Vietnam Countryside: Challenges on the Horizon

Mr Luu Duc Khai, Director of Agriculture and Rural Development Policy Department (CIEM), said the survey on access to rural resources in Vietnam was initiated in 2002 and carried out every two years between 2006 and 2014. In the 2014, the survey collected data from 3,648 rural households in 12 provinces, including Lao Cai, Lai Chau, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, former Ha Tay, Phu Tho, Nghe An, Quang Nam, Khanh Hoa, Lam Dong and Long An. The survey repeatedly interviewed households every year, helping Vietnamese researchers and policymakers know the process of economic development over the course of time. The main content of the report was to provide social and economic indicators and analyse changes over time with information collected in 2014 in comparison with information gathered from previous surveys.

 

Mr Khai said initial results showed that the average annual income of a farmer household reached VND87 million, with the lowest being the Northwest with VND50 million, in Dien Bien and Lai Chau, and the highest being economically dynamic provinces with over VND130 million, comprising of Long An and former Ha Tay. Poverty fell to 13.2 percent. Access to clean water and environmental sanitation progressed in a positive direction.

 

The income gap of farmers is evidently widened. In the meantime, incomes from agriculture declined from 28 percent to 18 percent as its role is relatively weakening, he said. Specifically, the share of agricultural income decreased and the proportion of the work force employed and self-employed accounted for about 40 percent while salaried workers accounted for 30-40 percent, showing a growing role of salaried work as well as of self-employment among farmers. This shows that farmers are more active and developing their own production and business activities to escape poverty.

 

The poverty rate was significantly reduced, particularly from 27.1 percent in 2012 to 13.2 percent in 2014. Rural migration, which used to be a pressing issue, also improved. The rate of households with long-term migrants dropped from 22 percent in 2012 to only 15 percent in 2014.

 

However, according to experts, it is easy to see positive changes in Vietnam countryside but existing tough restrictions remain daunting for rural areas. Although the poverty rate fell, the possibility of returned poverty is still very high. Farmers and rural areas were yet able to find innovative ways for truly sustainable development.

 

Another very hard difficulty in rural areas was unemployment, which has yet to be addressed at the roots. Accordingly, people living in rural areas were yet to have full access to mechanisms and policies relating to land and land-ownership certification. At the macro level, investment attraction into rural areas was still weak and economically ineffective. The share of rural households engaged in crop cultivation remained high, accounting for 80-90 percent, which suggested that agriculture was still very important. Excessive and unsustainable exploitation of natural resources in many localities caused ecological imbalances.

 

Dr Nguyen Do Anh Tuan, IPSARD Director, said employment and livelihood opportunities are more and more difficult while resources cannot be exploited in greater volume, security and food safety and hygiene worsen, and belief in community declines. These very factors significantly cut the happiness index of rural populations. Specifically, the happiness index, or the satisfaction index of life of rural people in this survey, dropped from the survey in 2012. Only 43.9 percent of respondents said they felt happy, a decrease of 5.2 percent from 2012. Meanwhile, the number of people who felt unhappy rose to 56.1 percent, up 6 percent over 2012.

 

He added that the rate of people without training or specialised degrees in rural areas was relatively high, accounting for over 70 percent of the population, which placed growing hardships on agricultural restructuring, agricultural industrialisation, agricultural modernisation, and income increase for farmers.