Dissertation abstracts to evaluate effectiveness of AF systems in vo nhai district, thai nguyen province

Classification of the surveyed AF systems Unit:Model, rate ratio% Note: Communes symbolized by region: LH: La Hiên ; LT: Lâu Thượng; CĐ: Cúc Đường; VC: Vũ Chấn; LM: Liên Minh; TX: Tr

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Nowadays Viet Nam and other developing countries are facing to fierce conflicts of which to satify the need of food for moutainous people and environment conservation for sustainable development Agro-forestry (AF) is the best way to solve the conflict, contribute to food security and sustainable natural resource management

Vo Nhai is a district in moutainous region of Thai Nguyen, it has diverse topography that is advantageous for AF However the current situation of AF in the district is still sparse, which leads to low economic and environmental effect

In order to support local farmers to define solutions for the development of

AF towards sustainable resources management, we carried out the project:

“To evaluate effectiveness of AF systems in Vo Nhai district, Thai Nguyen province”

2 Puposes, objectives

* Purposes

To evaluate effect of typical AF systems in order to develop sustainable cultivated systems for improving living standard of local farmers in the district and in the mountainous and highland

- AF systems which are being managed by local farmers in the district

4 Signification and new points of the thesis

*Scientific significations

- Results of the project supplemented foundation for economic development planning of the Vo Nhai distict and Northern highland of Viet Nam as well

- To enrich the knowledge on land use systems of AF for sustainable highland rural and agricultural development

* Practical significations

The solutions which the project proposed will be applied into pratice for

AF development in the manner of high economic efficiency, sustainable land use and enhancing living standard of the farmers in Vo Nhai and highland as well

* New points of the thesis

- The project is a complete and systematical research on AF in a district

- Quantitative analysis of economic, social and environmental effect of 6

AF systems in 3 ecological regions of Vo Nhai, which were not mentioned in previous researchs

- Proposing AF systems which are appropriate with conditions of the research area

5 The layouts of the thesis

Besides the introduction and conclusion, the thesis consists of 3 chapters, total

110 pages, 32 tables, 8 pictures and 132 domestic and foreign reference materials

Chapter 1: Oveview of research issues

1.1 Studies of AF in the World

1.1.1 History of studies of AF in the world

In history of AF development, King (1987) claimed that in medieval time in Europe, people cleared forests, burned tree branches and cultivated crops to make use of nutrition of forest soil Although this sort of cultivation was not widespread and long-lasting, in Finland and Germany, this type of farming

existed until the 1920s After shifting cultivation methods, the advent of Taungya

method in the tropical regions was regarded as a forecast for the development of

AF According to Blandford (1858), the origin of this method is from the dialect

of Myanmar: Taung means cultivation, ya is the same as hills Taungya is the cultivation method on hilly land After that, Taungya system was put into use

very early in India and spread across Asia, Africa and Latin America

Aggro-forestry is a scientific field which was recommended in the 1960s

by King (1969) For many years, a lot of different definitions have been

developed The below definition of AF which have been growing until now Nowadays AF is defined as a system of resources management based on

ecological characteristics It is effective due to the coordination of perennial

plants into farms to diversify and strengthen the production, increasing social utilities, economic profits and environmental efficiency in various levels of farms (ICRAF, 1997)

Therfore, Agroforesty is the method of cultivation on sloping lands to take advantage of soil, limit the deterioration of natural resources and environment, contributing to the sustainable use of land

1.1.2 Classification of AF systems in the World

The criteria for classifying AF systems are based on: Structure, Function, Economic - Social correlation, Management, and Ecologial impact of the system

AF researchers all over the world have divided AF systems into some main types:

The agro-sylviculture: including trees, shrubs and herb (Agricultural crops,

industrial crops and timber)

The forest-livestock: Trees, pasture and grazing

The agro-sylviculture-livestock: Crops,trees combined with cattles The special Agro-forestry: Apiculture with trees, fruit trees, aquaculture in

mangrove areas…

From these main AF systems, different types of Agroforesty are formed ( Nair,1985; MacDicken and Cs, 1990)

1.2 Study on AF in Viet Nam

1.2.1 History of AF study in Viet Nam

The study of AF in Viet Nam has just begun since the 1960s According to Nguyen Trong Ha (1966), the first reseaches on AF belonged to Nguyen Ngoc Binh, Nguyen Qui Khai, Cao Van Minh, Nguyen Xuan Quat, Bui Nganh in 1964 worked on anti-erosion experiments in Cau Hai- Phu Tho Ton Gia Huyen, Bui Quang Toan (1965) carried out experiments and constructed anti-erosion model in the hamlet of the Northern State-owned farm which brought back positive results

