Viet Nam continues to be one of the world’s largest rice exporters. However, population growth and improved living standards have caused national rice consumption to increase by 2% per year, posing at the time of project design considerable challenges for national food security.  Exacerbating the challenges is the limited and declining availability of land for agriculture due to urban expansion, diversification into aquaculture and other crops, and economic growth, all of which place increasing demands on available water resources. In response, the government has embarked on the Northern Chu and Southern Ma Rivers Irrigation System (NCSMRIS) investment program in the Thanh Hoa province in north–central Viet Nam, which aims to enhance land productivity through better irrigation and drainage.

The Development of the Northern Chu and Southern Ma Rivers Irrigation System Project, financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with a $110 million loan approved in December 2011, comprised phase 2 of the 3-phased government NCSMRIS investment program.  It sought to provide farmers with reliable irrigation services by upgrading and developing irrigation and drainage facilities over 17,244 hectares (ha) within the NCSMRIS.  Building on investments made by the government in the Cua Dat reservoir, the project’s envisaged impact was improved water and land productivity of irrigated cropping systems in the NCSMRIS area. Its expected outcome was effective and timely irrigation services provided by the NCSMRIS.

The project had four intended outputs at appraisal: (i) improved water resources management (WRM), delivery of irrigation services, and irrigation system operation and maintenance (O&M); (ii) improved irrigation infrastructure; (iii) improved access to and use of rural support services, agricultural inputs, and information; and (iv) effective project management. It also included a small reforestation activity under output 2 to compensate for land cleared during construction.

At completion, the project substantially achieved its planned outputs.  Measurement of irrigation flows and river discharges and monitoring of agricultural production has been improved through the installation and use of GIS-based monitoring and evaluation systems.  Water user groups (WUGs) have developed O&M plans, with irrigation service fee collected from farmers for financing O&M of on-farm canals. The state-owned provincial irrigation management committees (IMCs) have prepared annual business plans.

The north and south main canals, comprising NCSMRIS phase 2, has been completed and commissioned. Pilot sites demonstrating sprinkler-irrigated maize have been established, although the planned rice demonstration site was moved to phase 3, and the sugarcane demonstration site was dropped as it was already developed by a private company. Project shortfalls were registered in the actual area covered by irrigation, farmer trainings and extension services, and gender targets.   

Notwithstanding the shortfalls, the project achieved its two outcome targets: all the WUGs in the 37 project communes reported receiving water on time and in adequate quantity; and against a target of 40%, 44% of the beneficiaries of the technical trainings on WUG management and O&M, agricultural extension, and GIS were women.  With its outcome targets met, the project also achieved its impact targets. Spring rice yield across phase 2 of the NCSMRIS scheme area in 2019 increased to 7 tons/hectare (t/ha) and summer rice yield in 2018 to 6 t/ha.  Aggregate water delivered for spring and summer rice was 1.62 times higher than the target. Cropping intensity of the project areas in 2018 was about the target of 2.37.  Overall, the project has thus contributed to increased farm productivity, resulting in a substantial increase in farm incomes. It has also improved the supply of irrigation water in the project area, enabling the cultivation of high-value crops that are sensitive to water stress.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), acting through its central project office, was the executing agency. MARD’s Irrigation Construction and Management Board No. 3 and the Thanh Hoa project management unit shared the responsibility of implementing the project at the provincial level.