Litchi-based Agroforestry Systems in Hai Duong province

Figure 3 shows landuse map in Chi Linh town, Hai Duong province. The litchi plantation mainly located in the central and northern parts of Chi Linh town. Midland landscape and small mountain have strongly impacted on distribution of litchi, which prefers be planted in lower hill slope. 

Figure 3. Landuse map in Chi Linh town, 2010

Figure 4 presents the landuse map in Kinh Mon district. The fruit areas are along the mountain. Most of the litchi area was established during 1990s during the implementation of the land allocation program and the 327 program. The agroforestry implementation of litchi-based agroforestry systems is weak in this district.

Figure 4. Landuse map in Kinh Mon district, 2010

Table 5: Land use distribution in Hai Duong

Table 5 presents land use status of Hai Duong province from 2007-2012. The total natural area of Hai Duong province was 165,598 ha, of which agricultural land was 105,143 ha, non-agricultural land was 59,898 ha, un-used land 557 ha.

1.1         Changes in land use

The most important change in land use pattern in Hai Duong was the gradual reduction of agriculture-forestry-fishery land area and the slight increase of non-agricultural land area. The proportion of these two land areas in 2002 was 69.2% and 30.1%, by 2009, agriculture-forestry-fishery land made up 64.4% and non-agricultural land accounted for 35.1%. This increase in non-agricultural land area was due to the increase of the demand for habitation in both urban and rural locations, and industrial land. In 2008, the total habitation land area was 14,292ha, or 28.9% higher than that in 2000 (11,089ha). The development of industrial zones attracted a huge number of workers from surrounding regions to Hai Duong in the last decade.

In contrast, the agriculture-forestry-fishery land area has decreased gradually, especially from 2002 to 2007. There was a significant decline in land planted with rice (8.8 thousand ha or 11.3%) because of land conversion into industrial zones and urban areas. The rice land was also converted into fishponds and perennial crops increasing the areas dedicated to these crops (23.8% and 43.8% respectively).

1.1.1        The whole rice fields were completely transformed into litchi orchards

The conversion of rice fields into litchi orchards was a significant change in the agrarian landscape during 1990s (Figure 5). The soil layers were removed to form the land ridge and the indented area. Litchi trees were planted in these ridges while the indented holes became water borders, transforming the relatively flat rice fields into uneven ground. Litchi was then intecropped with longan, vegetables, and small fruit trees as an agroforestry system in 2000.

In Kinh Mon district and Chi Linh town, forests and barren lands were converted into forestry plantations on the hill and mountain tops while litchi was planted in down slope.  

The construction of rice fields into litchi orchards consumed a lot of human resource. Most farming households used their family labours and hired day laborers because the work required collective work. The workers completed a production line where each member was responsible for a specific activity including: soil digging, transportation, and filling the ridge up. It took time to complete these tasks. According to key-informants, it took three to four nine-hour days for a group of eight workers to turn one sao (i.e. 360 m2) of rice fields to a litchi garden.

There was a wide range of litchi varieties planted in Thanh Ha district but these were not classified scientifically. They were mostly identified by the appearance and morphology of the ripe fruits, especially their colours. There were three types of litchi varieties in Thanh Ha district based on their ripening periods: the early ripening variety (namely U Tham, U Hong, Tuhu, as local name), the medium ripening variety (such as Tau lai, Ma quan tai), and the late ripening variety (the Thieu litchi). The Thieu litchi was the most important variety, whose area accounted for more than 75% of total litchi area of the district.

Figure 5. Dynamics of the fruit-based cropping system in the lower zone of Hai Duong

(Source: Han, 2013)

Table 6: Land use change in Hai Duong

1.1         Drivers of land use change

Market driven factor: The price of litchi plays important role in AF application. In the past few years, many farmers have to shift the AF system based Litchi into dragon fruit or citrus due to market output limitation. Recently, many Chinese traders came and local farmer continue to develop their litchi intercropped with other crops.  

