Nguyen Quoc Huy, Director of Tam Dao Mushroom Cooperative in Vinh Phuc, said the cooperative is developing a mulberry cultivation and silkworm raising farm in the mountainous provinces of Lao Cai, Tuyen Quang, Yen Bai and Cao Bang.

Mulberry has been grown for a long time in Vietnam. It is a foliage plant, but always maintains at least 5 leaves at the end of crop, so it always keeps the land surface green.

Growing mulberry can bring annual revenue of VND300 million, and if deducting cultivation cost, farmers could make a profit of VND180 million a year.

The cooperative has exported its products and Vietnam’s silk potential is great, especially in the Indian market.

The noteworthy feature is that Vietnamese farmers restrict the use of chemical fertilizers during cultivation. “To ensure long-term benefits, we don’t use any kinds of plant protection chemicals, so the environmental protection level is quite high,” Huy said.

Can large-scale mulberry growing areas be measured and granted carbon credits.

Duy affirmed that developing mulberry growing area and selling carbon credits is a good idea.

Duy said the demand for mulberry cultivation and silkworm raising is high. In some southern mountainous areas, such as Yen Bai, Lao Cai and Vinh Phuc, farmers have shifted from tilling rice to growing mulberry and raising silkworms on unfertile land which has brought high economic results. The crop can grow on hills and sloping land, bringing very high profits to farmers.

It is estimated that cultivation can bring income of VND250-300 million per hectare per annum. There is a large-scale silk reeling mill in Yen Bai which can make high-quality products for export to many countries.

“If we make methodical investment, use organic fertilizer and biological plant protection substances in growing mulberry, the emissions will be extremely low and the potential for selling carbon credits is great,” Duy said.

“We will support localities and farmers. We are going to develop carbon certification methods for mulberry growing areas, contributing to achieving a Net Zero target by 2050,” Duy said.

He went on to say that not only growing mulberry and raising silkworms, but many other fields in agriculture can also be exploited for carbon credits.

Criteria to be set up to guide farmers

Tang The Cuong, director of the Department of Climate Change under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), said that agricultural production adapting to climate change is catching great attention from ministries, branches and localities. Currently, the Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) are implementing many solutions to reduce emissions in agriculture.

Among the sources of greenhouse gas emissions, emissions from energy account for 62 percent, followed by agriculture. Therefore, reducing emissions in agriculture play a very important role in implementing the emission reduction plan.

Regarding the greenhouse gas emission reduction, Cuong said MARD has applied positive measures. The ministry has launched a plan on reducing emissions by 2030 for agriculture, forestry, aquaculture and land. It has been promulgating regulations guiding emission reduction projects, especially in forestry which is issuing carbon credits.

International partners are paying attention to Vietnam’s great potential in forestry noting  that the net emission in the field is below zero. Vietnam has transferred 10.3 million forest carbon credits (10.3 million tons of CO2) via the World Bank at the price of $5 per ton, earning $51.5 million (VND1.2 trillion).

Cuong affirmed that this is the first achievement which shows Vietnam’s potential in forestry carbon credit trade.

Besides agriculture, MARD is joining forces with the World Bank and partners to deploy the 1 million high-quality low-emission rice specialized area in the Mekong Delta. Encouraging results have been gained over the last two years of trial deployment.

It is estimated that the low-emission rice farming method allows farmers to make an additional profit of VND18 million per hectare compared with traditional cultivation. Also, farmers can also get money from carbon credit sales.

“In order to help farmers in agricultural production adapt to climate change, emission reduction and strive for net-zero emission, our agency will give advice to MONRE and MARD to set up criteria to give guidance to farmers,” Cuong said.

Tam An