Thai Phien, Nguyen Tu Siem (1986) summarized the research results in 5

years (1980 - 1985) of the state program on “Application of scientific and technical progress in the work of reclamation and anti-erosion for new reclamation land” has generalized measures of protection and improvement of

feralit soil, reclamation and restoration of sloping areas of the country Many models of soil protection with the plant structure was implemented and applied

The authors Tran Ngoc Ngoan, Nguyen Huu Hong, Dang Van Minh (1999) concluded that AF is a term used to refer to the land use systems, in which the plant (crops, trees ) and animal, are combined with forest trees in spatial or rotation with the interaction of both ecology and economics

1.2.2 Classification of AF systems in Vietnam

In Vietnam, on the basis of results of researchs on AF authors Hoang Hoe, Nguyen Dinh Huong, Nguyen Ngoc Binh classified AF systems into eight main types so called "farming systems", the subunits of farming systems are called the

"method" or "model" farm

According to the classification above, the AF systems in Viet Nam is divided into eight farming systems: Agro-sylvicuture, agro-sylvicuture–livestock, forestry-livestock, multi-pupose timber, forestry-fishery, agro-sylvicuture-fisheries, apiculture-timber, agro-sylvicuture-fishery-animals (Pham Duc Tuan et al, 1992) The farming systems is divided into 27 different types of cultivation depending on ecological zones The last one is household AF "model"

Chapter 2: Research tasks and methodoloy

2.1 Research tasks

1 Descriptions of the natural and socio-economic characteristics in study area

2 AF development status in the study area

3 Assessing effectiveness: economic, environmental, social of the typical AF systems

4 Improvement measures, testing and proposed solutions to develop the AF in the research area and the similar areas

2.2 Research methods

Applied research methods by majors:

(1) Inherited selectively (documents in conjunction with consultation)

(2) RRA (Rapid rural appraisal) and PRA (Participatory rural appraisal)-

(3) Field Investigation and field survey

(4) Experimental layout

(5) Data processing with the support of the specified software

Chapter 3: Results and discussion 3.1 Natural and socio- economic features in Vo Nhai district 3.1.1 Natural features

Vo Nhai is a district located in the mountains northeast of Thai Nguyen, 37

km far from Thai Nguyen city on the road Thai Nguyen - Lang Son

Geographical location and topography: the East boder is Bac Son district

(Lang Son); West boder is Dong Hy and Phu Luong districts (Thai Nguyen), the South bordering on Dong Hy and Yen The district ( Bac Giang), The northern border is Na Ri district ( Bac Kan) Vo Nhai martial elevation a.s.l from 100 - 800m, generally topography of the district is sloping and is divided by two mountain ranges: The Ngan Son and Bac Son, which cause great difficulties for the construction of infrastructure, especially for development of agriculture and forestry

Climate: The district has full nature of tropical monsoon climate of northern

Vietnam, with 2 distinct seasons: dry and rainy

The structure of land use

Table 3.1 The structure of land use of districts in 2007

Thus the district’s land potentials are huge Natural land area is 84,510.41

hectares In the group of agricultural land, there is 55,469.41 ha of forest land

accounting for 65.64%, crop land is only 6.325,0 ha at the rate of 7.48% Land in the district are mostly sloping, with the degree from 15 to 450 Types of soil: Yellow-brown feralit soil developed on mother gravel rocks and limestone; sloping converging soil; sediment deposition soil Those also shows that economic development on hills by AF cultivation is the direction towards promoting potentials

of the district

Production situation of agriculture - forestry

According to statistics of the District Agriculture Office (2006), among 10.406,5 ha of agricultural crop land, the area of food crops account for a large percentage of 73,4% (7.633,5 ha) Mayor crop area is rice paddy 4.442,0 ha The corn area is second after rice and then cassava Area of industrial crops (tea, tobacco, sugarcane, peanuts, soybeans, green beans…) is small (up 20.3%) Fruit trees for only 5,30% of the area

* Irrigation: With the financial support of the state Vo Nhai has built 11

reservoirs, 50 solid dams, 12 pumping stations, 132km of canals, but these still not provide adequate irrigating water in dry seasons

* Electricity: Vo Nhai now has 35KV and 10KV electrically wired systems

running along Highway 1B and from Dinh Ca town to Trang Xa commune

Demographic characteristics, ethnic, labor

District population is 62,612 people with 13,676 households in which main

labors are 35,596 people (accounting for 56.85% of the district population) The population density is 74 people/km2, composed of nine ethnic groups Where: Kinh is of the highest proportion (37%), Tay (22%), Nung (20%), Dao (13%)

The rest are other ethnic groups (Dept of Agri& Rural Devp of Vo Nhai, 2006).

