Hydropower development and livelihoods: supporting new cassava varieties for local

farmers around the Yali reservoir

Sonali Senaratna Sellamuttu and Trun Duc Toan

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Key development challenge

The Mekong River Basin faces massive development investment with regard to hydropower.

Little attention to how dams can be constructed and operated in ways that optimize benefits for all water users including impacted communities.

Local people are unable to engage in their original livelihood activities

Food insecurity another major challenge facing the Mekong region

Research objective: identify and pilot test innovative livelihood options that use the new environmental conditions created as a result of the hydropower development

Research conducted to address key challenges

Ya Tang

Ya Xier Sa Binh

Yali

Broad scale and household level livelihood surveys: 250 HHs (male/female respondents) in 4 communes; included Kinh and ethnic minorities - Jarai.

Draw down agriculture in Yali Falls water- energy-agriculture nexus

Drawdown area of Yali reservoir is used by farmers to grow cassava but:

• risk of flooding is high at the end of the crop season

• duration on land exposure is too short to achieve max yield with the commonly used variety (KM 94)

Livelihood pilot: new cassava variety in the Yali drawdown

Livelihood pilots - introduction of a new short term variety (KM98-7)• 2012: 3 farmers – 1.5 ha – 1

commune (Sa Binh)• 2013: 36 farmers – 20 ha – 2

communes (Sa Binh and Yali)

Pilots produced positive results• Increase yield and starch

content 32 tons/ha vs 21 tons/ha26% starch vs 21% starch

• Increased net benefit over $350 USD/ha to $850 USD/ha

Key outputs

Training courses and field visits were organized in 2012-2013 for over 500 farmer HHs (both men and women) in the 4 communes (both Kinh and Jarai ethnic groups)

Training material produced

Papers, presentations and posters

Our partners and their roles

Local government: Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) played a facilitation role to strengthen the interactions between the research institutes (IWMI, SFRI) and local farmers (ensured that ethnic minority groups participated in the livelihood pilot).

Dam operator: Cooperation of the dam operator by sharing information on the water regime that helped analyze the duration of land exposure - key for making decisions on alternative cropping systems in a semi-flooded land area

Key outcomes

• Better communication between local communities and dam operator (signed agreement to provide reservoir water level calendar)

• Increased capacity of local authorities and farmers (both women and men and also different ethnic groups)

• A change in attitude of hydropower companies toward the drawdown area of HP reservoirs (up-scaling to neighbouring reservoir)

Next Steps

Scaling-up livelihood pilot to neighboring Plei-Krong reservoir. Lessons on process of going to scale and impact.

A more in-depth understanding of how women/men; Kinh/Jarai benefit differently from the successful pilots (increase in income) and factors underlying these differences

Thank You