Population growth: According to the Hai Duong Province People’s committee, the total population of the province is rapidly increased in recent year. The land is under population pressure.

Urbanization: Urbanization is an important driver of land-use change in Chi Linh town and Hai Duong city.

Land conversion: total areas of natural forest ecosystem, aquatic ecosystem and agro-ecosystem have been declining significantly. Particularly, during the period from 1998 to 2010, the natural forest decreased from 3,104 hectares to 2.335 hectares; the agricultural cultivation areas reduced from 91,440 hectares to 85,570 hectares; the areas of water surface decreased nearly 1000 hectares (General Statistics Office of Hai Duong , 2012).

Climate change: it has many clear evidences in Hai Duong like: drought, extremely cold and hot weather, especially the increase of annual temperature.

Trade policy: Local authority encourages farmers to develop Thieu litchi (local name) and to establish brand name for thieu litchi.

2           Environmental conditions

2.1         Geography

Hai Duong is located at the heart of the Red river delta but it has both highland and lowland territories. The province is slightly sloped from the northwest to the southeast with the difference of the altitude ranging from 10 to 616m in the high area sand from 0.9 to 5m in the plain delta. The highland part in the North occupies 262.85 km2, or 15.91% of the total province area, including 13 communes of Chi Linh district and 18 communes of Kinh Mon district, which are characterized by not very high mountains and hills. The plain basin in the South shares 1389.00 km2, equal to 84.09% of total natural areas, which is shaped and deposited by alluvium soil layers of Thai Binh river system.

Based on the geomorphology, Hai Duong can be divided into four regions (Hai Duong People's Committee, 2008):

-          The low mountainous region in the northeast of Chi Linh district: Average altitude is about 200 - 300m to the sea level. This area is difficult for agricultural production.

-          The hilly region in the South of Chi Linh district and some areas of Kinh Mon district: Average altitude is about 40 – 50m, mostly clear hills and being cultivated by new plants.

-          The limestone mountain region in Kinh Mon district occupies small areas

-          The plain delta is the largest regions and suitable for agricultural activities.

2.2         Soils

The soils in Hai Duong have 4 major groups: Fluvisols (51.88%), Thionic Fluvisols (1.83%), Salic Fluvisols (2.46%), and Acrisols (8.65%) (see Table 7&8). The litchi based AFsystem locates in Fluvisols for lowland and Acrisols in Chi Linh and Kinh mon districts. The minor area of Fluvisols (i.e. Thionic and Salic Fluvisols) is used for plantation of annual crops.

Table 7: Soil classes in Hai Duong

Table 8: Soil types in Hai Duong

2.3         Weather

Hai Duong has a tropical monsoon climate with two distinct seasons, the cold winter that has little rainfall, and the hot and humid summer with heavy rain. Between these two seasons, there are transition periods from winter to summer (April) and from summer to winter (October). The evolution of the average annual rainfall and temperature from 1997 to 2009 is presented in figure 7.

Figure 7. Evolution of annual average temperature and rainfall of Hai Duong province (Hai Duong Statistics Office, 1998,2001,2010quoted in Han, 2013)

During winter (November to March), the average temperature falls under 20oC, and the rainfall is limited to less than 100mm per month, so lack of water for agricultural production is a problem during this period. Seedling rice growth also became a problem when the temperatures reached below under 100C. Farmers had to transplant new seedlings effectively changing the crop calendar. The cold weather also affected the growth of livestock and fish (see more detail in Table 3).

Temperature and rainfall start increasing in April and reach the peak in July or August and falls by the end of November. Due to the poor irrigation system, some places face terrible damage from storms and floods during the rainy season, especially in lowland areas of the south province. This was one of the reasons for the fluctuation of crop yield and productivity. The extremely heavy rain also caused the losses suffered by fish farms in recent years.

