1 Project Background
(1) Groundwater depletion and land degradation, due to the impacts of drought and saline water intrusion on major crops? productivity and farmers' income in Ward 2 of Vinh Chau town.

(2) Efforts to overcome groundwater depletion and land degradation is still limited, in the context of drought and saline water intrusion, due to:
- The farmers are poor, who are mainly Khmer ethnic minority people that account for over 75% population of Ward 2.
- Traditional farming practices only focus on exploiting the maximum potential of land and water, with little attention paid to fertilize, regenerate, restore and use natural resources in an efficient manner.
- Most farmers use agricultural chemicals such as inorganic fertilizers, chemical pesticides, without adding compost, causing soil depletion.
- Unable to mobilize community participation, due to the lack of appropriate benefit-sharing strategy.

(3) The promotion of combining science and technology advances with traditional knowledge, and the application of integrated farming practices towards sustainable and efficient use of land, water, and biodiversity still face many challenges due to limited financial resources and other support policies.

2 Project Objectives
a) Overall objective: Contribute to reducing adverse impacts of climate change and enhance adaptation to drought, saline water intrusion, land degradation and groundwater depletion, through applying integrated farming model of land, water and biodiversity, transferring and replicating effective techniques used in successfully piloted models, contributing to the sustainable production of onions and other intensive crops in the sand dunes of Vinh Chau, Soc Trang.
b) Specific objectives:
- Objective 1: Raise awareness and understanding of the impacts of climate change, drought, saline water intrusion, land degradation and groundwater depletion on the production and livelihoods of people in Ward 2, Vinh Chau.

- Objective 2: Strengthen capacity in farming and the use of land, water and biodiversity for farmers and Khmer communities, integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation activities into the production and livelihoods of people in Vinh Chau.

- Objective 3: Demonstrate farming models that adopt techniques of sustainable land management and efficient groundwater use (10-12%), safe and effective onion farming (profit increase by 10-15%).

- Objective 4: Review and evaluate the model results. Summarize lessons learned. Propose adaptive farming models. Complete the processes and transfer/replicate throughout the province.

3 Project Activities
(1) Develop and implement communications activities to strengthen climate change adaptation capacity in the project site.
(2) Develop farming model that adopts techniques of sustainable land management, efficient groundwater use, safe and effective onion farming as well as other rorating crops.
a. Test the water-saving irrigation model for onions (Pilot model 1)
b. Develop recycling model for onion waste-products, and other local organic sources (Pilot model 2)
c. Continue implementing the demonstration model that adopts integrated farming techniques to improve fertility, prevent and limit land degradation, while ensuring productivity and economic efficiency of crop rotation models; combine advanced techniques with traditional knowledge (replicate the integrated farming model that has been successfully tested during phase 1): implemented on 150 ha (30 ha/crop x 5 crop seasons, including 2 onion seasons (VietGAP), 2 spring-summer and 1 summer-autumn crops).
(3) Strengthen the transfer of technical advances through TOT, FFS and organize a model demonstration workshop.
(4) Review and evaluate the results of model replication and transfer. Draw lessons learned. Document technical processes.

4 Expected Results
(1) Raise awareness and understanding of the impacts of climate change, drought, saline water intrusion, land degradation and groundwater depletion on the production and livelihoods of people; help farmers effectively and sustainably use land, water, and biodiversity in onion farming as well as other rotating crops production in Vinh Chau, Soc Trang.
(2) Strengthen training of trainers (TOT), field training for farmers (FFS) and the transfer of technology for Khmer community in the project site (3 TOTs for 15 local officials and agricultural collaborators to become key drivers for project replication, 6 FFSs for farmers in Ward 2, Vinh Chau).
(3) Test the onion farming model using water-saving irrigation technique and applying biotechnology of decomposing dead plants and animals.
(4) Draw lessons learned. Propose replication and transfer methods for the effective land and water use model to maintain sustainable production of onions in neighboring communes, such as Vinh Hai, Lac Hoa, etc., Vinh Chau, Soc Trang.