Environmental research

The problem that Vinh Chau has to cope with is soil degradation which has become serious due to negative impacts of droughts and salinization on the yield of major farm production and local people s income. Farmers, mainly Khmer people, are still poor and their farming habits are inadequate (excessive land exploitation/ inappropriate care and restoration for the land quality). They mostly use agricultural chemicals and inorganic fertilisers but seldomly supplement with organic fertilisers, which exhausts soil nutrients. The farmers also lack strategies to share the benefits, leading to a lack of community participation. In addition, scientific and technical application combined with traditional experience has not been promoted. All of the above factors have combined and led to no improvement being made to decreased soil richness caused by droughts and salinization To solve this problem, the project has been developed with the aims to contribute to reducing the production s vulnerability increasing the adaptability capacity to droughts and salinization via quick identification method of soil degradation and application of comprehensive technical solutions to improve soil richness, as well as contributing to effective and sustainable management and exploitation of land, water and plant resources in alternative farming structure in Vinh Chau, Soc Trang. The project also has these specific objectives: (i) to enhance the awareness and capacity to adapt to climate change/climate change damage caused to socio-economic and living conditions of Vinh Chau community, (ii) to build the method of quick on-site identification of soil degradation for local people in Vinh Chau commune and make an evaluation chart for the seriousness extent of droughts and salinization, (iii) to perform models of plant species and farming methods that can suit/adapt to soil affected by droughts and salinization through alternative farming structure with purple onions in Vinh Chau and (iv) to follow up and evaluate the models, summarise learning lessons and recommend suitable farming models to be multiplied in the locality.

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