Mekong countries & China

The Mekong Countries and China region includes Vietnam, Lao PDR, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma and China. ACIAR’s strategy in each of these countries is specifically tailored to suit individual needs.

Vietnam has undergone significant economic growth in recent years and is expected to achieve ‘middle income’ country status soon. In recent years, ACIAR’s Vietnam strategy has focused on three geographic regions where poverty has persisted; Mekong Delta, the south-central coast and the north-western highlands. Low lying areas in the Mekong Delta are particularly prone to the anticipated impacts of climate change. A new program of research was designed in 2009-10 to assist adaptation to climate change at a farm level, emphasising more efficient use of soil and water resources. In south-central coast Vietnam, ACIAR focus is on the development of more profitable yet sustainable field and tree crop cultivation and beef production systems in challenging environments. The north-west highlands, although experiencing increasing market demand from the global economy, has seen poor management practices, resulting in soil degradation and declining crop yields. ACIAR aims to identify suitable integrated management practices for local conditions that will have positive socioeconomic impacts for smallholder farmers.

Distinguishing features of Lao PDR are low population density, poor infrastructure and geographical dispersion of the people. Agriculture employs over 80 per cent of the population, but at least one-third of people remain below the poverty line. Food security is central to agricultural development, and ACIAR research will aim to increase the productivity of rice-based farming systems and adapt to anticipated climate change, which especially relevant in rain-fed rice farming. Fisheries are also important for the nutrition, income and food security of Lao people, with freshwater fish accounting for 48 per cent of dietary animal protein intake. ACIAR work focuses on the management and improvement of fisheries and community-based aquaculture. Livestock, too, is important to the Lao economy, providing a substantial proportion of the annual household income of smallholder farmers. ACIAR research will assist in the control of infectious diseases across and within countries.

Accounting for two-thirds of employment, agriculture remains a significant part of the Cambodian economy. It is especially significant to Cambodian economic sustainability given that growth in other sectors, such as the garment, tourism and construction industries, has contracted in recent times. The overwhelming driver for most Cambodian farmers is to secure their household food production to avoid annual hungry periods. ACIAR’s projects in Cambodia are aimed at improving rice productivity and developing options for the production and marketing of non-rice crops. Cambodia’s low population density, particularly in the uplands, should provide potential for increasing ruminant livestock production. ACIAR will support research to assist control of trans-boundary diseases and increases in animal production. ACIAR’s program has a focus on the southern provinces, two Tonle Sap provinces and two north-western provinces.

ACIAR’s strategy is Burma is primarily humanitarian, targeting vulnerable populations to improve nutrition and food security. This approach is in recognition that over one-third of young children in Burma are moderately or severely underweight. Even though the nation is self-sufficient in food on an overall basis, many families spend up to 70 per cent of their income on food, and prices are rising. If the current international situation changed to allow an increase in future collaboration with Burma, ACIAR priorities would address the improvement of crop quality, combat poverty by enhancing the productivity of rice-based systems and integrated coastal and inland aquaculture production, and develop a new cohort of Burmese researchers and managers, given the isolation of many of Burma’s agricultural scientists over recent years.

ACIAR first commenced projects with China in 1984. Over the past decade, the focus of ACIAR’s program has shifted towards western China, where there is a need to increase farmers’ incomes and better manage land and water resources. ACIAR’s program in China for 2010-2011 has the following themes: selection of technologies for improved water-use efficiency; development of policies and institutions for improved land and water use; wheat breeding for dryland conditions and conservation farming systems; and improvement in integrated crop-livestock systems in favourable areas of Tibet Autonomous Region and rangelands of north-western China.

Financial constraints mean that ACIAR will not be a position to initiate bilateral projects in Thailand in 2010-2011. ACIAR will continue to foster opportunities for partnering with Thailand on a regional basis. ACIAR’s current program focuses on three issues: implementation of the results of earlier projects, with relevance to the poorest farming communities; biosecurity system implementation; and regional partnering with Lao PDR and Indonesia on sustainable fisheries and basin fisheries management.