Farmers are more concerned recently about climate change because of tis obvious influence on crop and animal production. In Hai Duong, the annual average temperature in last 20 years (from 1986-2005) was 23.520C, which is 0.190C higher than that of the previous period (1960-1979). The frequent variation of the weather made it more difficult for farmers to manage their production activities. The sudden occurrence of extremely bad weather (storm, flood, etc.) has caused significant failures of many farms recently.

Table 9. Some biophysical/environmental parameters of Hai Duong province

Source: Statistic data year book of Hai Duong province, 2012

1.1         Water

As one of the provinces of the Red river delta, Hai Duong has sufficient water resources provided by interconnected stream and river systems. Based on the main water flows, the stream system in Hai Duong can be divided into two sub-systems: the outside river system (or major natural rivers), and the inside canal system. The outside river system is naturally formed and originates from the Northern upstream. Its flows depend largely on the physical environment conditions such as rainfall, flood and the regulation of the reservoir in the upstream. The inside system includes small rivers and canals which the flow regulated by directly pumping from natural rivers.

The natural river systems involve the Thai Binh River and its flows are located in the southeast of the province. These small rivers are Kinh Thay, Kinh Mon, Rang, Van Uc, Lach Tray, Gua, Mia, Han Mau and Da Vach. They flow down from northwest to southeast and turned around Hai Duong province.

The small river and inner canal system may be further divided into two different sub-regions, including the region of Bac Hung Hai irrigation system and the region of left side of Thai Binh river. The region of Bac Hung Hai irrigation system is made up of two main streams, the north stream (62km) and south stream (51km). The canals on the left side of Thai Binh River were built around the 1950s. There are many cross-linked flows that provide enough water for agricultural production of the province among these major streams. 

The estimated total annual water flow of rivers in Hai Duong is about 35 billion cubic metres, and the total amount of alluvium gains 26.6 million tons per year. These rich natural resources are greatly advantageous for agricultural production. However, the distribution of water is not equal throughout the year (85% of total rainfall belongs to summer season, from May to October). Therefore, the floods and droughts occur widely occurred and terribly damage crop and animal production, especially in lowland territories, where the altitude is lower than 2m. This kind of territory shares about 55% of total cultivated land areas of the province.

2           Socio-economic conditions

According to GSO (2013), population growth rate was 0.36% from 2005-2010 and it was relatively lower than growth rate of whole country. However, population was growing so fast from 1,685,500 (2005) to 1,718,895 persons (2011) (see Table 10). Urbanization is going fast and urban citizens were 3 times in 2011 to compare with that in 2005. 

 Table 10. Population growth in urban center of Hai Duong from 1995 to 2011

-         Source: GSO Hai Duong, 2012

-          GDP

-         Table 11: GDP of Hai Duong province in 2011

-         (based on price in 1994)

-         Source: GSO Hai Duong, 2012

Table 11. Socio-economic parameters in Hai Duong province

Han (2013) found that the shortage of agricultural active labours is an emerging issue in the fruit-based production system. This shortage is due to the lack of young and active labours who work on farm. Although the number of potential wage labourers in the province is equivalent to that in other regions, they mostly migrate to industrial zones to find off-farm work. Older people have to take responsibility for most of the farming including the heavy tasks.

Table 11 presents socio-economic conditions of Hai Duong province. The average farm size is narrow 0.1-0.5 ha/household and become constrain for households applying agro-forestry model. Labour force is still abundant in this area and most labour finished high school. Kinh is a major ethnicity and some Dzao ethnic minority living in far distance from the Hai Duong city (in Chi Linh town). Migration is not a serious problem.

2.1         Poverty

Provincial poverty rate was monitored one per 2 years for record. However, each year, local authorities (i.e. communal or ward levels) have to do quick survey to identify the poor. The survey team has members from hamlet head men, communal staff. After one day training in the district, the team went to every household in hamlet/village for asset checking on the list (properties, land, livestock, houses, motorcycles, etc) to compare with some standard thresholds. If households were lower than standard thresholds, the questionnaire was used for interview to identify income, expenditure and belonging properties in a year. If income per capita less than 400,000 VND then the household was classified to the poor; and near the poor from 400,000 VND – 520,000 VND per month per capita.

