The project has greatly assisted the dramatic expansion of rice/shrimp farming taking place in the Mekong Delta. For example, a group of farmers formed a consortium to carry out shrimp farming using the best practice procedures identified by the project.
Reviewers found that significant progress had been achieved towards understanding the ecological processes, and other factors, underlying the environmental and economic sustainability of rice-shrimp farming systems in the Mekong Delta. Two subjects stood out - one was on the effect of salinity on growth and production of a variety of rice, the other on salinity dynamics in rice fields and their relation to rice production.
Sedimentation was another environmental issue examined. Shrimp culture has greatly accelerated the rate of accumulation of sediment because much greater volumes of water (carrying suspended sediments) are now introduced into the rice fields for flushing. The scientists showed that the practice of high water exchange, during the shrimp production cycle, had negative impacts on the rice-shrimp system, and demonstrated that reducing water exchange reduced sedimentation and improved shrimp production.
Bio-economic modelling was effective in establishing the complex relationship between the many environmental parameters faced by the shrimp-rice farmers and the considerable income risk they entailed. The model explained income risk in relation to operational factors in a way that could be presented easily to farmers and policy makers.
The project was partially responsible for a new Vietnamese Government decree, which recognised that farmers should be allowed more freedom to implement farming systems rather than being restricted to systems compatible with national level production targets. The Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam decided on the basis of the project findings to allow farmers to diversify into shrimp culture in coastal areas and to extend the technology to other provinces.
As well, local policy makers are now trying to regulate land practices and thus reduce economic and environmental risks - in some areas in the Mekong Delta land has now been zoned as suitable only for integrated rice-shrimp farms.
To continue the study of shrimp health a fully equipped shrimp viral screening laboratory has been installed at Cantho University and is in constant operation for screening farm stocks and in ongoing shrimp virus research.