Using the UK Agency for International Development (DFID) sustainable livelihood framework, this paper measures the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD) farmers’ capacities in adopting ecological shrimp aquaculture models against the environmental pressures. The results took note of the beneficial natural and physical aspects while underlining the farmers' financial and social limitations in achieving livelihood sustainability. These limitations were found to be closely linked to the under-appreciated role of the governmental agency. The farmers, at the same time, overlook the importance of concessional loans while relying on their community network. We also discovered the key role of economic benefit in driving the farmers to shift their livelihoods from ecological models to industrial models, which would compromise the regional planning efforts of the government. In addition to contributing to enhancing the baseline information for future research, the findings presented in this paper can be of particular relevance to supporting agricultural decision-makers and policy planners of the entire VMD.

本文使用英国国际开发署 (DFID) 可持续生计框架，衡量越南湄公河三角洲 (VMD) 农民采用生态虾养殖模式应对环境压力的能力。结果注意到了有益的自然和物理方面，同时强调了农民在实现生计可持续性方面的财政和社会限制。人们发现这些限制与政府机构的作用被低估密切相关。同时，农民在依赖社区网络的同时忽视了优惠贷款的重要性。我们还发现了经济效益在推动农民生计从生态模式向产业模式转变方面的关键作用，这将损害政府的区域规划工作。除了有助于增强未来研究的基线信息外，本文中提出的研究结果对于支持整个 VMD 的农业决策者和政策规划者尤其重要。