Challenges

Climate change is increasingly impacting the viability of commercial ventures as drought, floods and other severe weather events multiply.  Rising temperatures can hinder the production of raw materials, create new obstacles to transport and logistics and damage essential utilities and infrastructure. These in turn lead to other challenges, such as higher prices for goods and services, reduced livelihoods and food insecurity. The 2021 Climate Check Report by Deloitte Global estimates that one in four organizations worldwide are affected by climate-related events[1].

Agribusinesses, particularly in developing countries, are highly vulnerable to climate hazards with constraints ranging from lowered yields and livestock productivity to reduced profitability and limited market access. In countries of the Mekong region comprising Cambodia, China, Lao PDR,  Myanmar, Thailand  and Viet Nam, despite rapid economic growth, inequalities persist in food-producing communities due to the severe negative impacts of climate change on agricultural value-chains. In addition, food production is facing stricter requirements with increased awareness and preference from consumers for sustainable methods of production

Toward a Solution

The main innovation is the regional approach adopted to identify and disseminate knowledge, good practices and technologies in support of climate change resilience, based on the premise that climate change affects businesses and communities beyond their fence lines and national borders. The project ensured that the documented Climate Resilient Value Chains (CRCV) technologies and practices were relevant to the four target countries and could be further replicated and scaled-up through creative collaborations among the stakeholders; or leveraged as tools during future project implementation in the region. Overall, the initiative strengthened South-South solidarity and two-way learning and cooperation among the four target countries.

For an effective partnership, a dual approach was applied. On the one hand State-owned research institutions from the four countries ­– the Centre of Agrarian System Research and Development (CASRAD) in Viet Nam; the Agricultural Information Institute (AII) from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in China, the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI) in Lao PDR, and the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) in Cambodia – acted as the national counters and key service providers. As these were usually the national think-tank in the field of agriculture and rural development, their role facilitated operations and contributed to policy advocacy. On the other hand, the implementing partners cooperated closely with the IFAD country offices and ongoing IFAD projects for good practice documentation, capacity-building and dissemination. This increased opportunities for continuous investment support, replication, scaling up and post-project sustainability.

Overall, 96 best practices related to climate smart agricultural production, climate tolerant processing and preservation technologies were documented and packaged as different knowledge products, such as handbooks, posters, leaflet and flyers and videos. They addressed recurring challenges in the region, such as drought, saline water intrusion and food insecurity. For example, in Viet Nam, smallholder farmers have developed an innovative model where giant shrimps were raised in rice fields. This had the combined benefit of preserving water resources, improving nutrition and generating larger and more stable incomes.

Other examples include the model of mulberry-fish pond agriculture, eco-tourism and cultural conservation from China which are being replicated in Viet Nam to develop new livelihoods for aquaculture farmers; the Shan tea production and online marketing practices in the northern region of Viet Nam which can be adopted in Lao PDR;  models of organic coconut production, processing and consumption from Viet Nam, of coffee cultivation from Lao PDR, and of Ginseng Production from Cambodia which could be implemented in China.

The selection of the good practices went through a Participatory Action Research (PAR) process, undertaken by multiple stakeholders – farmers, representatives of processing units and enterprises, government officers and IFAD staff.  As such, the   knowledge generated from the SSCVC project could benefit not only the four target countries, but also other countries and communities in similar environments that are facing similar challenges. 

To mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related travel and meeting restrictions, the project adopted new delivery models for capacity-building and training. They included three training of trainers sessions and five workshops through virtual modes, hybrid meetings grouping online and offline participants at local training venues, avideo clip-based case study and a group discussion for online and hybrid training. Online chat groups, social media and internet links were leveraged for consultation, survey, dissemination and communication, through which farmers learned new climate resilient techniques, processes and methods. Some practices demonstrated were drip and sprinkle irrigation, animal feed fermentation, solar energy drying facilities during drought and saline water intrusion in wintertime.

Overall, the project achieved the following results:

• 4 national institutions (CASRAD, AII, NAFRI and CPS) from the four participating countries received capacity building to provide CRVC
• 50 government staff increased their capacity for effective policy and operational support of CRVC
• 4,043 smallholder farmers were provided CRVC techniques and technologies resulting in increased income

There are important lessons from this project that must be highlighted. Key among them is the necessity to anchor development projects in a regional context, as opportunities often exist to create synergies between adjacent countries when addressing global challenges, such as climate change or food security. This allows for the formulation of holistic approaches that consider the challenge and all the available resources to solve the common problems faced by communities in the target regions.

China and Viet Nam have recommended that in furtherance of their mandates, the national institutions of the four countries should work together to scale-up the SSCVC project. Collaboration with other governments and donors to further promote adoption and replication of the documented practices is envisaged, as is the replication of results in neighbouring countries like Thailand by research institutes and international NGOs.