Description

Overview & objectives: The SANREM CRSP “Agroforestry and Sustainable Vegetable Production in Southeast Asia Watersheds” or SANREM TMPEGS project is developing sustainable agroforestry-based vegetable production systems for steeply-sloping hillsides in Southeast Asia to alleviate poverty and food scarcity and reduce environmental degradation. By combining economically viable and resource conserving technologies with gender friendly socio-economic policies, economically viable and ecologically sound integrated vegetable-agro forestry systems are being developed to increase farm production and income, thus generating a reliable supply of products for markets and increasing local food security. The project is implemented by a consortium of international and national organizations under the coordination of North Carolina A&T State University.

The overall Goal of this project is to demonstrate how steeply-sloping, degraded Southeast Asian watersheds can be converted to vibrant sustainable agroforestry systems with integrated vegetable production. The principal hypothesis is: Integrating vegetable production into agroforestry systems on small farms in steeply-sloping areas will help alleviate poverty and enhance environmental protection, sustainability and economic viability of Southeast Asian watersheds. Watersheds in Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines are targeted specifically, but the developed technologies and knowledge should be transferable to other areas. The TMPEGS acronym is derived from the project objectives, which are:

Technology: Develop economically viable and ecologically-sound integrated vegetable-agroforestry (VAF) systems to increase farm productivity, income, and food security.

Markets: Conduct market value chain research at the local, regional, and national levels that builds upon existing marketing strategies and develop interventions to overcome constraints and take advantage of opportunities.

Policy: Identify policy options and institutional frameworks that promote sustainable vegetable-agroforestry production and reward provision of environmental services.

Environmental and socio-economic impacts: Assess the short and long-term environmental and socio-economic impacts of integrated vegetable-agroforestry systems.

Gender: Provide mechanisms to improve the socioeconomic well-being of women engaged in vegetable production and agroforestry enterprises, especially in terms of income and labor share, and to involve women in decisions that concern their welfare.

Scaling-up: Build host country capacity in managing integrated vegetable-agroforestry systems and packaging related technical, social/economic and institutional innovations for replication and scaling up to other watersheds in the region.

This baseline study is a part of the SANREM CRSP “Agroforestry and Sustainable Vegetable Production in Southeast Asia Watersheds” project implemented in Vietnam by TMPEGS team at Nong Lam University. The study was conducted in Nghia Trung, an upland village located in the upper part catchments of the Dong Nai and the Be River. The baseline study was conducted to:

– provides a better understanding of the socio-economic conditions of the study area and information for the design of the experiments to be implemented in the study site,

– provides a basis for socio-economic impact assessment of integrated vegetable-agroforestry systems.