Vietnam Rice Project

Vietnam Rice Project

Rice is the staple crop in Vietnam and much of East Asia. However, its cultivation is responsible for at least 10 percent of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and 9–19 percent of global methane emissions. Asia’s transition towards climate smart farming requires shift from the entrenched agricultural practices of many of its 350 million smallholder farmers.

Our partner

Our partner, the Vietnam Farmers Union, or VFU, is a quasi-governmental organisation with 9.9 million members representing 85 per cent of all farm households nationally. It is the only national body for agricultural producers in the country, with a strong network in all provinces.

The VFU is spearheading the shift to climate smart cultivation through

behavioural change activities and cultivation practice with rice farmers, and

professional development activities with local government authorities on the myriad benefits of climate friendly cultivation.

Climate Smart Rice

We support climate smart rice cultivation practices that reduce emissions, increase yields for livelihood benefits, and protect natural ecosystems. The large-scale adoption of climate friendly rice practices will directly impact emissions of the climate super pollutants methane and nitrous oxide.

We can have more immediate and effective impact by directly targeting the behaviour of individual farmers.​

Climate smart cultivation involves the adoption of many small changes to farming behaviour including applying mulch, reducing fertilisers, spacing seedlings, using fewer seeds, and optimising water management. This comprehensive rice cultivation approach maximises reductions in short lived climate pollutants, water use, and pollution while increasing and stabilising yield even in bad-weather years, reducing the precarity of farmer livelihoods. Our research has shown that the net outcome from these changes is positive. ​

Impact to date

Farmers and local governments have been extremely receptive to climate smart rice cultivation training. In 2.5 years progress has been made in our target geographies including:

Cultivation / Farmers