Based on topographical and ecological conditions, Vo Nhai is divided into

three regions with the following characteristics:

Region 1 (KVI): including the communes located along the national

highway No 1B The region has relatively flat terrain, mainly low hills, and convenient traffic conditions Residents are mainly the Tay, Nung and Kinh group, whose main income is from the rice production Local people’s cultivating experience is outstandingly higher than other regions of the district In this region

we selected two representatives communes: La Hien and Lau Thuong

Region 2 (KV2): Including the northern communes of the district The

topography of this area is mainly limestone alternating with valleys and low mountains Residents are mostly the Tay and Dao, Hmong living on agriculture,

the region’s transportation is very poor In this region, we investigated two

communes: Cuc Duong and Vu Chan

Region 3 (KV 3): The southern communes of the district, the topography of

this region are mainly hilly steep slopes The residents in this region is mainly

Kinh, Tay, Nung, in addition to some other ethnic groups such as Dao, Cao Lan

In this area we investigated four communes: Lien Minh, Trang Xa, Dan Tien and

Binh Long

In brief: In terms of the characteristics of the natural conditions of the district

as above, generally speaking, it is relatively favorable conditions for the

development of agricultural and forestry production in general and AF in

particular

3.2 Current situation of AF in the study area

Classification of AF systems based on structure

Table 3.2 Classification of the surveyed AF systems

Unit:Model, rate ratio%

Note: Communes symbolized by region:

LH: La Hiên ; LT: Lâu Thượng; CĐ: Cúc Đường; VC: Vũ Chấn; LM: Liên

Minh; TX: Tràng Xá; DT: Dân Tiến; BL: Bình Long

Systems symbolized:

VACRg (garden, pond,, stables, rice field); RVAC (forest, garden, pond,

stables); VAC (garden, pond, stables), RChèRg (forest, tea, rice field); RRg

(forest, rice field); RVCRg (fores, garden, stables, rice field)

In the table 3.2, it can be seen that there are different AF systems in Vo

Nhai district, however, only 6 systems are being commonly applied: VACRg,

RVAC, VAC, RChèRg, RVCRg Most of these consist of forest

Below are some typical system models in Vo Nhai district

Note: Figure 3.1: Sys Forest- Garden- Barn- Rice field; Figure 3.2: Sys Shade

trees for tea; Figure 3.3: Sys Forest- Tea- Orchard coordinated in the model of SALT; Figure 3.4: Sys coordinated in the manner of Taungya; Figure 3.5: Sys

Forest- Tea- Field

3.3 Efficiency of AF systems

3.3.1 Economical efficiency

Economic efficiency of surveyed systems by income per ha in a year

To compare economic efficiency between systems, we based on the criteria

of income (million VND- mVND) per ha in a year (/ha/year) The results show that: Of 322 surveyed AF models in entire Vo Nhai district, the majority at 166 ones (51,56%) has income on the range of more than 4 to 8 mVND 84 models

occupying 21.57% output the income/ha/year fewer than 2 to 4 mVND The number of models whose income/ha/year ranges from 8 to more than 10 mVND is

72 ( 22.36%) Thus at the time of investigation, the economic efficiency of AF systems in Vo Nhai district is not still commsurate with potential

Economic effectiveness (E.e) of systems calculated on production formulas

* The E.e of the system RVACRg by formulas

Some common cultivation formulas:

The formula 1: (Natural forest, litchee, longan, fish, pig, rice); The formula

2 : (Eucalyptus, fruit trees, fish, cow, rice, tobacco); The formula 3: (Manglietia glauca, custard apple, fish, cow, rice, tobacco); The formula 4:

(Acacia, pine apple, fish, chicken, rice, food crpops)

The calculated results indicates that: The highest income/ha/year of 8,862 mVND is seen in the 3rd formula In contrast, the 1st one makes up the lowest at 7,069 mVND

* The E.e of the system RVAC by formulas

Some common cultivation formulas:

The formula 1: (Eucalyptus, pine-apple, food crops,fish, cow); The formula

2 : (Natural forest, fruit trees, food crops, fish, duck or chicken); The formula

3 : (Acacia, litchee, longan, fish, pig); The formula 4: (Manglietia,

custard-apple, fish, goat, food crops)

After calculating E.e, we can summarize the total income in the system RVAC

as follows: The 4th formula had the greatest income at 13,39 mVND/ha/year Meanwhile, the lowest income at 8,682 mVND/ha/year is seen in the 3rdformuala

* The E.e of the system VAC by formulas

Some typical cultivation formulas:

The formula 1: (Fruit trees, food crops, fish, duck, chicken); The formula

2 : (Litchee, longan, fish, pig); The formula 3: (Custard-apple, food crops, grass, fish, goat); The formula 4: (Pine-apple, food crops, grass, fish, cow)

