Implementation time: 1/7 – 30/9/2013
Funding agency: ICRAF
Implementing agency: CARES
1. Background
Historically, agroforestry have experienced phases of decreases and increases in area accompanied with changes in both type and intensity of tree integration in farming systems. This change usually happens alongside environmental and demographic changes, as well as policy reforms and economic development.
In Vietnam, agroforestry has had a long history starting with simple fish and tree gardens in the 1960s. With rapid land use change, economic development, and policy drivers, agroforestry has however become more dependent on these factors. However, there is lack of documentation and understanding of the changes in agroforestry systems across the country. More specifically, there is little documented evidence on key agroforestry systems in different agro-ecological regions, how these systems have changed overtime, what worked and didn’t work, where the change has taken place, and what specific factors influence the change. Furthermore, there are little or no documented lessons from these agroforestry systems that can inform the design of new agroforestry innovations. In order to design future agroforestry options and interventions, it is important to spatially characterize existing agroforestry and its dependence on various factors.
This study is divided into five main components or sub-studies such as the following:
- Mapping of dominant agroforestry systems in eight eco-regions
- Characterization of dominant agroforestry systems in terms of environmental, socio-economic, markets and policy conditions, and historical pattern of change
- Mapping of potential expansion domains of agroforestry systems based on inputs from Study 2
- Analysis of theory of change at the national level, focusing on policy levers
- Risk and sensitivity analysis of agroforestry systems at the national level with inference on global forces, national strategies, and key environmental stressors
For the Contract with 5 institutions (TUAF, HUA, HUAF, NLU, CTU ), the study is focused on Component 2, which is to characterize key agroforestry systems in terms of their dependence on environmental, socio-economic, market and policy conditions across eight agro-ecological regions in Vietnam as follow: Link table
2. Duties and responsibilities
The research partner is expected to implement the following research activities:
- Collect both secondary and primary data in the fields.
- Describe the previous land uses of current agroforestry area, and the drivers of land use changes.
- Describe the environmental conditions on which these agroforestry systems exist, and analyze the environmental risks or threats these agroforestry systems face (e.g., soil fertility is declining since the agroforestry system is implemented without conservation measures).
- Describe the socio-economic, market and policy conditions on which these agroforestry systems exist; present the production cost and benefits of the agroforestry system/hectare, and describe their market value chains.
- Analyze the sensitivity and market risks, or any other risks to the agroforestry systems (for example, migration or policy change).
3. The CARES research team
– Participating members: Dr.Nguyen Thanh Lam, Mr.Tran Nguyen Bang, Mr.Cao Truong Son, Dr.Dinh Thi Hai Van, Ms.Tran Lan Huong, Ms.Pham Thi Dzung, Ms.Kieu Thi Huyen Trang, Mr.Dinh Xuan Minh, Mr.Tran Manh Tuong.
– Allocated budget for CARES: US$ 9,190.00.
4. Outputs to be submitted to ICRAF
- Electronic copies of all primary and secondary data collected
- English written report (a report outline will be provided by ICRAF)
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