Resilience of shrimp farming based livelihoods in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Abstract

In Mekong Delta's southern provinces, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau, the rural livelihoods are mainly based on fisheries and shrimp farming. The main shrimp farming systems are intensive and improved extensive, of which the last may be integrated or associated with mangrove. Integrated means that most ponds are canals amidst stretches of mangrove, while in associated shrimp-mangrove systems the mangrove forest is a large plot clearly separated from the pond areas. Decision-making in shrimp farming considers several risks and uncertainties. Next to the disease risks and ecological uncertainties farmers are subject to economic uncertainties (market prices of inputs and shrimp), social, political and institutional processes. Though all are pursuing increased incomes, this multitude of factors means that the livelihood history of households of shrimp farmers and fishers may follow different pathways. In 2009, about approximately 70% of the households reported that shrimp farming today was riskier than five years ago. Farmers cited environmental problems associated with shrimp disease as their main cause of failure. To them, shrimp diseases are caused by deforestation, soil degradation, and pollution from sewage water and sediments in the canals, by salinization, and the when the dry and rainy seasons are shifting. According to farmers, the rains have become more unpredictably in recent years, which has made shrimp farming more vulnerable to failure.