System of Rice Intensification

VIETNAM

Summary of SRI in Vietnam	Activity Archives ('03-'09)	Videos
Progress / Activities ('10-'12)	Reports and Articles	Presentations
	SRI Websites - Vietnam	Photo Collections

Summary

Dr. Nguyen Tat Canh, a professor at Hanoi Agricultural University, began working with SRI methods in 2002, having learned about it at a workshop organized by the Institute for Development Enterprise (IDE). He focused on districts that have high rates of poverty in the middle of Vietnam (Quang Tri, Quang Nam, Thu Thien Hue, Thanh Hoa). Vietnam's Plant Protection Department (PPD) began conducting SRI training through Farmer Field Schools the next year as part of its FAO-funded integrated pest management (IPM) program. That same year, Dr. Hoang Van Phu at Thai Nguyen University began working on SRI after learning about it from Klaus Prinz in Thailand. Phu reported on results of replicated factorial trials in 2006, with SRI yields of 8.8 t/ha and a calculated reduction of 62% in water use and 85% in seed rate.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued a formal decision October 15, 2007, acknowledging SRI as "a technical advance," and directing government agencies to "guide and disseminate " this innovation. In 2007, PPD with support from Oxfam America launched an SRI dissemination effort in Ha Tay province, and use of SRI methods went from 3,000 ha that year to 33,000 ha the next year. In 2008, there was expansion into other provinces, and in 2009,  PPD with support from Oxfam America and Oxfam Quebec, assisted by the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD), began a SRI project in 12 communes in six provinces: Ha Tay, Yen Bai, Phu Tho, Thai Nguyen, Nghe An, and Ha Tinh.

In early 2009, it was estimated that SRI was being fully applied in 14 provinces in northern and central Vietnam (see list in 2009 Gorman report), though evaluations have been undertaken in at least 17 provinces by researchers from Thai Nguyen University, Hanoi Agricultural University, the IPM program, and several other government agencies and NGOs. According to reports at a 2010 National SRI Workshop, in 2009, 440,833 farmers in 21 provinces used SRI methods on 232,365 ha (85,422 in the winter-spring season, and 146,943 in the summer season (see Dung ppt). Workshop reports noted that 20% of the farmers were using the full set of SRI practices, and the rest were using most if not all, but still getting benefits of higher yields with lower cost and less water usage. The application of SRI has helped farmers earn 1.8-3.5 million VND ($100-200) more per hectare.

In an October 2011 event, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported that there are now over a million farmers (1,070,384, about 70 percent of them women) applying SRI methods on 185,065 hectares (457,110 acres). SRI farmers now represent about 10% of all rice growers in Vietnam.

Progress and Activities

2012 Updates

• The English version of the of the SRI publication distributed at the 2011 GROW Campaign event at Thai Nguyen University is now available on the SRI website. The 28 page booklet, Simple but effective - SRI as an agricultural innovation, was compiled to celebrate the adoption of SRI by over a million small-scale farmers in Vietnam. The publication is a collaborative effort of Mr. Ngo Tien Dzung, Agriculture Ministry's Plant Protection Department, farmers (PPSD) from six provinces (Ha Noi, Yen Bai, Phu Tho, Thai Nguyen, Nghe An, Ha Tinh), Oxfam, Hanoi University of Agriculture and several other groups. (See also the Vietnamese version Đơn giản và Hiệu quả - SRI và Nông nghiệp sáng tạo, which was made available on the web earlier in 2012.)

2011 Updates

• SRI Adopters in Vietnam Reach 1 Million Mark

  In an October 18 event at Thai Nguyen University of Thai Nguyen province, Vietnam celebrated the adoption of SRI by over a million small-scale farmers. (See articles in the Vietnam Business Forum, and the People's Army Newspaper Online). The event, which is part of Oxfam's global GROW campaign, was jointed organized by Agriculture Ministry's Plant Protection Department, University of Agriculture, Thai Nguyen University, Centre for Community Development Viet Hung and Oxfam. A Vietnamese language publication on SRI (Đơn giản và Hiệu quả - SRI và Nông nghiệp sáng tạo (Simple but effective - SRI as an agricultural innovation) was distributed and is now online.

