Non-Farm Activities and Impacts beyond the Economy of Rural Households in Vietnam: A Review and Link to Policies

Rachmat Mulia,Magnus Jirström,Tan Quang Nguyen,Elisabeth Simelton

doi:10.3390/su131810182

Abstract

Rural households in Asian developing countries such as Vietnam have been participating in non-farm activities for decades, yet impacts beyond the economy of these households are little understood. Using evidence from available literature and two case studies from rural Vietnam, this paper exposes a range of socio-cultural impacts of non-farm activities. An increased social tension driven by a widening economic gap between poor and better-off households or ethnic majority and minority groups was the most frequently reported impact in the literature. The case studies reveal additional impacts, notably those associated with public security, preservation of local culture, and safety of farm households with migrants during and following climate-related disasters. An increasing number of young migrants who exited family farms to access non-farm jobs partially led to the latter two impacts. The rural development and poverty reduction policies of Vietnam enacted in the past two decades (2000–2020) that promoted livelihood diversification had limited measures addressing socio-cultural impacts of non-farm activities. An amendment of these two categories of policies for the implementation beyond 2020 or a strengthened synergy in implementation with other categories of policy such as social policies is necessary to ensure sustainable rural development in Vietnam.

Highlights

Over the past few decades, rural transformation driven by policy reforms has stimulated economic growth in developing Asian countries such as Vietnam [1,2]
We focus on the impacts of non-farm activities beyond the economy of rural households in Vietnam
Our study focused on the impacts of non-farm activities undertaken by rural households but not by other types of stakeholders, such as large private or public companies that in some cases have created a population of landless households through the expansion of industrial parks or tourism centres in rural areas [47,66,67]

Summary

Introduction

Over the past few decades, rural transformation driven by policy reforms has stimulated economic growth in developing Asian countries such as Vietnam [1,2]. Rural transformation can be defined as “a process of comprehensive societal change whereby rural societies diversify their economies and reduce their reliance on agriculture” [3] This transformation has widened opportunities for the diversification of rural sources of living and helped in eradicating rural poverty through increased employment opportunities and additional income from non-farm activities, including remittance [4,5,6,7,8]. Rural households diversify their livelihood as a risk-averse strategy for stabilising income or as an opportunity-led strategy to improve their living conditions, often referred to as push and pull factors, respectively [9,10]. The pull factors could relate to, e.g., the growth of labour-intensive industries and urban service sector [13,15]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion