FARMER'S EXPERIENCES USING INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE TO ADAPT TO FLOODS IN SUITAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN MEKONG DELTA, VIETNAM

<p>Pham Xuan Phu</p>

FARMER'S EXPERIENCES USING INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE TO ADAPT TO FLOODS IN SUITAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN MEKONG DELTA, VIETNAM

Pham Xuan Phu

Viet Nam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

: J Food Nutr Disor

Abstract

This research was carried out to explore the role of the appropriateness of farmer’s indigenous knowledge and their adaptive capacity to floods in An Giang province. KAP (Knowledge-Attitude-Practice), PRA (KIP and focus group discussion) and household survey have been applied to collect data. The results showed that local people used several effective indigenous knowledge’s for coping with floods. However, the valuable indigenous knowledge has not been recorded yet, nor documented in written materials for sharing to young generation and communities; some indigenous practices are not suitable with the current requirement for flood adaptation strategies. Climate change caused serious damages for livelihood of local people such as flood, drought, and salinity intrusion (Phu and Tran, 2014; UNDP, 2016). In An Giang province, local people influenced by the annual floods, especially the downstream of the Mekong River Basin, has been severely impacted by upstream disturbance due to presence of upstream reservoirs (Thong, 2017). That has caused considerable difficulties for flood management in this area (Can and Nguyen, 2016). In this case, indigenous knowledge, the knowledge gained over time through experience (Warren, 1991; Judith Ehlert, 2010) has been used to adapt with these changed. However, the fact that there has not had many systematical research and evaluation relevance system to indigenous knowledge to adapt to flooding changes in agricultural production in the study area in the scene of climate change. Therefore, the research “Farmer’s experiences using indigenous knowledge to adapt to floods in sustainable development in Mekong Delta, Vietnam: A case study in An Giang province” was conducted to explore the role and contribution of indigenous knowledge in adaptation with the change of the flood. The results of the research will be the basis for the application and conservation of indigenous knowledge, as well as the scientific basis for further studies to help bring solutions to minimize the impact of abnormal floods on agricultural production.