Impact of Water Pollution on Rice Production
Attributes
Medium: Water
Country: Vietnam
Analytical Framework(s): Market Price of Output, Replacement Costs
Unit(s): Total Cost
Study Date: 2009
Publication Date: 2011
Major Result(s)
| Resource/Environmental Good | VND, per hectare (2009) |
VND, per hectare (2014)1 |
USD, per hectare (2014)2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Increase in cost of rice production due to water pollution | 970,000.00 | 1,364,654.20 | 63.88 |
| Total loss of net economic return | 3,200,000.00 | 4,501,952.00 | 210.74 |
About the Inflation Adjustment: Prices in Vietnam (VND) changed by 40.69% from 2009 to 2014 (aggregated from annual CPI data), so the study values were multiplied by 1.41 to express them in 2014 prices. The study values could be expressed in any desired year (for example, to 2025) by following the same inflation calculation and being sensitive to directional (forward/backward) aggregations using your own CPI/inflation data.
Study Note: Vietnam has achieved the average GDP growth rate of 6.71 per year. Economic development has brought many benefits to Vietnam. The two biggest cities in Vietnam, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, have been ranked as the worst cities in Asia for dust pollution. Since almost all industrial zones have not installed wastewater treatment systems in Vietnam, the existence of industrial wastewater contamination appears almost everywhere. Water pollution was a serious problem in the big industrial estates of Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Provinces, and that financial constraints and lack of space were the main reasons why many small and medium-sized enterprises did not invest in wastewater treatment systems. Trade liberalization led to greater pollution and environmental degradation but that the Vietnamese people have gradually recognized the importance of environmental protection.
Study Details
Summary: The study surveyed rice farmers in two areas with the assumptions of the same natural condition and social characteristics. One is considered as the polluted area near and directly receiving wastewater from the industrial parks, while the other is assumed to be the non-polluted area far from and having no effect of industrial pollutants. The productivity loss of rice production caused by water pollution was estimated by the difference in rice yield between the two regions. The similar calculation was applied for cost increase and profit loss for using wastewater irrigation. The results showed that the yield loss of rice was about 0.67 tons per hectare per crop, VND 0.97 million for cost increase and totally 26 percent of profit loss due to water pollution.Moreover, the study also estimated that total cost increase of the whole interviewed households in the polluted area was about VND 144 million and approximately VND 474 million per crop for their total net economic loss because of water pollution.
Site Characteristics: In the Mekong River Delta, there are approximately 33 industrial parks, which constitute 9.5% of the total industrial parks of the country. Almost all of these 33 parks have no wastewater treatment system. The industrial parks in Can Tho city have released the biggest pollution loads, and the province is ranked in the top 10 most polluted provinces in Vietnam. Can Tho is also one of the biggest rice producers in the Mekong River Delta. Because of these reasons, Can Tho was selected as the study site. There are six industrial parks in Can Tho, which mainly comprise agricultural and fishery processing industries, clothes and consumer goods manufacturing industries. Almost none of the industrial zones and industrial corporations located near human residences have installed wastewater treatment systems. There has been little management of toxic waste or water pollution by local authorities and business. TraNoc 1 (built in 1995) and TraNoc 2 (built in 1999) industrial zones have only recently been acknowledged by the Department of Resources and Environment while Thot Not has been considered by Can Tho authorities to evaluate the impact of environmental pollution{Resource and Environment department of Can Tho city, 2008 40 /id}. As a consequence, TraNoc 1 and 2 have released large volumes (1000s m3) of various waste products directly into the river.
Comments: The use of polluted water also caused the farmers to change their cultivation management. In previous years, three rice crops were produced annually and rice cultivation was the main income source. However, because of pollution, only one or two rice crops is now cultivated in the polluted area each year, and farmers treat rice cultivation as a part-time job, producing rice sufficient only for household consumption. During the study, reports of skin diseases on the farmers working in the polluted region were received. For instance, a farmer in the polluted area reported that he had suffered from skin disease 5 days per year, and the treatment cost VND 500,000. The diseases also caused the loss of 2.5 workdays, equivalent to VND 250,000. Therefore, the estimate of total economic loss is underestimated if indirect costs such as the health costs suffered by farmers are not included.