Smallholder farmers in the Bac Ha district of northern Vietnam are reversing the degradation of their land and improving their livelihoods. This project is supporting agroforestry practices to improve the soil and control erosion and developing new income sources for farmers, thereby reducing pressures on natural resources and promoting climate change resilience.
Land degradation limits smallholder farmers' livelihoods and resilience
Land degradation is a significant problem for smallholder farmers in the Bac Ha district of Lao Cai province in the northern mountains of Viet Nam. Prolonged monoculture has resulted in the large-scale loss of topsoil and soil nutrients, leading to lower crop yields. To cope with declining yields, farmers have increasingly applied chemical fertilisers and pesticides, further damaging the soil and microbiome.
Climate impacts, including erratic rainfall, drought, heat, and low vegetation cover are increasing land degradation. These problems are directly affecting ethnic minority smallholders (particularly the H’mong, Tay, Nung) whose livelihoods depend on natural resources. These communities also struggle with poor access to markets and few opportunities to diversify their income sources.
By supporting their livelihoods, we can help them spread good practices that improve soil health and ultimately contribute to nature restoration and reducing land degradation - Minh Nguyen, ICRAF Viet Nam
Co-creating agroforestry solutions to improve land and livelihoods
ICRAF Viet Nam and project partners the Farmers' Union of Lao Cai province (FULC) and the Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry (TUAF) are working with farming communities to co-create market-based, context-specific and sustainable agroforestry options that will help to control soil erosion, improve livelihoods and build the capacity of ethnic minority farming households to adapt to climate change.
A core focus is strengthening farmers’ capacities to develop new income-generation activities and improve value chains. The project will also build the capacity of the local partners to scale up project activities across a network of villages and share evidence generated by the project with provincial decision-makers for incorporation into policy.
By the end of the project, at least 200 hectares of degraded crop land will see reduced topsoil loss and improved soil quality. At least 100 participating households will see a 10% increase in farm income. At least 450 ethnic minority farm households will be more resilient to climate change impacts.