-          Government and Hai Duong province have implemented a number of program for poverty reduction such as credit for the poor, training in agriculture and aquaculture, and subsidy activities. In general, the benefits of households having certificate for the poor are: (i) subside from government in term of seeds, fertilizers; (ii) received 80,000 VND/hh for electricity; (iii) credits from the bank not above 50 million VND/hh; (iv) deduction of education fees when they children go to school or universities/colleges.

The poverty rate was declining from 17.64% (2004) to 9.4% (2012). There was big gap between urban and rural areas in term of poverty rate: 2010: 4.8% (urban), 14.10% (rural); 2012: 3.20% (urban), 10.8% (rural). In the past, some households applied AF system still belonged to the poor (2004). Recently, none of households applied AF system was classified to the poor.

2.2         Education

-          According to GSO (2012), 100% children went to school and education system is in advance condition in Hai Duong province. Most interviewed farmers were knowledgeable and have high skills in agriculture.   There were not differences between education level of farmers adopt and not adopt AF system.

2.3         Adoption of the agroforestry system

-          Local farmers adopt litchi based AF system firstly in Thanh Ha district with their orchards or gardens since mid’s 1980. The soils are fluvisols with pH from 5.5-6.5. Most farmers are Kinh having knowledgeable for farming. More than 80% households applied this AF system.

-          The second type of litchi based AF system is designed for forest tree on the top hill, litchi on hilly slope and some grain or crops are on valley bottom. This type of AF system locates in Chi Linh and Kinh Mon districts. Local farmer adopt this system since 1994-1995 when land allocation was started. About 70% of households applied this AF system. Most of them were Kinh group, some were Dzao.      

3           Financing, market, and marketing conditions

3.1         Access to financing

All farmers involved in AF systems were mainly self-financed. In addition, partly finance was from their relatives, bank loans, social organizations such as women association, farmer association. Local farmers need to submit their request for fund for agriculture development to local authority for approval before bank. The timing for approval by local authority and bank officers is usually take long and some farmers have to look at other finance sources such as their relatives and social organizations.   

On the other hand, the households, who were certified the poor, are easy to get credits from the bank with maximum amount of 50 million VND under Vietnam government policies. The Vietnam bank for Social Policies and Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) provide families classified as poor with credit that they can use to buy pig, buffalo or cultivate a forest plantation at household level but they require households to provide collateral, which poor households are unable to raise.

3.2         Access to markets

The marketing network, promotion, market and transportation systems in the province are quite developed, so it is easy for farmers to get their products to the market. Most AF products are sold at farm or in the market. Some Chinese traders and business men from the south came to Thanh Ha district to buy directly from litchi producers.

The two main distribution channels of fruit are selling them directly in local and wholesale markets in the neighbors province or sold to buyers at the farm gate at lower than market price.

3.3         Access to information

Farmers can obtain market information from multiple sources of media such as television, retailers, collectors, local markets, neighbors and relatives.

Information on AF systems is learned from other farmers but the knowledge of farmers on the topic is limited. The district Department of Agriculture and Rural Developments has provided demonstration  models or guide farmers in developing AF systems based on litchi.

3.4         Access to farming implements

Land availability for AF system: from farmers land, bidding land from commune, land allocation program.

Fertilizer and pesticide can be obtained at local shops or from extension officers.

Labor force: family members, wage labor. 

4           Policies and programs promoting the adoption of agroforestry systems

4.1         National

·         Policy implications of consolidation of agricultural land

·         Land allocation program and reforestation program 327, 661, 147. 

4.2         Local

The regulation and policy and support system in Hai Duong province should be developed to control competition and stimulate litchi production integrated with other crops in agroforestry system.    

