Abstract
Bac Lieu, a coastal province in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, faced rapid changes in environmental and socio-economic conditions in the early 1990s when the government started investing in the construction of a series of coastal embankments and sluices along the coast. The purpose of these interventions was to prevent saltwater from entering freshwater rice perimeters and to increase rice production in the area. This chapter synthesizes the data from participatory rural appraisals (PRAs) designed to understand the major factors behind changes in socio-economic conditions in the province, as perceived by farmers. The PRAs were conducted in 2000 and 2007 and were aimed at recording farmers' assessments of resource management and farm-level technological interventions in three different zones that had been impacted by water management and salinity control interventions for a long, an intermediate or a short time: the early intervention zone (EIZ), the recent intervention zone (RIZ) and the marginal intervention zone (MIZ), respectively. Community-identified significant change (CISC), a tool to capture learning on significant community changes, was used to understand the impacts of the government's interventions in these three zones. CISC gave important insights into the changes in community life in the three areas and the main factors leading to these changes according to the farmers' perceptions. These factors were changes in the government water management strategy and new technological interventions at farm level. The introduction of fresh water has supported the diversification of farming systems in the EIZ. The use of brackishwater for shrimp farming in the RIZ and MIZ has increased household income but is risky and poses environmental hazards in the RIZ. New technologies for both rice and fish production have improved household conditions and increased incomes.