Climate-Resilient AgriFood Systems (CRAFS) is an interdisciplinary research group which consists of competent lecturers and researchers from Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) and scientists from national and international research institutions. CRAFS conducts inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary research activities for contributing to Vietnam’s agricultural development under the changing climate. The team combines research from different fields to contribute to enhancement of sustainable and safe agrifood systems and adaptive capacity and resilience to climate impacts that the country is being faced with. Main research works are as follows:
– Introduction of climate-smart agriculture technologies and practices (CSA T&Ps) to help marginalized and vulnerable farmers and women to enhance adaptive capacity and resilience to climate change in rural areas;
– Application of CSA landscapes and climate-smart village (CSV) approach in strengthening sustainable and safe agrifood systems, human and animal health, and women empowerment at provincial, agroecological and national levels;
– Development and transfer of spatial decision support systems (SDSS) to local governments in identifying, strategizing, and planning solutions for CSA-based adaptation based on near-time and long-term climate scenarios.
– Implementation of field-based experiments on eco-efficient agriculture, conservation agriculture measures, value chain development to back up policy recommendations for developing a circular economy in the agricultural sector in rural areas and higher administrative levels;
– Cross-cutting research themes to support and compliment the main topics above: social inclusion (empowerment of women, poor and vulnerable farmer groups, and youth); monitoring and evaluation of R4D outputs, outcomes and impacts; GIS and remote sensing; data science and Big Data.
These activities will create outputs, outcomes and impacts in contribution to achievement goals of Vietnam’s transitioning agriculture towards climate adaptation and resilience through national strategic program, such as sustainable development goals (SDGs), national agricultural policies (NAPs), nationally determined contributions (NDCs), sustainable poverty reduction, green growth, and national target program on new rural development (NTM), etc.
To achieve this ambitious research for development (R4D) goal, the team will conduct the following actions:
– Collaborate with national and international potential partners in fund raising and implementing interdisciplinary R4D projects;
– Join national and international R4D networks to develop and adjust strategies for the team’s contributions into in order to generate highest outcomes and impacts for the overall development of Vietnam’s transitioning agricultural sector in the changing climate;
– Work closely with ministries, national target programs, local governments and farmers so field-based research outputs and be translated into valuable recommendation for policy uptake for effective scaling at provincial, regional and national scales;
– Host Vietnamese and international students with their BSc, MSc and PhD thesis works in R4D projects for capacity building and preparing young generations with responsibility and missions for the goal in the future;
– Publish R4D works in high quality peer-reviewed journal articles both in English and Vietnamese;
– Translate research outputs, outcomes and impacts into syllabi in relevant lectures at VNUA and beyond so more students can learn and get trained with research skills and knowledge generated from the work of the team.