As part of the collaboration between the National University of Ireland under the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security program, I joined the International Rice Research Institute as Research Intern in South East Asia , Vietnam Hanoi City.This was part of the requirements for completing my MSCCAFS program at the International University of Ireland. I have been carrying our my research project in close collaborations with other key institutions such as the Agric Genetic Institute and the Northern Mountain Agriculture & Forestry Science Institute (NORMAFSI).
My thesis topic is focused on Participatory Stress Tolerant Rice Varietal Selection to adapt to climate change. Part of my work package was to identify climate risk and farmers needs in stress tolerant rice cultivar to adapt to climate change. This study was participatory in nature and participatory rural appraisal methodology and tools were used.
I have been interfacing and learning from different experts in the field of agriculture and plant breeding. This was to gain valuable insight into the operations and the approaches used by formal research institutions in reaching to farmers and scaling out new technologies. The experience, interfacing and learning from different experts was amazing. I believe many experts were more interested in the topic. This led to knowledge sharing on how best to support farmers adapt to climate change using participatory approaches. I have been engaging with key experts in agriculture, and the next stage was to talk to farmers.
Last week, I took a trip to Truong Thon Ma Village (La 21.76, Long 105.04) with some colleagues from the International Rice Research Institute. The purpose of the trip was to learn from the farmers, seeking answers to my research questions. I conducted focus group discussions with farming household heads. I held three focus group discussions with both men and women groups.The information gathered during this active interactive sessions were amazing, and interestingly farmers were happy to receive the team and to share their knowledge and experiences. The farmers were happy to tell their story!.
The experience in communicating with the farmers using games, sign language and the google translate, interpreters and other techniques in understanding and documenting the farmers stories were amazing. This created an interactive atmosphere and quality engaging discussions. The help us to understanding the climate related risk, coping mechanism and adaptation strategies used by farmers.
let me, also mentioned that the Community elected a new Village Chief that day, and we were invited for a dinner to celebrate the Election Victory by the Chief. The Chief of the Village and the NORMAFSI staff on ground were very instrumental in organizing the focus groups discussions, and ensuring things good smoothly.
This community grow rice, and environments, which is mix of different resources such as forest, mountains, valleys, streams and lower lands. Rice production in these areas is mainly rain fed, which makes to highly vulnerable to climate change. This makes farmers vulnerable to the impact of climate change such as drought, flooding and cold spell and hot spell. The occurrence of these climate related hazard could pose a serious threat to the livelihoods of these subsistence families that relies on rice production for their livelihoods.
At this stage, I’m connecting the dots , cleaning and analyzing all the information we received. Please check for the findings in my next update.