• As explained in an Oxfam America article, rice production in Vietnam reportedly can increase by as much as 500 kg/ha (or about $130) by using SRI methods rather than traditional rice production techniques. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported that there are now 1,070,384 farmers —about 70 percent of whom are women— applying SRI on 185,065 hectares (457,110 acres). The number of farmers using SRI practices in Vietnam has tripled since 2009. SRI farmers now represent about 10% of all rice growers in Vietnam, which is the second largest rice exporter and accounts for one fifth of global rice supply. “It’s a great achievement for small farmers because they are the ones leading the SRI innovation,” said Ngo Tien Dung of the Agriculture Ministry's Plant Protection Department. “We need to build momentum for SRI extension over the coming years. It's a smart investment needed to lift people out of poverty and to boost the national economy.”

2010

• SRI Represented at 3rd International Rice Congress and Associated SRI Events in Hanoi during November 2010

  The 3rd International Rice Congress, held at the Hanoi Convention Center on November 8-12, 2010, included a number of oral presentations and posters about SRI. In addition, Norman Uphoff discussed SRI while participating in the opening plenary panel. On November 8, Oxfam America and the Plant Protection Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) co-sponsored a pre-conference 'SRI Day' at the Hanoi Hotel. The presentations from this one-day event, the International Conference to Exchange Experience in Adoption and Adaptation of the System of Rice Intensification, are available on the SRI-Rice website. Mr. Ngo Tien Dung, Deputy Director General of the Plant Protection Department (PPD), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), made a presentation on SRI Application in Vietnam.

  Oxfam America and MARD also sponsored a field trip the day after the close of the Congress to meet with SRI Farmers in the commune of Mr. Le Thach, President of Dai Nghia Cooperative in Ha Noi Province. Le Thach recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in the October 20 event Farmers Leading the Way from Crisis to Resilience, which was sponsored by Oxfam, WWF and Africare.

• ICC Project on SRI Wins Vietnam Innovation Day Award

  Dr. Hoang Van Phu, director of the International Cooperation Center (ICC) at Thai Nguyen University, reports that ICC is among the winners of the 2010 Vietnam Innovation Day for its project entitled "Improvement of people's awareness on environment protection by application of system of rice intensification - SRI." The project, one of 262 entries, will begin in June 2010 and end in February 2011. ICC is preparing a new training project that will be submitted the to Belgium Development Agency (BTC Vietnam) with the proposed title "Training course of Improvement of People's awareness on environment protection by application of system of rice intensification - SRI."

• SRI Workshop Reports on Use of SRI Methods in 21 Northern Provinces in Vietnam

  A National Workshop on Consolidation of SRI Experiences, Lessons and Networking took place in Hanoi, attracting nearly 100 participants from Vietnam and Cambodia. Representatives of government, NGO, university and farmer organizations working with the System of Rice Intensification in Vietnam gathered on January 21 for a two-day exchange, co-organized by the Plant Protection Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and Oxfam America (workshop presentations are available from an article on the SRI in Vietnam website).

  Ngo Tien Dung, head of the National IPM Program of the Plant Protection Department, and Brian Lund, regional director for Oxfam's East Asia program, reported on the progress of a SRI programme that is being jointly carried out in Vietnam with the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development, faculty at the Hanoi Agriculture University, and Oxfam Quebec. Dung reported that farmers in 21 northern provinces had adopted SRI methods, wholly or in part, on 10% of the total rice growing area. MARD data in Dung's PowerPoint presentation showed that in 2009, 440,833 farmers used SRI methods on 232,365 ha. It was reported that 20% of the farmers were using the full set of SRI practices, and the rest were using most if not all, but still getting benefits of higher yields with lower cost and less water usage.

