PV: Sir! Creating carbon credits is considered a relatively new concept not only in Nghe An but also in the whole country. Could you share some basic information about this issue?
Mr. Phung Thanh Vinh: Carbon credits are a valuable resource for future agricultural production but have not been exploited.
The Prime Minister's approval of the 1 million hectare emission-reducing rice project in the Mekong Delta is one of the first steps to implement this issue in Vietnam. This is considered a model of emission-reducing rice production that Vietnam is the first country to implement in the world, in the face of challenges related to climate change and food security. If successful, it will attract the attention and support of international partners in terms of financial resources, science and technology in development and replication. We will also sell carbon credits through the production of high-quality rice, reducing production costs, increasing profits as well as the professionalism of farmers.
When carbon certification is achieved, the brand and value of Vietnamese rice in the world market will increase. Production meets both food security needs and climate change adaptation.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, through working with the World Bank, it is possible that carbon credits can be paid for rice areas implementing VnSAT to ensure production reduces greenhouse gas emissions in 2024. Currently, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is also promoting the early launch of the Vietnamese carbon credit market next year and can officially participate in the world carbon credit trading floor in the following years.
PV: Rice production is an important industry, however, the current production method still has many shortcomings. What problems will the effort to create carbon credits in rice production solve, sir?
Mr. Phung Thanh Vinh: With a rice growing area of over 180,000 hectares, Nghe An has a total food output of around 1.1 million tons/year, not only ensuring food security but also having surplus, bringing income to farmers.
However, agricultural production is also a sector that contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, promoting global warming, in which rice production accounts for more than 50% of greenhouse gas emissions.
The cause of this situation is due to old production habits, using water, fertilizers and pesticides indiscriminately and unscientifically. With the flooding method, water is continuously maintained in the field from before planting until about 2 weeks after flowering; it not only wastes irrigation water and pumping costs, but also emits a lot of methane CH4, contributing significantly to greenhouse gas effects.
Methane emission reduction activities are closely related to water regulation techniques in rice fields, specifically the “alternate wetting and drying” technique, also known as “Nong loi dai”, which not only helps reduce water usage but also creates conditions for increasing farmers’ income. Methane emissions reduced through this technique are the basis for issuing carbon credits, thereby directly benefiting farmers through the credits they achieve.
This irrigation method has been researched and applied in many places around the world, including Vietnam, helping to save 20-50% of water, labor and irrigation costs while rice plants still grow well, especially reducing methane emissions by 20-48%, reducing the problem of greenhouse effect and climate change. By properly following technical measures and implementing carbon credit creation in rice production, farmers not only have the opportunity to increase their income through selling carbon credits, but also actively contribute to mitigating climate change, ensuring the conservation of water resources.
PV: So what is Nghe An's direction in this issue, sir?
Mr. Phung Thanh Vinh: At the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), Vietnam made a strong commitment to the international community to bring net emissions to “zero” by 2050. The Prime Minister has issued many strategies on climate change, green growth, sustainable agricultural and rural development, etc. Continue to provide detailed regulations on greenhouse gas emission reduction, ozone layer protection, as well as concretize the carbon credit market. The carbon credit trading floor will be established and is expected to be tested from 2025. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also encourages the application of water-saving irrigation measures, such as alternating flooding and drying to reduce irrigation water and greenhouse gas emissions.
With a rice production area of 180,000 ha/year, Nghe An has great potential for emission reduction, with a potential reduction of 1.44 million t-CO2e. The cooperative project to issue carbon credits in rice production will begin a pilot implementation from the spring crop of 2024. It is expected that in the first season, the project will be implemented on an area of nearly 6,000 ha of rice in the districts of Nam Dan, Nghi Loc, Hung Nguyen, Do Luong, Dien Chau..., in the irrigation areas of the North Irrigation and South Irrigation, with about 24,000 households participating.
This is the first project implemented in Nghe An as well as Vietnam to obtain carbon credits in rice cultivation, with the support of JICA, so there are many favorable conditions for implementation. Issues related to technology, infrastructure, etc. will be resolved in each phase of the project. The project is in line with the UN's sustainable development goals, actively contributing to climate change mitigation, saving water resources; implemented through consulting from a unit introduced by JICA Vietnam.
To produce rice in the direction of meeting the requirements of creating carbon credits, it is necessary to meet many criteria and requirements from the stage of organizing and implementing the production season and farming measures. Up to now, Nghe An has implemented many smart farming measures such as applying SRI, with an area of 10,000 - 12,000 hectares per crop. This is considered a favorable premise for applying the carbon credit creation process in rice production. It is expected that after success on rice, it will be expanded to a number of other crops with large areas and potential such as corn, sugarcane, tea... and in cattle breeding.
However, this is still a very new direction, even the management agencies and local authorities have not really understood it, let alone farmers. Therefore, promoting propaganda and dissemination is the first thing to do. At the same time, the government and specialized agencies must really coordinate, plan the area, on that basis, put forward standard production processes to direct implementation, creating pressure for production organization to meet requirements.
PV: Thank you!
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