5           Challenges and opportunities

5.1         Policies

Luc Ngan province is the biggest competition in litchi production. The regulation and policy and support system in Hai Duong province should be developed to control competition and stimulate litchi production integrated with other crops in agroforestry system.    

Fragmentation of the agricultural land

The foremost problem in the province is the small and fragmented land plots due to the egalitarian distribution of land in Hai Duong in 1993. Perennial trees and agroforestry system have required larger land for designing and operation. The scattering of land plots rented-in hinders producers in their efforts to consolidate land parcels. Thus, dissemination of unofficial land transaction activity impedes the development of a commercial agricultural production.

Policy implications of consolidation of agricultural land

This policy supports the development of litchi based agroforestry system in Hai Duong, particularly in Thanh Ha, Chi Linh and Kinh Mon districts. Han (2013) summarized the following requirements:

·  Land needs to be offered to the right agents who actually have sufficient assets and capacity for the agricultural production. This means that the land will be given to workers who are currently working full-time or part-time on farms. The farmers who are temporarily engaging in unstable off-farm activities should be involved in this consolidation program.

·  The land consolidation program has to facilitate the development of a commercial and modernized agricultural production. The land plots cannot be small size and fragmented.

·  The land consolidation program needs to ensure the social equity of the rural society. It is of great importance for the project to avoid the social conflicts and disorders. For such objectives, the legitimate aspirations and demands of the most farming families should be taken into account in designing and implementing the land consolidation.

·  When carrying out the consolidation of agricultural land, it is important to place great emphasis on the participation of rural communities in all steps from designing, conducting and inspecting stages. The program should be highly opened-up and encourage the participation of all villagers. 

·  Another requirement is that the land consolidation program has to be consistent with the long-term land use planning of the region. Without consideration of the future land use planning, the project will be soon out of date.

Propositions of auxiliary policies for the land consolidation and redistribution program

In order to have a better result of the land consolidation program, the following policies should be involved:

·  The government should implement some supportive policies to compensate the households who gave back their land plots to others and to help them to find stable jobs in the industry and service sectors. The role of improvement of rural small industry factories and traditional handicraft villages in absorbing the rural employments is well demonstrated in many regions. In some coming years, there is a growing need for supportive programs for the enhancement of these sectors. 

·  The rural infrastructure system, especially the road and irrigation system, needs to be improved by the public investment of the state. This intervention helps to reduce the heterogeneity of production conditions among land plots in different fields. If the facility of the land plots in the unfavourable locations is improved, farmers will readily agree with the land consolidation program.

·  The land consolidation program should be accompanied by the policy of flexibility of land use. It means that the government should encourage and allow land users to transform their land plots from one type of land use to another similar agricultural production activity under the control of the local government.

·  To avoid the abandonment of agricultural land and the illegal land conversion into non-agricultural purposes, the state may consider some specific regulations of land withdrawal in some cases.

5.2         Land use, production, and farming practices

Management issues: The support system for agroforestry based on litchi production is still developed in term of litchi association, land management, land fragmentation in the lowland and social aspects: the litchi producers are always suffered from the risks.  

AF production constraints: The competition between litchi and other components in the agroforestry system is evidence. When litchi tree reached mature and closed canopy, local farmers have to withdraw or reduce density of other associated plants (citrus, bananas, Acacia, eucalyptus, vegetable, etc.).  The plant protection is still issues as too many insect attach on litchi flower and fruit. The harvesting cost is still very high as it took up to 50% of the income from selling.

evelopment of litchi orchards through a wide range of supports

As illustrated in the previous chapter, litchi orchards in Thanh Ha district have been degraded significantly since the last decade. The low price of litchi, especially the main crops, results in the low profit and farmers stop investing in the litchi cultivation. Large areas of litchi orchards are becoming abandoned and non-harvested crops. Farmers start to cut down their litchi gardens while the province and district government are making great efforts to keep litchi cultivation areas stable. In this case, a wide range of supports should be given in order to sustain and develop this special fruit.

