OAR@ICRISATEfficient Management of Natural Resources: A Way to Sustain Food Security in the Rainfed Sloping Lands of Northern VietnamT DLongauthorARamakrishnaauthorH MTamauthorN VVietauthorN TChinhauthorRainfed sloping lands occupy one-third area of northern Vietnam and are threatened with destruction of natural resource base due to improper land use practices. Current production practices are exacerbating soil loss and destruction of the natural habitat as the soils are deeply weathered, poor in nutrients, and highly vulnerable to erosion. These ecosystems have much lower carrying capacity and respond to crop intensification by rapid decline in productivity, even total collapse if not managed properly. Remoteness and inaccessibility, low biological productivity, environmental degradation, disease and health problems, population increase, and lack of a development paradigm tailored to the special conditions are the key constraints for development. Sustainable farming on these lands in the perspective of a seriously deteriorated ecology and environment is not an easy task. Proper understanding of constraints and development of appropriate technologies with focus on soil, water, and nutrient management help optimize food production and combat resource degradation. Research and application of watershed based integrated natural resource management technologies offered excellent opportunities for crop diversification to meet market orientation, sustaining food production at higher levels, improving soil health, recharge of aquifers, and enhancing household incomes for better rural livelihoods in the sloping land ecoregions of northern VietnamWatershed Management2001Conference or Workshop Item

For work being deposited by its own author: In self-archiving this collection of files and associated bibliographic metadata, I grant OAR@ICRISAT the right to store them and to make them permanently available publicly for free on-line. I declare that this material is my own intellectual property and I understand that OAR@ICRISAT does not assume any responsibility if there is any breach of copyright in distributing these files or metadata. (All authors are urged to prominently assert their copyright on the title page of their work.)

For work being deposited by someone other than its author: I hereby declare that the collection of files and associated bibliographic metadata that I am archiving at OAR@ICRISAT) is in the public domain. If this is not the case, I accept full responsibility for any breach of copyright that distributing these files or metadata may entail.

Clicking on the deposit button indicates your agreement to these terms.