Vietnamese farmers use smartphones to monitor water levels in rice fields

Jul 26, 2023

Vietnamese rice farmers are using high-tech irrigation systems to adapt to a low-water future. Image: Pexels/hartono subagio

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In 2017, Tra Vinh University installed “smart” pumps for AWD farmers like Thach Ren so they could use their smartphones to check the water level in their rice fields without being there in person. Image: Giang Pham.

Thach Ren is one of many rice farmers in Vietnam who gets his water from a complex canal system that pumps water from the Mekong River across the country. These canals allow for multiple harvests per year, but farmers have limited control over the water flow. Image: Giang Pham.

Nam Dung has been farming rice for nearly three decades. He’s been using the alternate wetting and drying (AWD) method for more than 10 years. He participated in a pilot program in 2017 to test out a new technology using “smart” pumps, and still uses that technique today. Image: Giang Pham.

The rice fields of Phu Can Cooperative lie along roads just wide enough for the motorbikes that farmers load with bags of rice. The farmers sell the rice both fresh and to merchants who sell the raw product elsewhere. Image: Giang Pham.

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Lam Thi Kinh has been working with the cooperative for more than a decade and was a participant in the 2017 pilot program. While the technology has stopped rolling out, she is still attending the “farmer field school” classes that share advice and information about AWD farming. Image: Sonal Gupta.

One of the many solar-powered sensors that Tra Vinh University placed around the Phu Can Cooperative’s rice fields. These sensors provide the water level to an app farmers can check from their smartphones, allowing them to only water the fields exactly when they need to. Image: Giang Pham.

Pham Vu Bang is an academic from Tra Vinh University who has been helping coordinate efforts with local farmers to get them to adopt more sustainable practices. Image: Giang Pham.

In this December 2022 image, a rice farm in Tra Vinh, Vietnam, is almost ready for harvest. Flooded ankle-deep, these farms need a significant amount of water to keep the rice crops submerged throughout the growing period. Image: JJ Mazzucotelli.

The farmers of the Phu Can Cooperative are able to keep their rice fields significantly drier than their neighbors who employ the traditional flooding method. Even without the widespread continued deployment of the “smart” pumps, these farms still stretch out toward the horizon. Image: Giang Pham.

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