First and foremost, the local agricultural cooperative should encourage farmers to improve the productivity and quality of litchi fruits. Most of litchi orchards were grown in the period 1993-1995, and are about 20 years old now. Their reproduction ability has decreased gradually. Thus, farmers should prune or replant their fruit trees to facilitate the pesticide application and harvesting works. They also need to pay much attention to litchi crops by applying fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides appropriately. At the moment, the province and district are launching the project on application of good agricultural practices (VietGAP) in the litchi cultivation in several representative communes (Thanh Son, Thanh Khe, and Thanh Thuy commune). Half of this financial capital will be funded by the provincial budget, and the rest will be called from the contribution of farmers involved in the project. The district government firstly identifies the specific litchi zone, which has a minimum area of 10ha of Thieu litchi. A total litchi cultivation area of 100ha will be selected for this project. Litchi growers, who will participate in this program, will be trained with the good cultivation practices. During the cultivation practices of litchi, they will be strictly inspected and controlled to follow the standard procedure. Their litchi fruits will be sampled to check the quality. If the quality of fruits is equivalent to the standard quality, the litchi orchards will be issued a quality certification (Thanh Ha' Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, 2011).  This is a necessary program to improve the productivity and quality of Thieu Thanh Ha litchi.

Secondly, the local government should give supports for the processing plants of litchi. Litchi is often dried by the traditional method using the fossil fuel (mostly coal). This method cannot ensure the quality standard of the fruits. Several electric drying machines were created and introduced to producers. However, the low profit from litchi and the instability of electricity system in rural areas, especially in the summer, hinder the application of these machines. In order to increase the quality of dried fruit products, some farmers designed a new heating system using the fossil fuel. This system will blow the heating air to the cabin of litchi to prevent the fruits from the coals. This is only a palliative solution because the quality of dried fruits still does not meet the standard requirements.  The government had better support for the fruit processing plants which can have enough capacity to dry a big amount of fruits with good quality.

Thirdly, the local government and the Thieu Thanh Ha litchi association should assist the promotion of the marketing and trading activities of the fruits. Over the last year, although great attempts have been made by both the local government and the litchi association, the marketing and trading activities of the fruits are still limited. In the forthcoming years, they should make more efforts to assist producers in these activities by diversified manners. They should organize the consumer meetings more regularly, especially right before the harvesting season. In this meeting, different target customers such as small businessmen, association of customers, supermarkets, processing plants, etc. should be invited. They also need to place importance on the dissemination of information about the brand name of Thieu Thanh Ha litchi through participating in national and international trade fair. Besides that, the Thieu Thanh Ha litchi needs to be well-packaged with specific logo or label to develop its brand name in the market. Developing the trading and marketing activities is a crucial factor in the success of the litchi cultivation.

Enhancement of diversification of fruit production systems

 Diversification of the fruit-based production system is very meaningful for household economy in the lower zone of Hai Duong province. The single litchi production system is really vulnerable to the changes in the environments, especially the fluctuation of the market. The litchi growers’ income is far lower than the living standard and not sufficient for the daily life of many households. Thus, diversification from litchi into other fruit crops is an indispensable process of farm holdings to adapt better to the changes in the socio-economic and agro-ecological environments.

The diversification of the fruit production system needs to be oriented by the local government to prevent the excessive development of one specific variety of fruit. The lesson from excessive expansion of litchi gardens in the last decade shows that local government has to make great attempts to plan the appropriate regional agricultural development scheme. These efforts should limit the trading activities of fruit cuttings in the market, while promoting the supply of the fruit cuttings from the fruit institutes and companies. The local agricultural cooperative and extension station should introduce new fruit varieties, which are highly suitable for each region, to the farmers. In each region, fruit growers should select and develop one or several fruit varieties to take the most advantages of competitiveness like the case of guava cultivation in Lien Mac commune.

