Bridging Tradition and Innovation: Women's Role in Agricultural Adaptation and Knowledge Transfer in the Mekong River Delta.

Abstract

The Vietnamese Mekong Delta is among the world’s most climate-vulnerable agricultural regions, facing intensifying threats from draught, erratic rainfall, and soil degradation. These pressures disproportionately affect rural women, who play a central role in sustaining agricultural production while navigating structural constraints such as limited institutional access, gendered care responsibilities, and time poverty. This research explores how women across three generations in farming households in An Giang province respond and adapt to these challenges by combining Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) with modern agricultural knowledge and techniques. Grounded in Feminist Political Ecology and the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, the study draws on 33 semi-structured interviews and one focus group, offering a gendered and generational perspective on climate adaptation. Findings show that adaptation is embedded in everyday practices and relationships, with women acting as knowledge brokers – serving as bridges between inherited traditional techniques and institutional training. Although TEK role is increasingly vulnerable due to environmental and structural pressions, knowledge-sharing remains active and dynamic. Intergenerational exchange is shown to be bidirectional, with younger generations introducing digital tools and external knowledge, while older generations contribute experiential, place-based insights. While out-migration often contributes to the erosion of traditional knowledge systems, return migration can bring innovation and renewed engagement. Structural barriers, however, continue to limit many women’s participation in formal adaptation initiatives. By framing adaptation as a relational and intergenerational process, this study challenges technocratic, top-down approaches to climate policy. It calls for gender- and age-sensitive adaptation planning that values local knowledge, promotes intergenerational dialogue, and addresses structural inequalities.