Agro-climatic Bulletins Transforming Agriculture in Mekong River Delta, Viet Nam

The Agro-Climatic Bulletin (ACB) approach is actively being replicated both inter- and intra- province in the Mekong River Delta (MRD) under the instruction of Viet Nam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), reaching over 220,000 farmers from 59 districts across 13 MRD provinces.

The Agro-Climatic Bulletin (ACB) approach was initiated and piloted in the MRD by DeRISK SE Asia in 2020. Since October 2022, it has been aligned and improved within the context of the CGIAR research initiative Asian Mega-Deltas by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, in collaboration with Department of Crop Production of MARD (MARD-DCP). The bulletins provide localized seasonal and weather-based recommendations, supporting farmers in planning and crop management, thereby reducing production costs and enhancing efficiency.

Self-mobilization for scaling out the ACB

Intra-province scaling is being accelerated with Tien Giang province replicating the ACB from 1 commune in 2020 to all 11 districts (140 communes) by Winter-Spring 2022-2023. Likewise, An Giang province expanded the ACB from 3 districts (46 communes) in 2022 to 11 districts (149 communes) during the Winter-Spring season 2023-2024. Hau Giang, Soc Trang, and Tra Vinh provinces have also scaled ACB from 3 to 4 districts each.

Mr. Luu Minh Tuan, a technical staff of An Giang sub-Department of Crop Production (sub-DCP), stated: “The ACB approach is integrated into the official annual work plan of An Giang sub-DCP. We are highly committed to expanding the ACB through our current resources while collaborating with the project to improve the services and seeking local governmental funding to sustain the ACB in the long-term”.

Inter-province scaling started in October/November 2023 under the direction of MARD-DCP. From 7 provinces in Summer-Autumn 2022, ACB is now expanding to 6 new provinces with an average of 3 districts per province. Currently, ACB is active in 59 districts across all 13 MRD provinces, reaching over 220,000 farmers. Multiple dissemination channels such as digital media, loudspeakers, printed posters and meetings/training by governmental agencies and social civil organizations have been applied to reach farmers, with a particular focus on Zalo messenger groups (755 groups with nearly 40,000 members; 79% male and 21% female) and Zalo farmer-to-farmer sharing.

Governmental funding to sustain climate services

In a landmark decision, MARD’s recognition of ACB as a technical advance enabled the DCP to secure approval and a budget of 400 million VND annually ($17,000 USD) to expand the initiative across all 13 provinces in the MRD, supporting crop management and national climate adaptation strategy. Since the policy’s issuance, the DCP has approved budget for ACB implementation in 2023 and 2024, totaling 800 million VND or about $34,000 USD over two years.

MARD’s decisions opens opportunities for MRD provinces to officially adopt the ACB approach and access the local government support budget, facilitating the broader dissemination and application of ACB. With this encouragement, 4 out of 13 provinces, Soc Trang, An Giang, Tien Giang, and Long An, have submitted work plans or proposals to the provincial government. As result, Tien Giang and Long An received approval to integrate ACB as part of their annual work plans with budget allocations of 17 million VND and 40 million VND per year, respectively. These efforts underscore the provinces’ commitment to enhancing agricultural resilience and sustainability through ACB. The actions from the 4 provinces provide motivation for other provinces to also develop strategies for long-term ACB implementation.

Further improvement and the way forward

The ACB approach is currently being improved based on the results of a pilot with revised 10-day advisory via Zalo in An Giang, Soc Trang and Hau Giang provinces. This also is a step towards further digitalization. Instead of typing recommendations manually, the specific advisories will be provided as separate ‘cards’ based on templates and pre-identified practices which can be customized by technical working groups (TWGs) to each district. Eventually, it is expected that this will not only ensure consistency and quality of advisories and shorten the time for preparation from TWG staff, but also make the ACB more accessible to farmers, with the ‘cards’ featuring pictures and illustrations along with user-friendly design and colors. By providing recommendations through separate ’practice cards’, advisories can also be tracked over time and venues, providing scope for further analysis and improvement. Supplementary training materials are also being developed and will be integrated as QR codes in the ACB practice cards and tested with users in the coming months.

The further plan is to work more closely with national and provincial partners to integrate and align ACB more systematically into 1 million ha of High-Quality, Low-Emission Rice Program.

The ACB has awarded the merits from Minister of MARD (link)

Within the framework of the Review workshop of the Winter-Spring 2023-2024 season, held in Nam Cat Tien National Park, on April 12, 2024, 3 collectives (including the Alliance, Tien Giang sub-DCP, An Giang sub-DCP) and 10 individuals (provincial governmental technical staff) received certificates of merit from the Minister of MARD for the outstanding achievements in implementing the ACB, contributing to agricultural development. The ACB is an initiative researched and developed by the Alliance in collaboration with the MARD-DCP within the framework of projects to support small farmers in the MRD to adapt to climate change. (Refer: Decision number 5697/QĐ-BNN-TCCB on December 28, 2023 by MARD).

For more information about the “Applying seasonal climate forecasting and innovative insurance solutions to climate risk management in the agriculture sector in Southeast Asia” project, please refer to: Applying seasonal climate forecasting and innovative insurance solutions to climate risk management in the agriculture sector in Southeast Asia | Internationale Klimaschutzinitiative (IKI) (international-climate-initiative.com)