  Application of SRI practices is calculated to have helped rice farmers earn 1.8-3.5 million VND ($100-200) more per ha while requiring less water. He cited benefits from SRI management in addition to higher yields: greater income as costs are reduced, reduction in soil and water pollution by agrochemicals, improved rice quality, and reduced risk of crop loss or failure due to storm damage or pests and diseases. Direct-seeding, in place of transplanting, is being experimented with in several provinces to retain all or most of the productivity benefits of SRI methods while reducing labor requirements.

  A farmer's perspective can be found in an article on the SRI Vietnam website about Mr. Le Ngoc Thach from the Dai Nghia Cooperative, who was among the farmers who applied SRI the earliest in Ha Tay Province. All 750 family members of the cooperative now plant theri 175 hectares with SRI and after four seasons of success.

2003-2009 activities - see Vietnam Archives

Reports, Articles and Related Information

• Mkondiwa, Maxwell. 2012. Growing more rice with less water in a changing climate. YPARD (Young Professional's platform for Agriculture Development) website. April 26. [Mkondiwa's reporting from the 6th Community Based Adaptation Conference in Vietnam]
• Meadu, Vanessa. 2012. Growing more rice with less water in a changing climate. Climate Change: Agriculture and Food Security website. April 22.
• 2012. Chapter I. To Ha TÄ©nh for SRI Cross-learning. SRI in Vietnam blog/website. March 20. [See also Vietnamese version]
• Fisher, Danny. 2012. International Women's Day 2012: Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi on addressing the often "subordinate status of girls and women." Buddhadharma Quarterly, March 8. [Buddhist Global Relief partners with Oxfam on SRI projects in Cambodia and Vietnam]
• Seang, Soleak. 2011. More than 1 million growers are now embracing innovative approaches to producing more rice. Oxfam America website. October 6.
• Ngô Tiến Dũng, et al. 2011. Simple and Effective - SRI and Agriculture Innovation. System of Rice Intensification website. (28p., 1.10MB pdf) (see also Vietnamese version) [This publication, put out to celebrate the adoption of SRI by over a million smallscale farmers in Vietnam, is a collaborative effort of government agencies/programs (PPD), farmers (PPSD) from 6 provinces, Oxfam, Hanoi University of Agriculture and several other groups.]
• Ngô Tiến Dũng, et al. 2011. Đơn giản và Hiệu quả - SRI và Nông nghiệp sáng tạo (Simple but effective - SRI as an agricultural innovation). System of Rice Intensification website.(15p., 1.20MB pdf) (see also English version). [This Vietnamese publication is a collaborative effort of government agencies/programs (PPD) and farmers (PPSD) from 6 provinces, Oxfam Hanoi University of Agriculture and several other groups.]
  
