances environmental soundness, social equity, and economic viability among all sectors of the public, including international and intergenerational peoples.

>> Sustainability > not only globally but > indefinitely in time, and

> to all living organisms including humans.

Contrasting ScenesContrasting Scenes• WDI 2005:

–850 million people everyday go to bed hungry–1.2 billion live on less a dollar/day

• Food surpluses in many developed countries

• Excess rice production from Thailand, Vietnam, China, India, Pakistan.

• Within each of the food-surplus country, uneven distribution of food is common.

What did we do wrong?What did we do wrong?• Billions of dollars have been spent for

research and development of technologies for sustainable utilization of resources.

• Why have we made so slow progress in poverty reduction?

• Why haven’t we solve the problem, internationally and nationally?

• How committed are we to ending hunger?

Human beings increase; the land does not!Human beings increase; the land does not!

Will the world Will the world survive?survive?

Pessimistic view: Natural resource constraints may put the future of this world under great riskOptimistic view: Human ingenuity finds ways or substitutes to deal with the scarcity of natural resources

Source: IPCC WGI Third Assessment Report, 21 Jan 2001

Source: IPCC WGI Third Assessment Report, 21 Jan 2001

The forces: 1The forces: 1-- PopulationPopulationAbout 75 million* added yearly, 98% of them in developing countries, of which 59% AsianConstant birth rates at high level in countries with high poverty and limited social and economic progressThe world becoming4more urbanized4more polarized

SOURCE: UN Population Division, 2004 Revision

The forces: 1The forces: 1-- PopulationPopulationUrbanization:

The megacities: 1950 1970 1990 2015(in milions)

Africa 3 16 59 225Latin America 17 57 118 225Asia 58 168 359 903North America 40 78 105 148Europe 73 116 141 156

SOURCE: UN Population Division, 1995

The forces: 1The forces: 1-- PopulationPopulationAnnual Grain Use and Consumption of Livestock Products in

Selected Countries, 1990 (in kg per capita)

Country Grain Beef Pork Poultry Milk Eggs

United States 800 42 28 44 271 16

Italy 400 16 20 19 182 12

China 300 1 21 3 4 7

India 200 - 0.4 0.4 31 13

Source: Brown L.: Who will feed China? Wake-up Call for a Small Planet. W.W.Norton, New York 1995, p.45.

The forces: 1The forces: 1-- PopulationPopulation

Income disparity:Rural phenomenon: The poverty-degraded environment vicious circle.Urban phenomenon: The poor continue to increase.The gap between rural and urban incomes is widening.

The forces: The forces: 22-- EconomicEconomic

Globalizationpotentially new opportunitiesconsequently much more challenges to the poorit is inescapable -- the urgent need for Government’s strong investment in human resource development, from rural to urban sectors.

The forces: The forces: 22-- EconomicEconomicResources needed by the poor:

production means:–biological resources–land > land reform–water > efficient uses–fertilizers, pesticides > efficient uses–farm equipment > availabilitycapital coupled with skills–agricultural extension and rural bank to work hand-in-hand for the poor.

The forces:The forces:33--TecTechnologicalhnological--EnvironmentalEnvironmentalMuch of past technologies have not been

used by the poor.Many scientists in the name of the poor have developed things for their own curiosity and comfort and for well-to-do farmers rather than for the poor farmers.So far, not much progress in developing crops tolerant to drought, submergence, nutrient deficiencies, major pests (such as brownplanthopper, rice blast,…)

The forces:The forces:33--TecTechnologicalhnological--EnvironmentalEnvironmental

Efficient fertilizer use and well as pesticide use developed but not readily available to poor farmers.Efficient use of water --specially rain water harvesting technique-- not available to poor farmers.Effective measures to control soil erosion still cannot be applied by poor farmersGlobal warming --expected consequencies

The forces:The forces:33--TecTechnologicalhnological--EnvironmentalEnvironmental

Poor farmers cannot integrate complex technologies to manage their natural resources and human resources efficiently while scientists often work separately in their narrow/specialized disciplines.THE RESULT: the vicious circle poverty and degraded environment.

The forces: 4The forces: 4-- SocioSocio--politicalpolitical

The gender issue: lots of rural women not given due attention.In many societies, political will for power consolidation dominates that for food security and rural development.

