Founders of the Mekong Organics visited the small scale agriculture conservation project in the Mekong Delta
Dr Kien and Dr Daniel visited a farmer, Mr Le Quoc Viet in Gach Soi town, Kieng Giang Province, of the Mekong Delta on 25 March 2018. Mr Viet graduated BSc in crop science from Can Tho University in 1986, then he was employed by Sub-Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Chau Thanh District, Kien Giang province. His life and work experience recorded the field evidence about the negative impacts of rice intensification on wild fish, aquatic animals and plants resources and human health in the ricefield landscape. He owns 2 hectares of rice land, which used to grow High Yield Variety rice, 2-3 crops a year, for over 20 years. He decided to shift his conventional rice cropland to return the local rice variety “lua mua”, which was dominated in the South of Vietnam prior 1980s. He believes that wild fish, edible aquatic animals and plants will come back to his rice fields. He tested the first crop in 2017 and had the first harvest in Dec 2017. He found that frog, snakehead fish, and claiming perch and other freshwater fish habitats in his rice fields. He wishes to rebuild the “lua mua” culture in the Mekong Delta. In doing so, he borrowed finance from various sources: bank, friends, and relatives to construct the cultural house, home-stays for visitors, and collect traditional rice-based tools such as handmade rice mills, sickles…He wishes to inspire his conservation agriculture idea to collaborate with neighbouring farmers in order to extend the local rice based agroecological farming to provide healthy food for local and international consumers.