• Di, Thien. 2011. SRI Helps Vietnam’s Small-scale Farmers Increase Production. Vietnam Business Forum, October 20.
• Nguyen, Thu. 2011. Over 1 million Vietnamese farmers benefits from SRI, People's Army Newspaper Online, October 18.
• Logan, Emily. 2011. In the Fight Against Hunger, Women Lead the Way. Care2 blog. March 3.
• Seang, Soleak. 2010. Bold commitment to innovation. Oxfam America website. September 29.
• 2010. Ứng dụng hệ thống canh tác lúa bảo vệ môi trường. Vietnamnet.com. May 28.
• 2010. National SRI Network Workshop. SRI in Vietnam blog. March 1.
• 2010. Mở rộng hệ thống canh tác lúa SRI tại Việt Nam. Vietnam blog. January 21. [Vietnamese language newsblog article]
• 2009. The System of Rice Intensification (SRI). SRI Vietnam website. May 12. (1.8MB) [Poster providing information about a collaborative SRI initiative by Oxfam Quebec, the Plant Protection Department (PPD), and the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD) with funding from Oxfam America.]
• 2009. Responding to climate change in Viet Nam: Opportunities for improving gender equality. Oxfam UK website. (63p. pdf) [A policy discussion paper by UN-Viet Nam Programme Coordination Group on Gender and Oxfam Viet Nam]
• Gorman, Tim. 2009. SRI in Vietnam: An Update. SRI Vietnam website. (4p. pdf). [Report prepared on behalf of: Oxfam, PPD, and SRD]
• 2009. Oxfam Quebec (System of Rice Intensification – Advancing small rice farmers in Vietnam). Education for Sustainable Development in Vietnam blog. January 21.
• Dung, N.T. and L.N. Minh. 2008. System of Rice Intensification - Advancing Small Farmers in Mekong Region. Plant Protection Department (PPD/MARD, Govt. of Vietnam) and Oxfam America. System of Rice Intensification website. (7p., 242KB pdf)
• Vietnam National IPM Program. 2007. Demonstration and dissemination of community-based SRI utilization model in Ha Tay Province, Vietnam. Oxfam America East Asia Regional Office. System of Rice Intensification website. September. (28p., 539KB pdf) [Report by the Vietnam National IPM Program (Plant Protection Sub Department) on the demonstration and dissemination of community-based SRI utilization model in Ha Tay Province, Vietnam, 2007]
• Uphoff, Norman. 2007. Trip Report from Visit to Vietnam, July 7-14, 2007, Reviewing SRI Progress. System of Rice Intensification website. July 7-14. (20p., 289KB pdf) [Trip report for the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development] Trip report for the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development. Ithaca, NY. 20 p.
• Dung, Ngo Tien. 2006. SRI Application in Rice Production in Northern Ecological Areas of Vietnam. System of Rice Intensification website.(12p., 709KB pdf) [Vietnam National IPM Program updates through 2006].
• Uphoff, Norman. 2006. Report on a visit to Vietnam to review SRI progress. System of Rice Intensification website. January 3-12. (16p., 702KB pdf). [Trip report for the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development]

Websites

• The SRI Vietnam website provides information on SRI in general and the activities of a collaborative SRI initiative by Oxfam Quebec, the Plant Protection Department (PPD), and the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD) with funding from Oxfam America. (see also the SRD website's SRI program page).
• The System of Rice Intensification (CaiRan) website documents the activities of the NGO Vietnam France Échanges to introduce SRI to the community in Cai Ran, Vietnam. The site is translated into French, English and Vietnam.

Videos

• 2011 (April 13). Our Rice Tomorrow. Produced by Manon Aubel and Thanh Thanh Phan. 6:15 min. baklavaprod channel, YouTube. [Contribution to a video contest organized by the Goethe Institute in Hanoi about the impact of climate change on Vietnamese people. The video features SRI.]
• 2011 (April 7). Cambodge: Le Riz du lLespoir - Systéme de Riziculture Intensive. Produced by Corinne Lalo. 14:59 min. Uploaded by vfeprojetsri on YouTube. [Voiceover and subtitles in Vietnamese; originally produced in French in 2008 to describe SRI in Cambodia]
• 2011 (April 7). Dự án SRI: Kết quả thí nghiệm 1 4:09 min. Uploaded by vfeprojetsri on YouTube. [Đây là kết quả của thí nghiệm 1 của dự án SRI được tổ chức Vietnam France Echange thực hiện ở Cái Rắn. Thí nghiệm này bao gồm bước thực nghiệm đầu tiên của dự án SRI nhằm cải thiện sản lượng lúa gạo của những người nông dân trong xã và đảm bảo an ninh lương thực.]
• 2011 (April 4). Projet SRI - VFE . Produced by Florent Cottin, Giang Thuy Minh and Caroline Guidemann. 4:22 min. Uploaded by vfeprojetsri on YouTube. [French language video by the NGO Vietnam France Echange about results of SRI trials in Cai Ran]
• 2008 (Nov. 13). Vietnamese language video about SRI in Vietnam. (30.05 minutes). Available from the SRI Vietnam website, which provides information about a collaborative SRI initiative by Oxfam Quebec, the Plant Protection Department (PPD), and the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD) with funding from Oxfam America

