Climate Smart Irrigation is under contract to the Sustainability Management Services Division of ECOM, and funded by IDH, to develop a long term program for sustainable growth for smallholder coffee growers in the Central Highlands region of Viet Nam.

Climate Smart Irrigation has completed the Feasibility Study, which has been accepted, and we are now in the process of identifying the parcels for innovations to:

1Improve water-use efficiency and thereby conserve energy and relieve pressure from overdrawn groundwater basins
2Improve nutrient-use efficiency

3Reduce the carbon footprint of agriculture in the region

4Incorporate Integrated Pest Management and reduce reliance on chemical pesticides

5Increase yields by the addition of innovative products and methodologies, while reducing annual variable costs

Vietnamese coffee growers are excellent farmers and produce the highest yields in the world. As a nation, Viet Nam is the second largest producer of coffee in the world. Vietnamese farmers pursue excellence and always seek ways to improve their efficiency and yields.

We have put together a suite of tools for them to implement. All of these tools have proven themselves in other projects of mine to improve yields, make greater water-efficiency use and greater nutrient-efficiency use. Never before have all these tools been used simultaneously. We have very high expectation that the benefit of combining innovations will be much greater than the sum of their parts.

We have reliable and valid baseline data and will be monitoring, assessing and evaluating our innovations diligently and in a scholarly manner.

It is my goal to have preliminary results, at least, when I chair the 90-minute symposium on our development paradigm at the Global Food Security Conference in Montpelier, scheduled for Sunday, December 6. I hope to see you there