Experts search for low-emissions solutions in agriculture

“In recent years, Ninh Thuan has promoted agricultural structuring in adaptation to climate change, and accelerated the application of science and technology in production. As a result, the areas utilizing high-tech agriculture and organic agriculture are increasingly expanding,” said Truong Khac Tri, Deputy Director of Ninh Thuan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

At the seminar themed 'Solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture' recently held by the National Agricultural Extension Center (NAEC) in coordination with Ninh Thuan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, delegates heard the reports of experts from a number of relevant units. The topics include: Agricultural production measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the Institute of Animal Husbandry; The pig raising model in the biosafety, circulating and organic direction from the Vietnam Association of Circular Agriculture (VACA); Sustainable rice cultivation (SRP) from the German Development Cooperation (GIZ); The current situation of circulating and organic agricultural production to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Ninh Thuan province, etc.

From the delegates’ perspective, low-emissions agricultural models in Vietnam have achieved certain results in recent years, but there are still many limitations and challenges. The lack of support policies, financial and resource limitations, incomplete awareness of people and businesses bring about great barriers. The reuse of by-products and waste in agriculture has not been thoroughly implemented, leading to waste and environmental pollution.

In order to solve these problems and further promote sustainable agricultural development, they proposed a number of solutions. The State needs a policy to support financial, land, and resources to develop agriculture models that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, strengthen information dissemination, raise awareness of farmers and transfer new technical and technological advances in agricultural production to lower emissions.

Localities should continue their research, apply and transfer advanced technology to develop agricultural production in a direction that strongly reduces greenhouse gas emissions, encourage information technology to collect, synthesize, analyze, evaluate and propose appropriate processes and regulations for each object, field and region.

Agricultural production needs to be organized in the direction of linking cooperatives, businesses and producers. The goal is to create a circulatory chain with processing and product consumption as the base. Localities should also encourage the application of organic agroproduction processes, circulating agriculture, manage and regenerate resources in a closed cycle, and minimize the amount of waste to reduce the negative impact on the environment, thereby protecting the ecosystem and human health.

Soc Trang is the second province in the Mekong Delta to implement the low-emissions field, piloting the Scheme of sustainable development of 1 million ha of high quality and low emissions rice associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta to 2030 (“The Scheme of 1 million ha of high quality rice” in short).

National Agricultural Extension Center, Agricultural Environment Institute (Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences) organized two training courses on high quality rice cultivation techniques for members of the cooperative participating in the model. Experts from specialized units also provide guidance on the monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of greenhouse gas emissions for the agricultural extension force as well as planting and plant protection staff.

The timely implementation of the Scheme of 1 million ha of high quality rice is a condition for farmers in the Mekong Delta in general and Soc Trang province in particular to approach and apply new techniques in cultivation, contributing to limiting environmental pollution, applying mechanization while reducing production costs and creating conveniences in product consumption links.