The provision of improved fruit varieties is also of great importance to the diversification of fruit crops. At the moment, most of farm holdings multiply their fruit crops by themselves and provide to others in the local market. This process will result in the degeneration of fruit crops that badly impact on their productivity and quality like guava in Lien Mac commune. Hence, the agricultural cooperative and extension station should work more effectively as the intermediate party to link farmers with the fruit institutes and companies in the development of new fruit varieties.

One of the most important conditions for the fruit diversification is the water supply through irrigation system. The survey results indicate that farmers in the favourable locations, where the water supply is sufficient, diversify their crops more early and rapidly than those in inconvenient areas of water intake. For example, in Thanh Son commune, where the irrigation system was definitely broken down in 1993 due to the complete conversion of all rice field areas into litchi orchards, farmers are now facing with difficulties in diversifying their litchi gardens into other fruit crops. In the region like Thanh Son commune, the reconstruction of irrigation system is in great demand for the fruit diversification. The improvement of the irrigation system can be achieved if the local government and social organizations call for the contribution of both the state and communities in term of financial supports and human power resources. The local government should give priority to these kinds of intervention when setting up the development policy of this region.

5.3         Markets

Market constraint: The production of litchi has not yet guarantees system for production (certificate, brand name). Litchi has seasonal characters and all products are concentrated in only 2-3 weeks end of June to July.  The common situation is that local farmers are unhappy with high harvest due to limitation of market outputs. Recently, the Chinese traders came to Thanh Ha districts to buy litchi fruit for export. However, export to China is always vulnerable as said by local officials. Local farmers said that the current price of litchi (10,000-12,000 VND) is not interested to producers.

Reinforcement of social farmers’ associations for the improvement of cooperation between farmers and other development agents

In Vietnam, the cooperation among four main agents, including farming workers, agricultural scientists, agricultural businessmen, and the government, plays an important role in the development of agriculture and rural areas. The agricultural extension organization and other farmers’ associations are known as the intermediate actor for the connections between producers and other supporters. It is an interactive relation in terms of the agricultural technology transfer, supplying agricultural inputs, marketing agricultural products, and agricultural policy orientation. In this development model, farmers are the central agent who needs great supports and protection from other organizations. If these relationships are strengthened, the agricultural production of households will be improved significantly.

In Hai Duong province and other regions of Vietnam, the existence of many organizations of civil society is advantageous for the development of agriculture and rural society in term of political manipulation and other social assistances. In rural areas, there is a high diversity of the socio-economic organizations and associations to which farmers are admitted as the official members. These organizations and associations such as agricultural extension services, agricultural cooperatives, communist party units, farmer union, woman union, youth union, ex-soldier association, etc., have a strong influence on the behaviour of rural communities. Therefore, strengthening the role and activities of these organizations is essential for the assistance of farm holdings.

The discussions with local farmers and authority staff in Hai Duong demonstrate that it is necessary to improve the efficiency and the role of the agricultural public services in the agricultural production and marketing activities of farm households. Most farmers are often the members of several public service organizations such as farmer union, or agricultural cooperative. Therefore, they are often involved in all activities, from planning to managing and inspecting stage. Some agricultural cooperatives work effectively in providing farmers with some services such as irrigation and drainage services, seed and breed supply, pest management, etc. However, many agricultural cooperatives face huge difficulties of financial capital and work ineffectively because of shortage of motivation, management skills and assistance. In Hai Duong, several new kinds of farmer associations, for example the association of Thieu Thanh Ha litchi growers, have been established recently. Although great attempts have been made to help producers to develop their production systems and marketing activities, their working efficiency is still limited. They fail to encourage smallholders to joint in the association and do not succeed in helping smallholders in marketing agricultural products. Improving these agricultural organizations is of great demand.