Sustainable food securitySustainable food security

Definition:

availability in sufficient quantityavailability in appropriate nutrition qualityaccess by individuals or households

Sustainable food securitySustainable food security

Technology1. Improving existing production means:

• genetic resources and seed production (drought)

• crop protection• nutrient management for soil fertility

Genetic ResourcesGenetic ResourcesBuilding Blocks of Crop ImprovementBuilding Blocks of Crop Improvement

Sustainable food securitySustainable food securityTechnology2. Improving agricultural water use

efficiency:- efficient use of irrigation water- technique for rain water harvesting- improving drought tolerant technique

Strategy to Mitigate DroughtStrategy to Mitigate Drought

– Conventional methods– New tools

– remote sending and GIS– spatial weather generators– biotechnology

– Participatory research– Synergy between IGN and INRM

Sustainable food securitySustainable food securityTechnology

3. Sustainable development of new rice land–zonification

4. Appropriate farming systems to suitagroecological conditions and markets

Sustainable food securitySustainable food security

Agricultural extensionthe inter-disciplinary farming systems approach in extension should be adopted to help farmers integrate their resources.agricultural credit should go hand in hand with agricultural extension.

Sustainable food securitySustainable food securityMost Crucial of All: Sincere political will of the Government to mobilize all efforts toward food security and livelihood improvement.Examples:

Malaysia and oil palm.Vietnam’s “doi moi” policy

The Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM)

• An inovative approach toward sustainable agricultural development

• Assist the poor farmers living in poor infrastructure understand and being able to manage their human and natural resources.

• Need a multidisciplinary team to work with local stakeholders.

The INRM procedure Step 1

• Identify local problems and state of resource degradation– Use secondary data (physical and socio-

economic)– Apply comparative advantages– Estimate severity of the problem– What foreseeable options?– What benefit and efficiency?

The INRM procedure Step 2

• Analysis of the data in Step 1. Choice of crop, livestock, fish…and compare options to . Each discipline may proceed to undertake research design to test the appropriateness of the technologies.

The INRM procedure Step 3

• Undertake collective research activities within the selected farming system to verify the results in Step 2 in order to provide local farmers with resource management guidelines.

• Partnership among various stake-holders from policy maker to farmers is utmost essential.

The INRM procedure Step 4

• Formulate policy guidelines to extrapolate the verified results to similar agro-ecosystem.

• Monitoring and evaluating the impacts based on the five criteria of sustainability.

• Refinement, if necessary, will be inputedto the design step.

RiceRootcropsOil palmSugar palmSugar cane

Family

DucksPigsBuffaloesCattle

Biodigester

Ponds(water plants,fish)

excretanutrients

nutrients

residuesby-productsbiomass

food

fuel

food food

excreta

Market&

The integrated farming system

UpUp--scaling andscaling andExtrapolation

Transfer andTransfer andAdaptationExtrapolation Adaptation

Similar environment Different environment

Integrated Research Site

GISGIS GIS +GIS +BioBio--economic Modelingeconomic Modeling

Sustainable Land Use – fresh water irrigated low land ecosystem

• Irrigated HV rice – Tradi. rice – upland crop.

• Irrigated HV rice – Zero tillage rice.• Rice – freshwater shrimp FS.• Rice – fish FS.• Rice – livestock – fish FS.• VAC in home garden.

Sustainable Land Use –Upland rice-based ecosystem

Use appropriate sloping land technology– Choice of hedgerow species to check soil

erosion.– Choice of improved upland rice– Sequence of crop rotation with rice– Choice of animal component– Choice of feeding materials– About fish in the system.

Sustainable Land Use –Upland non-rice ecosystem

• Appropriate sloping land technology• Agroforestry with suitable fruit trees• Forestry with appropriate non timber forest

products (NTFP)

Sustainable Land Use – brackish water rainfed coastal ecosystem

• Direct dry seeded rice – Tradi.rice• Traditional rice – Penaeus shrimp.• Short duration rice – Tiger shrimp.• Mangrove – shrimp.

Sustainable Land Use – fresh water rainfed low land ecosystem

• Direct dry seeded rice – Tradi.rice – cash crop (water melon, pumkin…)

• Rice – pig – sweetpotato.

Sustainable Land Use – fresh water irrigated strong acid

sulphate soil ecosystem• Transplanted rice on shallow drainage

system.• Pineapple/sugar cane/cassava/yam... on

raised beds.• Integration of rice – fish - cash crops –

Eucalyptus and fruit trees on the surrounding dikes.

Land use technique for acid sulphate soil.

Legislation neededLegislation neededTo give incentive to:

efficient use of land and maintain biodiversityenhancing uses of biotechnologyrecognizing the IPR of indigenous knowledgeencouraging comparative advantage of countries while assisting poorer countries in improving their production technology

Legislation neededLegislation needed

Land reform wherever farmers do not own their tilling land.Providing appropriate education and training, esp. the rural folks.Appropriating more budget for agricultural research