Facility and equipment

This section reports about cover containment systems, control of water quality, handling of stock and more applied in the typical production facilities in the 4 cities.  

The facilities and equipment for cultivating these aquatic macrophytes does vary depending on the production methods and location. However below is an illustrated summary giving an indication of the type of equipment used. The growers in Bangkok due to their more intensive production have more mechanization and equipment than the other three - Phnom Penh the least.

Insects can be a particular pest and cause significant damage to the plants especially in the dry seasons. Therefore many of the producers will still spray their crops prophylactically in order to prevent infestations.

Water – often wastewater - is pumped into the plots by most of the growers in the three cities, with most of Phnom Penh production of aquatic plants coming from one large waste water lake/wetland fed with 80% of the city’s waste water. In Hanoi the aquatic plant growers are located along each of the city’s five waste water rivers, with producers in each commune normally sharing an electrically powered pumping station which used to be used for irrigating the former rice paddy fields. The photo shows a Diesel engine pump used for pumping water in and out of aquatic plants plots in Bangkok.

The extent and value of the equipment and inputs used in aquatic plant production in the four cities is directly dependent on the intensity of the systems of production. Similarly the labour requirement for each. Thus lower income households on Beung Cheung Ek Lake in Phnom Penh have fairly rudimentary equipment and tools, with HCMC and Hanoi aquatic plant growers using some types of mechanisation as well as chemical pests control. Bangkok is by far the most intensive, mechanised and productive in terms of kg produced per labourer.

The photo left depicts the  transport of Morning glory transported by motorbike in Hanoi – this often is through a household husband and wife ownership /rental of the aquatic plant plots. The wife tends to do the plot management and work in the fields, the husband then transports the finished harvest to local wholesale and retail markets by motorcycle.

The farmer in Bangkok  are rather using four wheel drive pickup for transporting their products to the market. 

	Food safety of aquatic plants and fish raised in wastewater-fed ponds (pdf)
	Water Treatment Capacity and Nutrient Flux Sampling (pdf)
	Potentially toxic metals in aquatic production systems (ppt)
	Waste-water treatment capacity (ppt)
	Microbiological quality of water spinach grown in the Boeng Cheung Ek lake (ppt)