2012 年 3 巻 1 号 p. 16-21
This paper illustrates the viewpoints of the government, farmers’ organizations, namely Agricultural Production Cooperatives (APCs), and individual farmers in relation to the introduction and adoption of a System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in Vietnam. It also identifies factors that can promote or impede the social shift towards fewer agricultural inputs through the SRI method. The qualitative analysis is based on field studies in three communes in the Red River Delta as well as interviews with relevant actors in Vietnam in order to describe each actor’s viewpoints and the realities of farmers’ behaviors towards agricultural inputs. We demonstrated that farmers could correct their overuse of pesticides and herbicides by SRI adoption through training opportunities provided by a Farmer Field School (FFS), inducing farmers to recognize the positive effects of SRI on pest damage and plant protection. However, we also found that the attitude and mental barriers of some governmental bodies and APCs narrowed the opportunities of SRI introduction at a community level. In addition, farmers often faced initial mental barriers and managerial difficulties in adopting the full elements of SRI even if they were trained in the SRI method, leading them to adopt a "modified" SRI in order to meet their personal needs. Nevertheless, the rapid extension of SRI in Northern Vietnam can be explained by: (i) the government’s acknowledgement of SRI, together with an administrative focus on the integrated pest management with the extension tool of the FFS, (ii) the role of APCs in coordinating farmers to lower the entry barriers for them to adopt new techniques, and (iii) communities’ involvement in SRI adoption in order to manage agricultural production collectively without pesticides and herbicides as well as increasing the product’s value, suggesting possible approaches for small-scale farmers to improve their livelihoods while saving agricultural input costs.
