Wander around the countryside in northwest Vietnam and you will be struck by the evidence of serious erosion, from the bare hilltops to the hillsides scarred with gullies. One of the main culprits is monocropping with maize, rice and cassava. Poor farmers cultivate the annual crops on sloping land for two reasons. First, they require little in the way of investment. Second, they bring annual returns. However, monocropping leads to loss of fertility, which in turn leads to reduced productivity and lower incomes.

The Agroforestry for Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers in Northwest Vietnam (AFLI) project, which is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), is helping to address the problem by promoting agroforestry. This is providing farmers with a diverse source of income, and at the same time rehabilitating degraded land.

Farmers were initially reluctant to shift from monocropping to agroforestry, largely because they feared that their incomes would decline while they waited for their trees to mature. However, just two years after trial plots had been established, farmers realized that their incomes were increasing and their land was in better health.

The introduction of trees and the creation of grass strips significantly reduced soil erosion. For example, farmers in Con Noi commune dramatically reduced soil erosion after adopting a complex agroforestry system with teak, plum, coffee, maize and fodder grass. Just a short distance away, at a control site, erosion was much higher. Soil erosion was measured at 9 tonnes per hectare per year under a different agroforestry system in Tuan Giao commune. This combined acacia, longan, coffee, soy bean, peanut and fodder grass. This compares with some 80 tonnes per hectare per year on land devoted to the monocropping of maize.

Incomes have risen too. “When I used to plant maize and rice, I earned about VND 10 million [US$465] per hectare per year,” said one farmer. “Next year I expect to earn up to VND 50 million [US$2315] per hectare.” By then, the indigenous son tra trees which he has planted will be producing significant quantities of fruit.

The agroforestry systems established by the AFLI project are still in their infancy in northwest Vietnam, so researchers have yet to measure their full impact. Nevertheless, the project has convinced many farming communities of the importance of including trees in their cropping systems.

Tea and Aquilaria system in Ha Tinh

Vietnam needs a treedomestication strategy

In 2004, the World Agroforestry Centre published a brief titled, Call for a Tree Domestication Strategy in Vietnam. Co-authored by Delia Catacutan, who manages the World Agroforestry Centre’s programme in Vietnam, the policy brief argues that a national domestication strategy could help to improve tree quality and the availability of high quality seeds and seedlings.

Over the past 25 years, considerable effort has been put into restoring degraded forests in Vietnam. However, the quality of the forests is often poor and the supply of high quality seeds and seedling is limited. There are various policies, ordinances, decrees and regulations affecting domestication, but there is a complete lack of coordination and a tendency to favour exotic species such as eucalyptus over indigenous species.

The policy brief recommends a range of actions, the first of which is to establish a national strategy for tree domestication. This would prioritize the domestication of indigenous species. The policy brief also suggests that field-based seed banks should be established in each of the country’s agroecological zones. The national strategy would guide efforts to conserve priority species. The authors of the policy brief argue that the strategy would need to establish criteria for selecting priority species, reflecting their economic importance and suitability for domestication on farms and plantations.

Reference
Catacutan DC, Phi HH, Vu TP, Dam VB, Muchugi A, Hoang TL. 2014. Call for a tree domestication strategy in Vietnam. Hanoi: World Agroforestry Centre Vietnam