Impacts of farmers' adaptation to drought and salinity intrusion on rice yield in Vietnam's Mekong Delta
Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies
ISSN: 2044-0839
Article publication date: 15 September 2020
Issue publication date: 12 February 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The Vietnamese Mekong River Delta (VMD) is one of the most affected deltas by climate change in the world. Several studies have investigated factors influencing farmers' climate change adaptation behaviors in the region; however, little is known about the effectiveness of such measures. This paper examines the determinants of adaptation strategies among VMD rice farmers and assesses the impacts of such practices on rice yield.
Design/methodology/approach
Endogenous switching regressions were employed using a survey data of 300 rice-producing households in An Giang and Tra Vinh provinces in 2016.
Findings
The results show that farmers receiving early disaster warnings are more likely to adopt adaptation measures to climate change. If nonadaptors had chosen to respond, their rice yield would have increased by 0.932 tons/ha/season.
Research limitations/implications
The data sample is small and collected from two provinces in the VMD only; therefore, the results may be specific for the study sites. However, future research can adopt the proposed method for other regions.
Originality/value
The study estimates the production impacts of farmers' decisions on whether or not to adapt to extreme climate events. The proposed approach allows for capturing both observed and unobserved behaviors.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank two anonymous reviewers and the editor for their excellent comments and suggestions. The research team also makes a special acknowledgment to Dr. Dang Kim Son at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Professor Christopher Findlay at the University of Adelaide and Professor Jikun Huang at the University of Peking for their valuable advice and technical instructions. We express our gratitude to the colleagues in Vietnam’s Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agricultural and Rural development for conducting the household survey. Finally, the authors would like to thank Dr. Paul Wyrwoll at the Australian National University for helping them edit this manuscript.The research activities are supported by the project “ACIAR Project ADP/2011/039: Assessing Farmer Responses to Climate Change – Adjustment Policy Options,” funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).
Citation
Kim Dang, K., Do, T.H., Le, T.H.L., Le, T.T.H. and Pham, T.D. (2021), "Impacts of farmers' adaptation to drought and salinity intrusion on rice yield in Vietnam's Mekong Delta", Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 27-41. https://doi.org/10.1108/JADEE-08-2019-0132
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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