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Validated Technologies
for Rice-Based Systems of the
Northern Mountainous Region, Vietnam
Managing Rice Landscapes in the Marginal
Uplands for Household Food Security
and Environmental Sustainability
(IFAD TAG 706)
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Introduction
IFAD Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) No. 706 titled Managing Rice
Landscapes in the Marginal Uplands for Household Food Security and
Environmental Sustainability is an IRRI‐led research project implemented
in collaboration with national research organizations in four countries—
India, Lao PDR, Nepal, and Vietnam. One of the objectives of the project
is to test and validate upland agricultural technologies—lowland paddy
rice and upland rice in particular—appropriate for the poor and
marginal farmers living in uplands to improve their food security.
In congruence with the objective, this publication is a country brief on
agricultural technologies developed by TAG 706 with an aim to
communicate information on upland agricultural technology to
extension organizations and IFAD investment projects working in the
Northern Mountainous Region (NMR) of Vietnam. This brief reports on
TAG 706‐validated rice‐system‐based agricultural technologies at its two
field research sites in Van Chan District, which can be applied or
recommended to farmers living in the NMR of Vietnam.
General background information
The mountains and hills of Vietnam make up more than two‐thirds of
the total land area. The NMR forms the largest upland environment in
Vietnam. It accounts for 35% of the total land area. Although referred to
as the Northern Mountainous Region, numerous flat intermountain
basins and narrow river valleys with water sources are found, which
provide the basis for irrigated (fully or partially) agriculture. Also,
bunded terraces are constructed on hill slopes for growing wetland rice.
It is estimated that about 94% of the land area in the NMR is sloping
land, and that more than 50% of the uplands have slopes higher than 20
degrees.
Rice is the primary staple crop in the NMR and the country. Upland
farmers grow rice in the intermountain basins, river valleys, and bunded
terraces as wetland/lowland paddy rice, and on the sloping uplands as
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direct‐seeded upland rice. The upland environment provides a range of
agroecological conditions that allow farmers to grow maize, millets,
yams, beans, and cassava, among other crops.
The Northern Mountainous Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute
(NOMAFSI) located in Phu Tho Town and Thai Nguyen University of
Economics and Business Administration (TUEBA) located in Thai
Nguyen City are the two Vietnamese implementing organizations under
the IFAD TAG 706. NOMAFSI—mandated to cover the agricultural
research needs of the NMR of Vietnam—is responsible for the crop and
crop management research component, and TUEBA is responsible for
the socioeconomic research component.
The project follows a landscape management and farmer participatory
approach for testing and generating technologies for the northern
uplands. The project tests and validates agricultural technologies in
farmers’ fields with farmer participation in selected villages chosen as
field research sites. The two collaborating organizations jointly operate two
representative field research sites, Nam Bung and Suoi Giang communes
in Van Chan District of Yen Bai Province, to test and validate upland
agricultural technologies for the larger NMR.
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The research sites represent the major agroecological domains found in
the northern upland provinces. Nam Bung (654 m) represents lower hill
conditions and Suoi Giang (948 m) represents middle hill conditions,
where the majority of the population and agriculture are concentrated.
Rice is the dominant crop grown by more than 95% of the households,
accounting for about 80–90% of the total cropped area. Although
transplanted paddy rice, grown in the valleys and terraces, is dominant
at lower elevations, direct‐seeded upland rice is dominant at higher
elevations.
Sample household surveys at the two sites suggest that the village
economy is overwhelmingly agricultural—about 94% of the households
depend on agriculture. The two communes are deficient in meeting their
annual rice requirement. Some 68% and 74% of the households are rice‐
deficient in Nam Bung and Suoi Giang, respectively. On average, they
produce enough rice to feed their people for seven months. The deficit is
met from purchase or bartering of other farm produce, laboring, and
government support. Tea, maize, and cassava are the primary sources of
cash income. The households raise buffalo, cattle, pigs, and goats
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primarily for household meat consumption and draft power. Crop sales
make up 55% of the total cash earnings, whereas livestock and nonfarm
earnings make up 26% and 19%, respectively.
The major constraints to agricultural improvement in the area are a lack
of suitable upland and lowland rice varieties, limited access to public
services and advanced technologies, poorly developed transport
infrastructure, poor market infrastructure and access, and inadequate
extension services.
