Becoming Urban: How Urbanization Influences the Loss of Arable Land in Peri-urban Hanoi

Abstract

Under urbanization in Hanoi, the loss of arable land is increasingly threatening the sustainability of the agriculture system, farmers’ livelihood and food provision to the city. This paper aims at understanding the effects of urban expansion and policy on arable land. We use the annual change and the annual rate of change in arable land, GIS data and spatial autoregressive models. The loss of arable land is more pronounced in 2000-2007 than in 1993-2000. It tends to be higher in areas closer to highways and the city center. The development of built-up land has a negative effect on the annual change of the same period and in the later period, but it has mixed effects on the rate of change. The policy of status change (rural to urban) has a positive effect on the rate of change. Our quantitative results are of interest to policy-makers to help preserve arable land.