PowerPoint Presentations

(Notes: Click here to see many of the SRI Vietnam presentations on slidehare.net. Transcripts are at the bottom of each presentation. There is a "full screen" button at the lower right corner of the presentation to enlarge the presentation. If you have trouble viewing the slideshow, make sure you have Flash installed and JavaScript enabled. Those with asterisk* are not available on the SRS slideshare collection)

• 2010. SRI application in Vietnam
  - PowerPoint presentation by Ngo Tien Dung, head of the National IPM program for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), given at the Pre-Congress SRI Day, convened in Hanoi, Vietnam, November 8, 2010. 34 slides.
• 2010. Ứng dụng Hệ thống canh tác lúa cải tiến (SRI) ở Việt Nam
  PowerPoint presentation by Ngo Tien Dung, head of the National IPM program for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), and volunteer coordinator for the National SRI Working Group, given at a national SRI workshop convened in Hanoi, January 21-22, 2010
• 2009. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in the Northern Upland Region of Vietnam
  - PowerPoint presentation by Hoang Van Phu, Thai Nguyen University, Vietnam at the Knowledge Exchange on SRI: Producing More with Less Water, a SE Asia Regional SRI Workshop held at the Asian Institute for Technology, Bangkok. 19 slides
• 2009. Center for Sustainable and Rural Development and the System of Rice Intensification in Phu Tho and Thai Nguyen
  - PowerPoint presentation at the Knowledge Exchange on SRI: Producing More with Less Water, a SE Asia Regional SRI Workshop held at the Asian Institute for Technology, Bangkok. 18 slides
• 2009. Less for More SRI and Small Farmers' Livelihood Improvement in GMS
  - PowerPoint presentation by Le Minh, RPO-Oxfam America, East Asia Regional Office at the Knowledge Exchange on SRI: Producing More with Less Water, a SE Asia Regional SRI Workshop held at the Asian Institute for Technology, Bangkok. 10 slides
• 2009. SRI in Vietnam: Comparison with Conventional Methods Note: All data from 2008 Summer/Fall Season.
  - PowerPoint presentation available on slideshare.net from Tim Gorman. 9 slides.
• *2009. System of Rice Intensification: Advancing Small Farmers in Mekong Region
  - PowerPoint presentation available on slideshare.net from Tim Gorman.
• *2009. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in Vietnam
  - PowerPoint presentation by Mr. Dung at the Knowledge Exchange on SRI: Producing More with Less Water, a SE Asia Regional SRI Workshop held at the Asian Institute for Technology, Bangkok. 8 slides.
• 2008. SRI Update on Vietnam Initiative
  - PowerPoint presentation by Le Thi Nguyet Minh and Andre Dorr, Oxfam America, Hanoi. 13 slides.
• 2008. SRI Implemented Activities and Outcome in Tan Lac District, Hoa Binh Province
  - PowerPoint presentation, Japan International Volunteer Center. 24 slides.
• 2008. SRI: Based Livelihood Initiative in the Mekong
  - PowerPoint presentation by Le Nguyet Minh, Oxfam America, Hai Duong . 15 slides.
• 2006. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in the Northern Upland Region of Vietnam: Problems and Perspectives
  - PowerPoint presentation by Hoang Van Phu, Thai Nguyen University, Vietnam . 14 slides.

Photo Collections

• The SRI-Rice Vietnam Photo Collection contains pictures obtained from Norman Uphoff and others. If you have Flash installed you can view this collection as a slideshow embedded in the Vietnam summary at the top of the page.
• Photos are also available on the SRI - Vietnam website's Flickr photostream (originating from the http://vietnamsri.wordpress.com/ website)