The project has validated the following technologies through farmer
participatory trials. These technologies can be disseminated to areas with
agroecological systems similar to those of the validation sites.
Validated technologies for sloping uplands
Upland rice varieties for sloping uplands
Farmer participatory research has identified several promising dry‐
seeded upland rice varieties—CIRAD141, Bao Đam, Nep Suoi Giang,
Luyin 46, IR74371‐3‐1‐1, IR74371‐54‐1, and IR78875‐1‐3‐1—for the
sloping uplands. Under
moderately fertilized
conditions, CIRAD141
(2.29 t/ha) and Bao Đam
(2.12 t/ha) have higher
yield than local check Ma
Cha (1.78 t/ha). And,
under zero or minimal
external input conditions,
two improved varieties,
Luyin 46 (1 t/ha) and
IR78875‐1‐3‐1 (0.9 t/ha),
and two promising traditional cultivars, Bao Dam (1 t/ha) and Nep Suoi
Giang (1.1 t/ha), outyield the local check variety (0.8 t/ha).
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Introduction of spring legumes to improve the upland rice‐based
cropping system
Farmers traditionally grow only summer upland rice in the sloping
uplands. The land remains fallow in the spring. Given the short fallow
periods and declining soil fertility and crop productivity, the
introduction of legumes (peanut and soybean) in the spring season can
improve soil through nitrogen fixation and earn cash from the sale of
pods/grains. A mulched Luyin46 crop grown on legume fields gave
higher yield (3.67 t/ha) than a Luyin46 crop grown on unmulched
regular fields (2.2 t/ha). The incorporation of legumes can thus increase
crop productivity in the sloping uplands in addition to generating cash
income through the harvest of legumes.
Soybean variety for elevated upland conditions
Elevated upland conditions are marked by moisture stress and low
temperatures. Soybean varieties tested for elevated upland conditions
identified VX93 (1.96 t/ha), the only variety to outyield the check DT99
(1.85 t/ha). VX93 was also found to have resistance to rust, root rot, stem
borer, and leaf folder.
Validated technologies for paddies
Hybrid rice varieties for the spring season for lowland paddies in NMR
Farmer participatory varietal research on spring‐season hybrid rice
varieties for paddies identified two varieties, HYT100 (6.9 t/ha) and
HYT83 (7 t/ha), performing better than the current popular hybrid
variety Nhi Uu 838 (6.5
t/ha). Both varieties have
good grain quality;
resistance to pests and
diseases, particularly to
bacterial leaf blight (caused
by Xanthomonas oryzae) and
sheath blight (caused by
Rhizoctonia solani); and better
agroecological adaptability.
Additionally, HYT83 is cold
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tolerant at the seedling stage and HYT100 is early maturing, which
permits early planting of subsequent summer crops.
Inbred high‐yielding spring rice varieties for lowland paddies in NMR
For spring‐season rice production, two rice varieties, BT13 (5.72 t/ha) and
AYT77 (5.61 t/ha), are identified to be higher yielding and better
performing than the check variety OMCS7 (5.45 t/ha). These varieties are
of short duration and, hence, permit timely planting of a summer crop.
An inbred short‐duration summer paddy rice variety for NMR
High‐yielding early‐maturing summer paddy rice varieties are
important to allow early planting of winter peanut (by 20 September) for
better yield, and to escape moisture stress and cold injury. Of the four
varieties tested for early
maturity and yield, N46 was
found the best choice among
the varieties and versus the
check variety AYT77.
Although N46 took 10 days
longer to mature than the
check variety (105 days), it
was ready for harvest by 20
September and outyielded the
check (5.52 t/ha vs. 4.21 t/ha).
Therefore, N46 is a better variety choice because of its ability to fit into
the system and its higher yield.
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Optimal nitrogen application rate for popular hybrid paddy rice variety
Nhi Uu 838
Optimal nitrogen application is important for realizing high yield for
hybrid rice varieties. Among the treatments tested in an experiment, the
application of 120 kg N + 90 kg P2O5 + 60 kg K2O gave the highest yield
(7.8 t/ha) and the highest net incremental benefit ($313/ha).
