Water saving benefits An Giang and beyond

For some time now, An Giang has been Vietnam’s top province in terms of rice production. It helps that the province’s leaders are progressive and open-minded. They took the initiative of seeking the assistance of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to stay in synch with the latest rice production technologies.

On 17-21 November 2008, 70 people from different districts and provinces underwent a training of trainers in An Giang. One of the lecturers was Dr. To Phuc Tuong, an IRRI scientist. Dr. Tuong explained the principles of water saving and how to use alternate wetting and drying (AWD) technology. AWD allows farmers to produce rice using less water, potentially saving money.

Several issues were raised in relation to AWD. One major concern was that, in many cases, farmers do not own a water pump. Instead, they have to pay a pump owner for water. But, in those parts, instead of farmers paying for the gasoline needed to pump water, farmers are charged a flat rate per hectare, regardless of how much water they actually use. In these cases, only the pump owner benefits from water saving. To encourage farmers to adopt AWD, farmers must negotiate with pump owners to share the benefits of water saving.

The participants also visited some farmers who have adopted AWD. The farmer-adopters expressed their satisfaction with AWD, citing the many kinds of savings they enjoyed because of the technology. AWD also decreases lodging in direct-seeded rice, further increasing the yield.

Several Vietnamese water management specialists also attended the training, so they can serve as resource persons when the need arises in the future.

The participants made work plans to implement the technologies they learned in their own districts and provinces. They targeted so many hectares for these technologies per year. This way, the benefits of An Giang’s success should spread to other rice-producing areas.