According to the calculations of E.e from the formulas of the system VAC, the total income is as follows: The highest total income at 14,910 mVND/ha/year

is seen in the 3rd formula Whereas the 2nd formula outputs the lowest income at 10,710 mVND/ha/year In this formula, because of the devaluation of litchees and longans, pigs yield less E.e

* The formularily E.e of the system RChèRg

Some cultivation formulas of the system RChèRg

The formula 1: (Natural forest, tea, rice, corn); The formula 2: (Accacia, tea, rice); The formula 3: ( Bamboo, tea, rice); The formula 4: (Manglietia,

tea, rice, tobacco)

The calculating results of E.e of the system RChèRg formulas shows the total

income in all of the above formulas as follows: The highest total income at 15,390 mVND/ha/year is seen in the 4th formula Meanwhile, the 1st one releases the lowest income at 12,107 mVND/ha/year This is the system of the highest income formularily compared to other systems in the entire area Because the main income is from tea, but this system is more costly and labour-consuming than others for tea management so that they is taken over only by households with adequate capital and labour

*The formularily E.e of the system RRg

Some common cultivation formulas:

The formula 1: (Manglietia, rice, corn); The formula 2: (Natural forest, rice, tobacco); The formula 3: (Accacia, rice); The formula 4: (Eucalyptus,

bamboo, rice, tobacco)

The calculating results of E.e of the system RRg shows the total income in

all of the above formulas as follows: The highest total income at 6,525 mVND/ha/year is seen in the 4th formula Meanwhile, the 3rd one releases the lowest income at 3,434 mVND/ha/year This is the system of the lowest income compared to other systems in the region Because the income from forest trees, rice and corn is always low

* The formularily E.e of the system RVCRg

Some common cultivation formulas:

The formula 1: (Natural forest, litchi, longan, pig, rice ); The formula 2: (Accacia, fruit trees, duck, rice, corn); The formula 3: (Natural forest, manglietia, custard apple, goat, rice); The formula 4: (Bamboo, pine apple,

chicken, rice, corn )

After doing some calculations on E.e of production formulas, we realize that:

The highest total income at 9,780 mVND/ha/year is seen in the 3rd formula Following is the 4th one with relatively high total income at 8,726 mVND/ha/year Meanwhile, the 1st one releases the lowest income at 6,874

mVND/ha/year This system generates comparatively high income when

compared to others in the district because of multicomponent income, including animal husbandry However, the initial investment capital is rather considerable

Summary on the average E.e of production formulas by each AF system

In order for the average E.e of those systems to be asily recognized, we form

this following table 3.3:

Table 3.3: Summary on the average E.e of production formulas by each

system (per ha in a year)

Criteria Syst RVAC

5.Labors in total day 314 368 338 472 222 299

The summarized results in the table 3.3 reveals the remarkable difference

of the average E.e of systems

The system of the greatest E.e is RcheRg The system VAC ranks the next, which is alsmost the same as the 1st one Following is the systems RVAC, RVCRg and The system RRg bottoms the list with the lowest total income, as in this system, there are only two components, including forest and rice or corn and food crops

In short, the E.e depends greatly on plants and livestock However, we must take particular conditions into account when applying those systems into AF

production

The E.e of some systems with crops and trees in AF system

Table 3.4 Comparison of the E.e of some monocultural and intercrop crops

in the AF system (Unit: 1000 VND/ha/year)

Total cost Total income Profit

Mono-Profit compare

Table 3.5 Growth of trees in intercrop AF and Monoculture

D1.3 (cm)

Height (m)

D1.3 (cm)

Compare

in height

Up (+) Down (-)

Compare

in D1.3

Up (+) Down (-)

Notes: Forest trees’ density is 250 – 300/ha (1): Tea intercrop; (2): Corn

intercrop; (3): Soybean intercrop Monocultuara: Acasia and Eucaliptus with the

density of 1.660/ha D1.3:Diameter at chest height level

The results in table 3.5 indicates that forest trees intercropped in AF systems

in all the 3 regions have faster growth than monocultural ones However, height development rises unremarkably, while there is an obvious increase in the development of D1.3 The trees combinated with soybeans had the highest growth According to the analysis of ours and the farmers, because of intercrop the trees utilize the fertilizers supplied for crops On the other hand, litter and remnant of crops after harvest which makes the soil softer and more organic matter than that in monoculture soil This clearly reflects the interactive relationship among components in the AF system

3.3.2 Environmental effectiveness (En.e) evaluation of AF and Crop systems

The roles of trees in decreasing soil erosion of AF and crop systems