Cold‐tolerant spring rice varieties for the middle‐hill paddies in NMR
Farmers traditionally grow
one crop of summer rice in
upland paddies. Rice
production can be increased
by planting a second rice
crop during the spring
season. Hybrid rice varieties
HYT 83 (3.5 t/ha) and Nhi
Uu (3.76 t/ha), and inbred
varieties KD18 (3.6 t/ha),
and DT122 (3.2 t/ha)
produced good yields during the spring season. Another experiment
evaluating cold‐tolerant spring rice varieties identified HYT83, HYT88,
HYT93‐2, and TH3‐3 as tolerant of cold.
High‐yielding medium‐duration summer paddy rice varieties for NMR
Three varieties, LCV9 (6.16 t/ha), BTR01 (5.49 t/ha), and VD8 (5.47 t/ha),
were found better performing than the commonly grown Khang Dan 18
(4.43 t/ha).
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Inbred summer‐season rice varieties for upland paddies
Farmer participatory research on
inbred paddy rice varieties for
the summer season has identified
two high‐yielding varieties,
AYT01 (6.1 t/ha) and N46 (4.7
t/ha). Aromatic variety N46,
although a lower yielder than
AYT01, has good cooking and
eating quality, shorter growth
duration, and comparatively
better yield than traditional varieties.
A legume to improve the rice‐rice‐maize rotation in upland paddies
Maize is a common winter crop in upland paddies at lower elevations
after two rice crops (spring and summer). Maize is exhaustive and
requires high fertilizer input. Therefore, soybean and peanut were tested
to replace maize to improve the rotation and farm income. Rice‐rice‐
peanut (US$837/ha) and rice‐rice‐soybean ($650/ha) crops gave higher
per hectare net benefit than rice‐rice‐maize ($370/ha), besides
improvement in soil fertility.
Peanut varieties for upland paddies
Farmer participatory
varietal research
identified five peanut
varieties, MD7 (2.45
t/ha), MD9 (2.50 t/ha),
L12 (2.18 t/ha), L14
(1.92 t/ha), and L15
(2.57 t/ha), suitable
for upland paddies.
All five varieties
outyielded the local
check (1.81 t/ha) and
were found resistant to bacterial wilt (caused by Pseudomonas
solanacearum).
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Winter soybean varieties for lowland paddies
A demonstration trial on two soybean
varieties (DT12 and DT2004) for the
winter season identified DT2004 to be
a higher yielder (1.8 t/ha vs. 1.5 t/ha)
and of shorter duration (76 days vs.
90 days) than the check variety.
Although DT12 (1.4 t/ha) was a
slightly low yielder, it was more
drought tolerant and of shorter
duration (82 vs. 90 days) than the
check variety, making it a potential
winter‐season soybean variety for
lowland paddies.
Fodder grass for stall‐fed animal raising
Livestock are an important enterprise for both food and cash for upland
farmers. Traditional free grazing is a constraint to growing crops,
especially spring and winter crops. To promote stall feeding, fodder
grass promotion is necessary. The grasses Brachiaria ruziziensis,
B. brizantha, B. decumbens, Panicum maximum, Pennisetum purpureum, and
Tripsacum fasciculatum have been identified as suitable for the NMR.
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Contact Persons
Mr. Ha Dinh Tuan
Deputy Director General
NOMAFSI
Phu Tho Town, Phu Ho Commune
Phu Tho Province, Vietnam.
Tel: +84‐21‐076‐0104
Fax: +84‐21‐086‐5931
Mob: +84‐98‐312‐6705.
E‐mail: tuanmnpb@yahoo.com
Dr. Hari Gurung
International Research Fellow
Social Sciences Division
International Rice Research Institute
DAPO Box 7777
Makati City, The Philippines
Tel: +63‐2‐580‐5600, Ext. 2713
Fax: +63‐2‐580‐5699
Email: h.gurung@cgiar.org
Dr. Sushil Pandey
Senior Scientist and Project Leader
Social Sciences Division
International Rice Research Institute
DAPO Box 7777
Makati City, The Philippines
Tel: +63‐2‐580‐5600 ext. 2774
Fax: +63‐2‐580‐5699
Email: sushil.pandey@cgiar.org