Professor and doctor NGUYEN VAN LUAT

Some measures of increasing adaptation of agriculture in living condition and avoiding the disadvantages caused by the climate change like measure of shortening crop time with very early rice variety and measure of sowing rice in a row and rice seedlings fling. Developing gardens with agricultural and sylvical plants, industrial crops and forestry plants and trees and especially the food crop and creating condition for developing the economical ecological system of garden, pond and animal shelter in regions properly. Floating and non-floating rice is also mentioned in this article.
The system of plants and trees in general and the structure of food crop in particular must be changed in a way of ensuring the food security until the area of wet rice is narrowed remarkably due to climate change. Studying the protection of flora must be changed accordingly and needs to be invested more for protecting many other plants and trees and dealing with pestilent insects and damage occurring complicatedly.

I. The agriculture adaptable to climate change
There are some initial results of agriculture which is adaptable to climate change. But it is not corresponding to the importance of climate change (Dinh Vu Thanh, Nguyen The Quang, Ha Luong Thuan, Le Trung Tuan, 2007).
With the warning the climate change, a proper action plan program must be established for agricultural production including many agricultural sylvicultural piscicultural projects of climate change adaptation. Through this program, crop plants corporation, domestic animals including poultry, livestock, and aquatic product and raising method in accordance with soil, water and temperature must be researched for development. This is to build and carry out the program of national target dealing with the climate change in general and clean developing mechanism (CDM) in particular that is presided over by the Ministry of Resources and Environment (according to the Decision 60/2007/NQ-CP dated December 03, 2007). The ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has had an special organization taking care of this mater, and is considering the possibility of damming up along sea bank with trees which stop waves.
Due to the different features of climate and terrain, the influence of climate change on each region is different in level and content. The adaptation agriculture is interested for along time, but the quicker and quicker the climate change process is, the more important meaning of adaptation agriculture is, which the system of adaptation crop plant is the most important because it is the constituent of agriculture system in deciding the food security. The flora protection role is more and more important in protecting the safety of food production.
Summarizing the production process and scientific research results in harsh weather can both “encourage agricultural expansion” through research results and production experiences and is the basis for establishing new projects with updated scientific technical content, which contributes to the adaptation of climate change.
II. Producing rice in climate change process
1./ Shortening crop production cycle by very early rice variety
The process of producing industry/agriculture always has a tendency of shortening the production cycle for the products or goods with quick speed according to the progress of science and technology. Over hundreds of centuries, the process of rice cultivation development is attached to the process of shortening the growing time of the rice variety. From wild perennial rice to one year per crop, and then 2 crops, 3 crops and in the Mekong Delta, there are 7 crops in 2 years with the manyfold-increased productivity and yield (N.V. Luat, 2001). With the warning of climate change, the demand of shortening production cycle is more and more pressing to avoid the climate change such as avoiding flood, drought, brine and to save time for increasing crop number per year.


A group of very early high-yield rice growing for 80-90 days for export which had been selected and introduced for production was cultivated in millions of hectares with the productivity, quality and pestilent insect resistance not worse than more long-time rice varieties. The Mekong Delta Rice Institute collected rice varieties and selected the one with average growing time of 60-75 days in years of 1980 of the previous century, which is named OMCS1 and OMCS7 (Nguyen Van Luat, 2006).
2./ Shortening production cycle by technical method of preparing rice seeds and transplanting.

a./ The technique of sowing rice directly prolong the rice crop because it includes seeding period in the field especially in winter crop in the North. By using the very early rice variety in crop and sowing and planting rice in rows with sowing machine in the South can solve the problem of lacking rice field labors. It is known that scientists has created and is testing a machine that can sow in a box with such low rice grain quantity as in transplanting and seeding.

Table 1 – The influence on productivity of rice sowing and planting methods (Nguyen Van Luat, Nguyen Thi Nhan, Bui Thi Thanh Tam, Nguyen Duc Thanh)

Roots	Spring winter crop 1997-98		Autumn summer crop 1998
	Productivity  (ton/ha)	Increases (kg/ha)	Productivity  (ton/ha)	Increases (kg/ha)
Spread sowing, OM1723 variety Row sowing, OM1723 variet Thrown rice seedlings, OM1723 variety	5.21c 6.11ab 6.49a	/ 900 1280	1.62c 3.60a 3.54a	/ 1980 1920
Spread sowing, OM1960 variety Row sowing, OM1960 variety Thrown rice seedlings, OM1960 variety	5.07 5.64 5.91	/ 670 840	1.60 3.16 3.08	/ 1560 1480

