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Greenhouse gas emissions from rice production have been identified as a key mitigation focus for Vietnam to meet its Nationally Determined Contributions committed to the Paris Agreement. Shifting to a production landscape that adopts Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD), which refer to the practice wherein fields are intermittently drained and allowed to dry before being flooded again, can reduce emissions from rice production by 50%. This practice was selected by stakeholders as a priority for scaling out. The study presented here analyzed the process of government coordination and the roles of farmer cooperative groups and private industry pertaining to contract farming as a vehicle for out-scaling AWD. Government officials at the national and provincial level, as well as representatives from private industry and farmer cooperatives, were interviewed to identify enabling factors and limitations to coordination. To further assess the scaling potential of AWD, this study determined the barriers to scaling out as perceived by different actors in the rice value chain and provided recommendations as ways forward. The end goal of this study was to collaborate with the government of Vietnam to combine its findings with data collected from parallel studies in co-designing an implementation framework. The framework, in turn, would guide Vietnam's rice-related mitigation strategy to meet the 2030 emission reductions that the country pledged to the Paris Agreement.

Vietnamese agriculture has experienced remarkable growth over the past twenty years. Today, however, Vietnamese agriculture is edging toward the limits of a growth model rooted more in the intensification of production systems featuring heavy use of labor, chemicals, and natural resources than in efficiency or value addition gains. Agricultural growth is decelerating and Vietnam's competitiveness as a provider of bulk, undifferentiated commodities is flagging as the agricultural sector faces rising competition for labor, land, and other resources. The environmental fallout from intensification has also begun to adversely impact productivity and the position of Vietnam's commodities in international markets. If it is to fulfill its ambitions and remain a motor of economic development, Vietnam's agriculture will need to start producing More from Less. In this regard, tackling agricultural pollution represents a key challenge for Vietnam. Pollution has started to take a toll on the sector's own resource base, potentially impacting soil fertility and yields, the effectiveness of chemicals in combating pests and disease, farmer health and productivity, environmental health, and the safety of food. Growing evidence and public concern about pollution have led the Vietnamese government to adopt a new outlook and to take measures to address the problem. The research upon which this summary report is based represents the first attempt to assemble existing evidence on the nature and magnitude of agricultural pollution in Vietnam, looking across the livestock, aquaculture, and crops subsectors. It is also an attempt to shed light on the socioeconomic impacts and drivers of agricultural pollution, including the shortcomings of existing policies and programs to reign in the problem.