With the title "In Southeast Asia, Vietnam commits to pursuing the path of ecological agricultural transformation", Le Monde correspondent in Vietnam commented that with the policy of circular economy, reforestation, reducing monoculture..., Son La mountainous region has become one of the pilot provinces of the National Action Plan launched in 2023 to transform the food system.

Ms. Hoang Thi Thoan (middle), from Nam village (Son La, Vietnam) is trained in silage making. Photo: lemonde.fr

Le Monde newspaper reported that innovations in the field of circular economy such as the "feed, silage and compost" cycle are implemented through the Agroecological Transition and Safe Food Systems (Asset) program, in which Cirad ensures scientific coordination with about 15 Vietnamese (research centers and public authorities) and international partners. Implemented from 2020 for 5 years, Asset is also implemented in Laos and Cambodia. The sponsors are the French Development Agency and the European Union.

About 30 villagers from Nam village have volunteered to transform their farming and livestock practices through circular economy. Pascal Lienhard, one of Cirad’s agricultural engineers based in Vietnam and in charge of the program, explained that the goal is both to reinvest in livestock, which has been neglected due to monoculture, and to demonstrate that circular economy helps farmers increase their income. Six other villagers have learned how to improve biodiversity and plant and soil health in coffee plantations through agroforestry – a method that encourages forest restoration. Nam village, which has about a hundred wooden houses in a lush valley, has begun to apply ecological agriculture. This method aims to reconcile agricultural development with the requirements of sustainability and environmental protection.

The transition has been challenging: economic pressures, labor shortages, and climate change have pushed farmers into a cycle of crop intensification. In Nam Village, steep hillsides are covered with coffee bushes, red cherries ripe for harvest. Villagers depend on coffee for 70 percent of their income.

"In principle, you should plant about 3,000 trees per hectare. Here, the density is up to 5,000, even 7,000 trees, so it's very dense. On slopes like this, sometimes erosion washes everything away. And farmers use a lot of fertilizer, which runs directly into the waterways," explains Do Trong Hieu, an agricultural engineer at the Northern Mountainous Agriculture and Forestry Sciences Institute (Nomafsi), one of Asset's partners. The increase in extreme weather events has also led to more frosts that can destroy plantations: every three to five years, instead of once every 10 years as before.

Within the Asset, Nomafsi has created a practice area on a hillside in the village where farmers come to learn about agroforestry. “We plant rows of forage grasses, legumes and different trees to show that it is possible to retain soil and that coffee grows better with shade. Shade also reduces the risk of frost,” the researcher continues. Agricultural engineers also teach farmers how to graft new, more resistant arabica varieties (a popular coffee variety in Son La) onto older trees. This method is faster than replanting from scratch.

Son La province, with 80% of its population engaged in agriculture, changed its model during 2015-2020 by reducing the proportion of monocultures, such as corn used for animal feed, from 169,000 hectares to 70,000 hectares, in favor of fruit trees, increasing from 29,000 to 84,000 hectares. Corn degrades the land and is more expensive than imported genetically modified corn.

Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Son La, Ms. Cam Thi Phong, made it clear that the current focus is on quality. The province is the first to establish a working group on ecological agriculture. Producers are encouraged to diversify their fruit varieties and improve quality by adopting better practices – for example, getting bigger fruit with less chemical fertilizers. The second direction is to encourage traceability. According to Ms. Cam Thi Phong, countries importing Vietnamese fruit are requiring increasingly stringent data.

Therefore, Asset partners were mobilized to launch a “territorial branding” initiative, that is, to enhance the value of Moc Chau district. “The idea is to reconnect consumers with producers, by helping them perceive what an ecological agricultural land is and develop short supply chains through agritourism,” emphasized Estelle Bienabe, economist at Cirad and advisor to the initiative.

The first workshop on November 8 in Moc Chau allowed for the sharing of existing experiences: discovering the perfect tea plantations for Instagram (white pianos among the tea bushes, windmill models and giant hearts made of flowers). And more in-depth proposals: an "agricultural village", an ethnic village with traditional agriculture in the remote area that an NGO introduces to tourists. The researcher believes that it is necessary to orient these still individual initiatives and promote the "Moc Chau" brand throughout Vietnam and possibly abroad.

According to: vov.vn