Compared to the practice of sowing dense rice by hands (more than 200 kg/ha in the Mekong Delta), the sunlight shines into the rice field which are sowed in rows and thrown rice seedlings better. This reduces 3 times of chemical insecticides, decreases 50 kg of nitrogenous fertilizer/ha and environment pollution. The time of each crop reduces 10 to 20 days, the quantity of used water is decreased but we could not measure how much the water is.

b./ The time of crop can be shortened to 70 days as the model carried out in districts of Chau Thanh and Can Long in Tra Vinh in 2000 with exporting high-yield rice variety OMCS 21 growing over 80 days, rice seeds which are made on plastic frame with rich soil cell where 2-3 rice seedlings are planted. This is temporarily called “rice seeds on frame”. 12-14 days old seedlings are moved out of the plastic frame for flinging. The yield is 6-8 tons/ha.

3./ Using long-time high-body rice variety sensitive to light cycle to live in flood

The rice variety which can live in flood is the rice with 170-180 cm high, especially the floating rice in the Mekong Delta or “Ngoi -rising” rice in Quang Binh with 4-metre length and more. In the Mekong Delta, there are tens of rice varieties sensitive to light cycle. Farmers plant vegetables in Summer Spring crop. After harvesting the vegetables (bean, corn etc.), the flood arrives, the rice gradually rises until it is 10-20 cm high per day. Its root adheres to the soil, and its body is floating in the water and its extra root sprouts from the floating body to suck silt. In the end of the flood, the rice falls in accordance with flood exit direction, but the rice flower is still there with the productivity of 2.5-4 tons/ha, it is an organic rice at high price. Coastal areas have many high-body rice varieties with appropriate cultivation practice which can live in salty and alum soil (Nguyen Van Luat, 1984, 1996).

After harvesting floating rice flowers, the remaining 20-30cm - length straw keeps more silt and humidity. The vegetables crop can be continued without doing anything to the soil or any or little fertilizer because of few pestilent insects. We have many rice research results in 1980 decade of the previous century in Phu Tan, Cho Moi, An Giang province and Thot Not, Hau Giang (Can Tho now) which have had higher economy efficiency than the system of cultivating 2-3 crops of high-yield rice and the poor soil like this now and investing half and twice as much fertilizer again as the old one. Though the floating rice is actually eliminated in production for food security, its variety is still kept in genetic banks in research agencies.

Table 2 – The economic efficiency of the system of crop in rice floating area
Dang Kim Son (1984-1986)

Rotational cultivation	Area (ha)	Income (ton)	Interest (rice ton)	1kg rice/cong (Cong= 1,000-1,200 m2)
Chau Phu district, An Giang province
Floating rice-sesame-bean	350	17.5	12.8	40
Floating rice-sesame	2,870	15.1	3.6	39
Spring winter rice crop	2,500	4.1	2.0	22
Floating rice	7,100	2.4	1.6	17
Thot Not district, Hau Giang province ( Can Tho now)
Floating market-Young jute-Autumn-summer rice crop	150	18.6	11.5	12.0
Floating market-Young jute	520	10.2	7.5	8.3
Pure jute	1.550	8.6	6.0	12.0
Spring winter- Autumn summer rice crops	440	7.5	2.7	6.0
Floating rice	12.500	1.2	0.9	6.0

The price exchanges at the time: 1kg of jute = 4 kg of rice; 1 kg of bean = 5 kg of rice; 1 kg of sesame = 6 kg of rice

4./ Studying for terrestrial rice development
Terrestrial rice is mainly grown in mountainous and midland in rainy season with statistical area of less than 150,000 ha. Localities grow much of the rice in the limit of area of 20,000 to 27,000 ha such as Lai Chau, Nghe An, Gia Lai and tens of other provinces. Though the area is small with low productivity, the meaning of food security is rather high because the rice transportation from the delta to these areas is costly and it is more important when the sea water rises due to climate change and narrowing the rice cultivating area in deltas.

Terrestrial rice is grown mainly by local variety. Although there are some special rice varieties, their productivity is low. There are also rice varieties with higher yield such as a group of terrestrial rice which is researched in the scientific technical agriculture forestry institute in Phu Tho in northern mountainous region. It is heard that the IRRI has created a terrestrial perennial rice variety with creeping body which can prevent erosion well.

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