The Mekong Delta, which is considered as the main 'rice bowl and fish basket', is one of seven distinct agro-ecological regions of Vietnam and plays an important role in the economy of the country. Several rice-based farming systems have been developed in various areas of the MD. Rice-shrimp integrated system in brackish areas is a special farming system developed in this delta. It is a profitable system and seems to be environmentally safe on the one hand without the use of pesticides. On the other hand, use of brackish water in this system may result in degradation of land, as some previous studies have found. To understand how this farming system works and to identify the external and internal factors influencing its sustainability, the project 'Sustainability of rice-shrimp farming system in a brackish area in the Mekong delta of Vietnam' was carried out in 1992-1993 by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Cantho and staff of local district Agricultural Office, representing different fields of sciences. The research methodology was the Farming Systems Research approach with modifications towards soft systems thinking, involving farmers into the research process. One main result of this study is an insight into the rice-shrimp farming system. It includes various physical, biological, technological, economical and sociological aspects of rice production prior to integration and in integrated farm, naturally supplied shrimp growing and giant shrimp rearing, upland crop production as well as off-farm and non-farm work of farm households. Sustainability of the system studied is assessed, in comparison with rice monoculture, through various criteria of the three view points productivity, environmental safety and socio-economic effectiveness. In terms of such points of view, rice-shrimp farming system is rated higher than rice monoculture system. Thus the integrated system so far is considered to be more sustainable than the others. / Master of Science (Hons)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/182039 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | Tran, Thanh Be, University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture, School of Agriculture and Rural Development |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Source | THESIS_FAH_ARD_Tran_T.xml |
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