In Vietnam 85% of all seeds are supplied by the informal seed sector consisting of farm saved seeds. This reality was highlighted by Nori Ignacio, the executive director of SEARICE, in her opening comments at SRD’s national workshop on the Strategic Action Plan for Plant Genetic Resources-Conservation, Development and Use as a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. The central role of Vietnamese farmers in saving seeds highlights the importance of farmers in stewarding Vietnam’s plant genetic resources, offering essential opportunities for climate change adaptation. From Dec. 7th-11th, SEARICE, the donor supporting SRD’s work to promote plant genetic resources for farmers across Vietnam, came together with farmers, authorities, agricultural extension officers, researchers and SRD staff to engage in substantive discussion relating to climate change adaptation, plant genetic resources (PGR) and policy suggestions for how to support farmers in mobilizing PGR in responding to climate change impacts. This workshop drew farmers from all over Vietnam and offered them the rare space to directly engage with policy makers about the reality of climate change in their communities.
The first day of the workshop focused on information sharing. SRD and partners from the Mekong Delta presented research from northern, central and southern Vietnam, chronicling the impacts of climate change on agriculture as well as the impact of the Farmer Field School model and other project activities in supporting rural livelihoods in the face of climate change. Breakout groups of farmers, researchers and extension officer from the Mekong Delta, Hoa Binh/Son La, Yen Bai/Lao Cao and Thanh Hoa provinces met separately to craft their Strategic Action Plan suggestions. These small groups chronicled the current impacts of climate change on agriculture in their region as well as policy suggestions for how best to support farmers in adapting to climate change. Each group’s strategic plan was presented and clarified through group feedback. As a result of this process, regional Strategic Action Plans were created in preparation for discussions with policymakers.
Policy support is an essential element to scaling up the work that SRD and its project partners have been engaged in related to improving the technical capacity of farmers in mobilizing PGR as an adaptation strategy to climate change. With this understanding in mind, the second day of the workshop brought together policymakers from relevant Ministries, researchers from related national institutes and farmers. The Strategic Action Plans were shared by the breakout groups, the Ministry of Agriculture shared efforts within the national government to address these issues and the diverse stakeholders discussed how best to bridge policy and climate change adaptation needs of farmers throughout Vietnam.
This week-long workshop delivered the clear message that farmers are at the front-line of agricultural adaptation to climate change and that participatory plant breeding, which brings together plant breeding professionals and farmers, is essential to maintaining the plant genetic diversity of Vietnam. This message was grounded in the experience of farmers across Vietnam as well as the Farmer Field Schools conducted by SRD focused on technical capacity building related to plant genetic resources-conservation, development and use. This national workshop was the first step in creating a space where policymakers can learn from farmers, and NGOs about models and adaptation strategies that utilize PGR to address the local, specific needs of farmers from across Vietnam.
-SRD-
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