Vietnam: Training course held on testing stress-tolerant rice in coastal areas of the Mekong Delta

A 5-day training workshop, Technology updates on stress tolerant rice testing in coastal areas of the Mekong Delta, was held on 25-29 June 2012 at the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) in Bac Lieu, South Vietnam.

Sea-level rise, which results in floods and salt-water intrusion, is a huge concern in the coastal areas of the Mekong Delta, especially as it impacts on rice production. The GIZ Bac Lieu Project and the CLUES Project are the working together to aid and improve rice production in Bac Lieu Province. 

One area of this technical collaboration is enhancing the technical capability of the local agricultural workforce in the affected province and districts on the use of recent technologies for submergence- and salinity-prone areas. Specifically, the collaboration is introducing stress-tolerant varieties and associated production management practices to the agricultural staff for disseminating in these areas.

The workshop was attended by 44 participants from DARD-Bac Lieu, Can Tho University (CTU), and the Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute (CLRRI). It included a field practicum on PVS preference analysis, held at Truong Xuan in Can Tho, and a visit to CLRRI laboratory facilities and experimental farms.

Topics discussed were: (1) best management practices in saline- and submergence-prone environments, (2) rice production components in stress-prone environments (i.e variety and seed selection, land preparation and crop establishment, nutrient management, integrated pest management, and water management), (3) stress tolerant rice screening techniques and variety development, (4) participatory varietal selection, information requirements and data management, (5) seed system, distribution and outscaling, and (6) upland crop integration in paddy fields.

As an output of the course, the participants prepared an action plan for saline- and submergence-prone rice food production systems that they can implement the following cropping season and for the next 2 years (2013-14).

Resource persons were from IRRI, CTU, CLRRI, and Institute of Agricultural Sciences for South Vietnam—all partner institutions of the CLUES Project.

Romeo Labios (consultant, CLUES Project), Andres Godwin Sajise (IRRI-PBGB), and Ngo Dang Phong (postdoctoral fellow and facilitator, CLUES Project) were the resource speakers from IRRI.