It may be in need of establishment of new types of agricultural cooperatives and farmer associations. However, it had better improve the organization, management and working methods of the current agricultural cooperatives, extension stations and farmer associations in rural areas. The state may consider transforming from profit services into non-profit-making organizations working under the supports and instructions of the state. These organizations have to play an important role in assisting farmers’ production activities and in protecting them from the monopoly of private enterprises in the market. They also work as an intermediate party between farmers and the agricultural scientists and government staff in terms of technology transfer and national policy extension. In order to improve the working efficiency and the political ascendancy, they should collaborate with other social civil organizations in rural areas such as the communist party unit, the ex-soldier association, the youth and the women union, etc. Furthermore, the activities of these organizations should be explicit and fulfil the demand of producers. They should give priority to the smallholders who often face difficulties in developing their production systems and have less power in the market.

Apart from the supports from the government and social organizations, farmers also have to dynamically collaborate with each other and with other development agents in order to promote their production systems towards sustainable development. They can joint actively in the farmers’ association that helps them to bulk buy inputs with a cheaper price, to share information about the market price, improved techniques, new animal breeds or plant varieties, and so on. As an official member of these associations, each farmer has to strictly comply with the specific regulations and the common goals of the group such as the standard quality of the products, the adequate disease prevention program, etc. The compliance and contribution of each producer are necessary for the sustainable development of farmer’s associations as well as agricultural production system.

Support for the development of agricultural business and food processing as the driving force for the commercialization of production of farm households, especially for litchi production

Local people would like emphasis on the development of contract farming. In recent years, some agricultural businessmen have attempted to develop the contract farming with vegetable and fruit growers. All vegetables and litchi products should be purchased at the market price. The total vegetable cultivation areas signed in the contract increase from about 5ha to 10.5ha in the same period. This kind of farming contract is of great importance for the economic activity of both producers and buyers. All agricultural products of the farmers will be bought at a relatively stable price. It also enables the private enterprise to make a good business planning in term of commodity supply.

However, the lack of appropriate market institutions makes the contract farming difficult to be developed. According to the term of the contract, all agricultural products of farm holdings will be sold to the company at the average price in the market. In fact, many producers break it when the small and medium middlemen come to buy the products at a little higher price than that of the company. The legal constitution is issued to protect the enterprise against the producers who often break the contract. Therefore, it is impossible for the company to continue the farming contract with the farmers anymore. Then, the company has to depend mostly on the intermediate collectors at the villages in buying vegetables and other agricultural commodities.

6           Implications for the future

Litchi based AF system in Hai Duong province has been showed a potential for development. Local farmers always have to adjust the system by diversifying crop pattern and litchi varieties with the composition of early, medium and late ripening and harvest. Government and local authority should provide finance and marketing supports, and post-harvest techniques for farmers.

Acknowledgement: This research was funded by ICRAF, Vietnam. All maps were completed by Dr.Tran Nguyen Bang, department of DAES, Faculty of Environment.

  References

Dinh, N. T., T. T. Minh and D. T. Anh (2005). Analyzing Thieu Litchi Value Chain in Thanh Ha district - Hai Duong province. Hanoi, Agrarian System Department, Vietnam Agriculture Science Institute

Hai Duong statistics office (2013).Haiduong Statistical Yearbook 2012.GSO publication house, Hanoi.

Han Q.H (2013). Dynamics of Agrarian Systems in Hai Duong Province, North Vietnam. PhD thesis, University of Liege – Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Belgium.238 pages, 61 tables, 80 figures, 8 boxes.

Thanh Ha' Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (2011). Project on the development of Thieu Thanh Ha litchi followed by the good agricultural practices (VietGAP), Thanh Ha' Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Ton, V. D., N. T. Huyen, V. Q. Khanh and N. G. Dai (2006). The Real Situation of Litchi Commodity Chain in Thanh Ha. Conference on Promoting to Litchi Commodity Chain, Hai Duong.