Chuyen Que Minh (My Homeland), a soap opera series designed to communicate integrated pest management (IPM) principles and practices to rice farmers in Vietnam was launched in Vinh Long on 7 July 2004. The story was about a rice farming family in Vinh Long province, the daily chaos, problems, conflicts, and happiness they face. Interwoven in the drama are the IPM education contents, such as biological control, plant compensation, effects of pesticides on natural enemies, human health, and aquatic species. Broadcast over the Voice of Ho Chi Minh City (VOH) and Radio Vinh Long twice a week, the serial aired 105 episodes, of which 29 were devoted to encouraging farmers to reduce seed rate, fertilizer and pesticide use. The drama series was also broadcast in four other provincial radio stations.

In support of the radio drama, the provincial extension established 14 radio clubs that met monthly to discuss both the storylines and educational content of previous episodes. The radio clubs helped build social and information networks in the villages. Evaluation results showed statistically significant changes in farmers’ beliefs and input practices in seed, nitrogenous fertilizer and insecticides before and after the broadcasts.

The success of this Rockefeller Foundation-funded pilot project prompted the development of the Environmental Radio Soap Opera which won a World Bank Development Marketplace Award 2005. Launched on World Environment Day 2006, the new radio soap opera called, “Que Minh Xanh Mai” (Forever Green My Homeland) started broadcasting twice a week since June 2006, through the Voice of Ho Ch Minh City www.voh.org.vn and Voice of Can Tho. “Que Minh Xanh Mai “aims to educate rice farmers on environmental conservation principles, methods to reduce environmental impacts from farm chemicals, straw burning and water use, so as to protect ecosystem services. Complimentary on-the-ground extension support has reinforced the drama serial through activities such as “meet the actors” day, local competitions, radio clubs, and printed materials.

Farmers’ input practices between the baseline and post-test samples were compared using one-way ANOVA for compairon of means. Results showed that farmers had significantly reduced nitrogen inputs by .4% and potassium by 0.3%. No significant difference was found in the use of phosphorus. The proportion of farmers not using any insecticide increased slightly in the post-test. However, insecticide sprays significantly increased by 26% in the post-test sample. In 2005-2007, rice production in the Mekong Delta was vastly affected by outbreaks of virus diseases carried by the brown planthopper (BPH) which prompted officials and farmers to spray insecticides in excess to curb the disease. This could explain the increase in insecticide sprays among farmers in the post-test survey.

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