Farmland Acquisition and Household Livelihoods in Hanoi's Peri-Urban Areas

While farmland loss (due to urbanisation and industrialisation) causes job losses for a huge number of farmers and threatens food security, it can bring about a wide range of new job opportunities for local people through which they can change their livelihoods and improve their welfare. The literature in Vietnam and some other countries reveals that although there has been much discussion about the mixed impacts of farmland loss on rural household livelihoods, none of these impacts has been quantified thus far. This thesis is the first study to use econometric methods for quantifying the various impacts of farmland loss on households' livelihood strategies and outcomes. Using survey data from 477 randomly sampled households in 6 communes in a peri-urban district of Hanoi, several regression models were used to examine how and to what extent farmland loss has affected rural household livelihoods in Vietnam. Specifically, three key relationships were considered and tested: (i) the relationship between farmland loss and household livelihood strategies; (ii) the relationship between farmland loss and household livelihood outcomes (income and consumption expenditure); and (iii) the relationship between farmland loss and household income shares by source. It was found that farmland loss has a positive impact on the choice of non-farm work-based strategies, notably the informal wage work-based strategy. Given the impact of farmland loss, households' income shares actually diversified into non-farm sources, especially informal wage income. Interestingly, the results indicate that farmland loss, coupled with compensation, has no negative impact on livelihood outcomes (neither income nor consumption expenditure per capita). Possibly this can be explained by the fact that a number of households used part of their compensation money for smoothing consumption. In addition, income earned from jobs outside of farming might compensate for or even exceed the loss of farm income due to the loss of farmland. This suggests that farmland loss can have an indirect positive effect on livelihood outcomes (through its positive effect on non-farm participation). This thesis makes several key contributions. Firstly, with a combination of an adapted analytical framework and appropriate econometric models, this study provides a proper approach for studies of the relationship between farmland loss and rural household livelihoods. Secondly, it provides the first econometric evidence for the links between farmland loss and household livelihood strategies and outcomes. Finally, based on the empirical results, this study proposes valuable policy recommendations for mitigating negative impacts of farmland loss on rural households and helping them achieve better livelihood outcomes

Nonfarm employment and household income among ethnic minorities in Vietnam

This study examines the determinants of nonfarm participation and the effect of nonfarm employment on household income among ethnic minorities in the Northwest Mountains, Vietnam. The logistic regression analysis shows that education and the availability of local enterprises or trade villages, notably among other factors, have a significantly increasing impact on the likelihood of taking up wage employment, while the presence of paved roads gives households more chance to engage in nonfarm self-employment. Using a propensity score matching analysis, the study found that households that participated in wage or nonfarm self-employment have higher levels of per capita income than those without nonfarm employment. The findings imply that nonfarm employment offers a pathway out of poverty for ethnic minorities

Government financial support and firm productivity in Vietnam

Using the Färe-Primont index and instrumental variable fixed effect estimation for the data of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), this study considers if receiving government financial support enables SMEs in Vietnam to become more productive. The paper discovers no evidence of linkage between financial support and firm productivity. However, access to financial support improves technological progress and growth in firm scale but has a negative effect on improvement in technical efficiency. The estimation results reveal that the use of productivity as an aggregated index in previous studies may hide the real effect of government support on firm productivity

A review on the link between nonfarm activities, land and rural livelihoods in Vietnam and developing countries

Although there has been much empirical evidence on the link between nonfarm employment, land and rural livelihoods, few studies have reviewed this relationship, given the context of land shrinking due to urbanisation and industrialisation in developing countries and Vietnam. Thus, this paper reviewed recently empirical evidence on this link in the context of increasing land loss to urbanisation and industrialisation in some developing countries and Vietnam. It was found that while land is of great importance to a number of countries, it seems to be less important to others. Land shortage can be a positive factor encouraging rural households' participation in nonfarm activities and improving their welfare in countries in which non-farm job opportunities are available to a large part of the population. Nevertheless, this can negatively affect rural household livelihoods in countries lacking such non-farm jobs. In the case of Vietnam, both farmland and nonfarm activities provided vital sources of livelihoods for rural households. In addition, in Vietnam's peri-urban areas where more and more farmland has been lost to rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, nonfarm employment was found to help households reduce their livelihood dependence on farmland and improve their welfare

A review on the link between nonfarm activities, land and rural livelihoods in Vietnam and developing countries

Although there has been much empirical evidence on the link between nonfarm employment, land and rural livelihoods, few studies have reviewed this relationship, given the context of land shrinking due to urbanisation and industrialisation in developing countries and Vietnam. Thus, this paper reviewed recently empirical evidence on this link in the context of increasing land loss to urbanisation and industrialisation in some developing countries and Vietnam. It was found that while land is of great importance to a number of countries, it seems to be less important to others. Land shortage can be a positive factor encouraging rural households' participation in nonfarm activities and improving their welfare in countries in which non-farm job opportunities are available to a large part of the population. Nevertheless, this can negatively affect rural household livelihoods in countries lacking such non-farm jobs. In the case of Vietnam, both farmland and nonfarm activities provided vital sources of livelihoods for rural households. In addition, in Vietnam's peri-urban areas where more and more farmland has been lost to rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, nonfarm employment was found to help households reduce their livelihood dependence on farmland and improve their welfare

