Climate change: Vietnamese rice farmers switch to shrimp
For years, Ta Thi Thanh Thuy toiled on a sliver of land sandwiched between the Mekong River and the South China Sea, a region widely known as Vietnam's rice bowl, to grow the prized grain.
But Thuy, along with many of her neighbours, has over the past decade completed a production swap - to shrimp - a previously unlikely shift that was spurred by the effects of climate change.
As rising seawaters bring significantly increased salination levels in the Mekong Delta region, the trend toward cultivating shrimp ponds is expected to supercharge the country's seafood industry.
The seawater increase in the delta region has been compounded by the construction of several hyodropower dams upstream, further reducing fresh water flow.
The government has set an ambitious target to more than double shrimp exports from current levels to $10 billion by 2025 and delta farmers have benefited from local authority training sessions and other measures, including some soft loans.
"Life was very hard for us until we began to farm shrimp," Thuy, 52, said. "Many shrimp farmers around here have been able to build nice houses and open saving accounts at banks."
Text by Khanh Vu Published on Reuters
Abandoned houses in a flooded area which used to be the paddy rice fields are seen in Soc Trang province, Vietnam, April 27, 2021.
A farmer checks the salinity of the water in a shrimp farm in Soc Trang province, Vietnam, April 27, 2021.
A shrimp farmer feeds shrimps in a pool in Soc Trang province, Vietnam, April 27, 2021. Picture taken April 27, 2021.
A shrimp farmer shows a small shrimp from a farm pool in Soc Trang province, Vietnam, April 27, 2021.
Shrimp farmers weigh harvested shrimps in Soc Trang province, Vietnam, April 27, 2021.
Shrimp farmers harvest in a pool in Soc Trang province, Vietnam, April 27, 2021.
Shrimp farmers load a truck with harvested shrimps in Soc Trang province, Vietnam, April 27, 2021
Former rice fields turned into pools to farm shrimps are seen in Soc Trang province, Vietnam, April 27, 2021.
Farmers prepare former rice fields into pools to farm shrimps in Soc Trang province, Vietnam, April 28, 2021.
Ta Thi Thanh Thuy, 52, walks past the place where she used to grow rice before her family switched to shrimps farming in Soc Trang province, Vietnam, May 1, 2021.
Ta Thi Thanh Thuy, 52, prays in front of her house in Soc Trang province, Vietnam, May 1, 2021.
Tran Ngoc Giau, 55, rests on the hammock at his home in Soc Trang province, Vietnam, May 1, 2021.
Ta Thi Thanh Thuy, 52, and her husband eat at their home in Soc Trang province, Vietnam, May 1, 2021.
Ta Thi Thanh Thuy's family eats dinner next to their shrimps farm in Soc Trang province, Vietnam, May 1, 2021.
An altar is seen in front of a shrimp farm pool in Soc Trang province, Vietnam, May 1, 2021.
Thanh Hue
Thanh Hue is a Hanoi-born freelance photojournalist currently based in Ho Chi Minh City.