A spontaneous answer to a farmer’s question has led to farmer-managed revegetation of a denuded hill and more opportunities for diversifying against climate shocks. It was all about seizing the moment.
In the autumn of 2012, a World Agroforestry Centre Viet Nam team arrived in My Loi village in central Viet Nam. Together with a group of farmers and the leader of the Farmers’ Union, we went for a transect walk across the paddy fields and stopped by the reservoir. In front of us was a brown, dull hill that recently had been cleared. Deep scars of rill and gully erosion indicated that a great share of the topsoil had gone directly into the shallow reservoir.
‘What can we do with this hill?’ asked the leader of the Farmers’ Association
