That was shared by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan at the National Conference on mobilizing resources to implement favorable agricultural solutions on March 21, 3.
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| Vietnam's Mekong Delta could be below sea level by the end of the century without basin-wide action. |
Both protect nature and develop the economy
The Mekong Delta contributes more than 90% of the country's total rice exports, is responsible for 90% of Vietnam's rice exports, and makes an important contribution to ensuring global food security.
However, the Mekong Delta is facing many challenges such as unsustainable development, impacts from hydropower in the Mekong River upstream and climate change. In the past half decade, nearly 98% of the delta's natural environment has been transformed into agricultural, fishery and residential areas, with only about 2% remaining as ecosystems. natural wetlands.
Scientists warn that Vietnam's Mekong Delta could be below sea level by the end of the century if actions are not taken throughout the river basin. Continued unsustainable development could cause 90% of the area of this key agricultural economic region of Vietnam to be submerged, accompanied by huge impacts at the national and global levels.
Speaking at the Conference, Minister Le Minh Hoan affirmed that following heaven is not doing nothing, but is a process of adaptation and harmony between humans and nature in a controlled manner according to the laws of nature. to benefit humans and protect the ecosystem.
Mr. Le Minh Hoan emphasized the importance of natural solutions in improving farmers' livelihoods and the resilience of agriculture, mitigating and adapting to climate change through carbon sequestration. of soils, wetlands and forests. At the same time, to conserve nature and biodiversity and sustain the future of food systems, agricultural producers need to be ready to transition to production methods that regenerate and restore nature at the same time. while enhancing efficient and sustainable food systems.
Minister Le Minh Hoan called on international partners to support the Government of Vietnam in providing information, knowledge, experience, and assessment tools for favorable agricultural transformation.
At the same time, coordinate with the Government to review priority investment items in the Mekong Delta, support the collection, evaluation, selection of favorable models/solutions and pilot implementation of favorable models and projects. Congenial projects in agriculture, focusing on solutions that harmoniously combine structural and non-structural structures - adaptation to natural conditions, biodiversity conservation, social security solutions, and management Sustainable management of natural resources associated with digital transformation and policy and institutional reform.
Committed to effectively promoting support resources
Speaking at the conference, Mr. Le Van Su - Vice Chairman of Ca Mau Provincial People's Committee said that Ca Mau province has favorable development models such as growing rice on shrimp farming land, shrimp farming model under forest canopy. , raising shrimp in combination with blood cockles and other types.
According to Mr. Le Van Su, for Thuan Thien production to be successful, there needs to be a policy system that encourages investment, extensive application of science and technology, as well as regional connectivity in sharing water resources and responding to Climate Change.
From a business perspective, Mr. Le Van Quang, General Director of Minh Phu Seafood Group Joint Stock Company, informed that the shrimp-rice model is a unique and favorable form of agricultural cultivation associated with the Mekong Delta and the climate. tropical monsoon climate of this region.
The model's characteristic is the alternation between two freshwater rainy seasons (in the freshwater ecosystem, all pathogens in the saltwater ecosystem are destroyed, so shrimp farming does not get sick, so there is no need to use medicine or shrimp feed, but it is completely free of diseases). completely natural) and the saltwater dry season (the salty ecosystem means rice diseases are eliminated, so growing rice does not require pesticides and fertilizers) create suitable ecological conditions for both rice and shrimp. growth.
According to Mr. Quang, the cycle of rotating through two water seasons, these two opposing habitats create balance and sustainability for the shrimp-rice model. Therefore, if the shrimp-rice model is implemented as currently, it requires almost no capital because farmers only use money to buy rice seeds and shrimp seeds, so the amount of money is very small and the revenue is from 250-500 million VND. /ha/year. To achieve 1-2,5 billion VND/ha/year, it is necessary to cooperate and form large fields, large shrimp-rice fields.
Representative of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) - the accompanying and sponsoring agency of the Conference, Dr. Van Ngoc Thinh, Director of WWF-Viet Nam shared that the Mekong Delta can avoid the risk of being confiscated. narrow and gradually sink by the end of this century if the delta's ecological cycle and the connection from rivers to floodplains are maintained.
The flood season is an important natural process for building and accreting deltas through sediment deposition. Flood season recovery is important for the future of the delta. Floodwaters carry sediment and build up the delta, increasing soil fertility and elevation, increasing resilience to climate change and rising sea levels as well as supporting mangrove regeneration.
WWF and its partners have been piloting a number of favorable solutions in the Mekong Delta region such as rice - fish, rice - shrimp, rice - lotus, shrimp - mangrove, shrimp - rice rotation models... with results. specific economic results, while still preserving biodiversity and the ecological environment.
From the initial results achieved, WWF is ready to share with partners about this model, to expand the scale to protect the environment, conserve biodiversity and protect forest ecology, contributing to sustainable development. sustainable agriculture, ensuring health for people and nature.
Minister Le Minh Hoan said that the Ministry is committed to making the best use of support resources from international partners, advising and proposing to the Government solutions to strengthen policies on attracting aid. Official development (ODA), foreign investment and regulations on receiving and using non-refundable capital harmonize procedures between the recipient and the support party.