The impact of farmland loss on income distribution of households in Hanoi's peri-urban areas, Vietnam

This study has provided the first econometric evidence that the loss of land ( due to urbanization and industrialization) has no impact on the probability of a household belonging to a particular income group (poor, middle class or rich) in Hanoi's peri-urban areas, Vietnam. The result also revealed that farmland holding was not statistically correlated with the likelihood of the household being in a given income group. Nevertheless, other factors, including households' education, access to credit, productive assets and notably their nonfarm participation before farmland loss, were found to increase the chances of the households moving up the income ladder

Farmland and peri-urban livelihoods in Hanoi, Vietnam: evidence from household survey data

Using data from our own household survey (n=477) in Hanoi's peri-urban areas, this paper attempts to answer (i) what livelihood strategies are pursued by peri-urban households, (ii) which strategies are lucrative and which are not, and (iii) whether access to farmland is the potential barrier to enter remunerative strategies. The paper uses cluster analysis techniques, based on identification of household income shares by source, to provide the first classification of five livelihood strategies pursued by households in Hanoi's peri-urban areas. Income sources and total income are compared across livelihood strategies using Bonferroni pairwise tests and first-order stochastic dominant analysis. The findings of the study show that non-farm income sources mainly contribute to total household income, strategies based on formal wage work and non-farm household businesses are the most remunerative ones and strategies based on farming and informal wage work are the most inferior ones. Factors associated with households' livelihood strategy choice are examined using a multinomial logit model. The findings reveal that farmland is negatively associated with the choice of both high and low return non-farm-based strategies. This suggests that access to farmland is not a potential barrier to enter lucrative strategies. In addition, education of working members has a positive impact on the pursuit of remunerative strategies, implying that better education might shift households away from farming activities. Age of household working members has a negative effect on the choice of wage work-based strategies, suggesting that emerging non-farm opportunities make young workers less interested in farm work. Finally, this paper proposes some policy implications that may help households obtain better livelihood outcomes

Socio-Economic Determinants of Household Income among Ethnic Minorities in the North-West Mountains, Vietnam

This paper investigates both commune and household determinants of household income among ethnic minorities in the North-West Mountains – the poorest region of Vietnam. The findings show that the vast majority of the sample households heavily depend on agricultural activities. Factors affecting household income per capita are examined using multiple regression models and the findings confirm the important role of education, non-farm employment and fixed assets in improving household income. In addition, some commune variables such as the presence of the means of transportation, post offices and non-farm job opportunities are found to have an increasing impact on household income. The findings suggest that policies for poverty reduction should aim at both commune and household levels. Policies that focus on improving the access of ethnic minorities to education and non-farm employment are expected to be effective ways of enhancing their income

Determinants of nonfarm participation among ethnic minorities in the Northwest Mountains, Vietnam

This study is the first to analyze the intensity of nonfarm participation and its correlates among ethnic minority households in the Northwest Mountains - the poorest region of Vietnam. We found that ethnic minority households depend heavily on agriculture for subsistence and their access to nonfarm employment is very limited. Households that participated in nonfarm activities have a much higher level of education, income, assets and a lower level of poverty than those without nonfarm participation. Factors affecting the level of nonfarm participation were examined by using a fractional logit model. The results show that education, notably among other factors, has a strongly increasing effect on the intensity of nonfarm participation. Having more annual crop land and water surface for aquaculture reduces the intensity of participation in nonfarm activities. In addition, some commune characteristics were found to be closely linked to the extent of nonfarm participation. A commune with nonfarm job opportunities and paved roads increases the intensity of nonfarm participation for households living in that commune. From the findings what policy implication can be drawn is that any poverty alleviation policies should aim at improving the access of ethnic minorities to education and nonfarm job opportunities

What determines household income of ethnic minorities in North-West Mountains, Vietnam: A microeconometric analysis of household surveys

This paper investigates socio-economic factors affecting household income among ethnic minorities in North-West Mountains – the poorest region of Vietnam. The findings revealed that the vast majority of the sample households heavily depended on agricultural activities, with very limitted access to nonfarm employment. Factors affecting household income were analyzed using multiple regression models and the results confirm the crucial role of education, non-farm employment and fixed assets in improving household income. Also, some community characteristics such as the presence of means of transportation, post offices and nonfarm job opportunities were found to have a significantly positive impact on household income. The findings imply that policies for poverty reduction should aim at both commune and household levels in the study area