Farmers are getting ready for climate change

Son La is a poor and underdeveloped province in North-western Vietnam, bordering Laos and 350km away from Hanoi. It has a population of 1.696 million, of which 87% live in rural areas and 94% are ethnic minorities. Son La has a mountainous landscape with over 87% of land on steep slopes of at least 25 degrees. Son La has a tropical monsoon mountainous climate, with cold dry winters and hot rainy summers. The geography and climate of the region makes it highly vulnerable to climate change and prone to natural disasters such as droughts, floods and frosts.

Mr. Cường’s in front of his rice field. He shared
some of his challenges from climate change
  impacts, and his methods for rice production. 

Son La’s people rely on agriculture for their livelihoods with 58% of land used for agriculture or forestry. Rice is the main food crop, but farmers generally do not produce enough rice for their own consumption, or to sell at nearby markets. To generate a supplementary income, farmers grow corn, coffee and plums or raise chickens and pigs. Low incomes and income instability due high reliance on agriculture and weather reinforce high poverty rates which are equal to 40–58% at the project sites.

Farming communities are poor and lack technical knowledge and methods to sustainably manage the land and the biodiversity. It leads them to not have enough food between the rice seasons and it reinforces barriers to development.

Read the Medium story by Thuân Sarzynski - “Farmers are getting ready for climate change.”