Land Reform, Land Use and Rural Environment: A Case of Vietnam Ha Thuc Vien Nong Lam University-...

Land Reform, Land Use and Rural Environment: A Case of Vietnam

Ha Thuc VienNong Lam University- HCMC, Vietnam

Tel: (848)-37245411; Fax: (848)-37245411E-mail: [email protected]

Presentation for the International Conference on Sustainability Science – Asia, 23rd – 24th November 2009, AIT, Bangkok, Thailand

I would like to acknowledge my special thank to ICSS for providing me stipend to participate this conference

23 – 24 November Ha Thuc Vien 2

Theory of land use change Theory of land use change

• Land use change describes the structure of the change in uses of land from one type to another.

• Land use changes are considered as a result of land use – society interactions.

• According to Coccossis (1991), Population, resources, technology and institutions are identified as four sets of factors that influence on land use.

• Institutionally, land tenure is considered one of the key factors that defines patterns and changes in land-use systems.

• Land use changes may have both positive and negative influences on natural resources and environment.

General background of Vietnam

• Current population: 85 million, 73% of them living in the rural area and their livelihoods relying on agriculture and natural resources

• Since 1986, Vietnam’s economy: has been reformed towards market oriented system, economic growth rate: 6.7% - 8.5% per year

• Economy shifts from agriculture base to industrial and service structure

• Agriculturally, extensive and subsistence agriculture has been gradually replayed by intensive and commercial one



Land Reform in Vietnam

“Product contract” initiated in 1981: subcontracting land owned by cooperatives to farmers and they undertaken some tasks of production while the cooperative controlled largely the finial products.

The 1988 Land Law: Land owned by cooperatives was subjected to allocate to individual households for a 10 – 15 year term.

More radical reform was adopted under the 1993 Land Law. This law sets a framework for land allocation and titling to individual households for stable and long-term use of lands with five land use rights.

Land use change following land Land use change following land allocation and titling reformallocation and titling reform

• Land use and cropping patterns largely determined by agro-climate factors, but also changes to respond land tenure environment and market liberalization.

• Increasing intensive uses of land resources and expanding cultivated land into marginal areas.

• Shifting cropping patterns towards certain tradable crops, such as rice, coffee, rubber, cashew nut, pepper and aquaculture, etc.

• More land devoted to industrial and commercial crops



Land use change following land Land use change following land allocation and titling reformallocation and titling reform

Year

Total

Distribution Annual crops Perennial crops

Total Cereal grains

Other annual crops

Total Industrial crops

Fruit trees

1995 (ha) 10,028.3 8,893.0 7058.3 598.9 1135.3 758.5 296.0

2007 (ha) 13,495.2 10,862.7 8270.2 845.8 2632.5 1796.6 775.5

Comparison (ha) 3,466.9 1969.7 1211.9 246.9 1497.2 1038.1 479.5Comparison (%) 34.57 22.15 17.17 41.23 131.88 136.86 161.99

Table 1: Land Use Change between 1995 and 2007Unit: 1000ha

(Source: Calculation from data provided Vietnam General Department of Statistics, 2009)

23- 24 November Ha Thuc Vien 7

Land accumulation, land fragmentation and Land accumulation, land fragmentation and land loss land loss

No. Regions 2000 2007 +/- %Total 57,069 116,222 59,153 103.65

1 Red River Region 1,646 14,733 13,087 795.082 Northeastern Region 2,793 4,646 1,853 66.343 Northwestern Region 282 541 259 91.844 Central Region 7,206 15,169 7,963 110.515 Central High Land 3,589 9,240 5,651 157.456 Southeastern Region

9,586 16,870 7,284 75.997 Mekong Delta 31,967 55,023 23,056 72.12

Table 2: Large Farm Development between 2000 and 2007Unit: Farm


• Land accumulation and large farm development (373,200 ha to 663,500 ha between 2000 – 2007)

• Increasing land loss (8% to 19% between 2000 and 2007)• 23.8% of households own less than 0.2 ha of cultivable land • Land fragmentation: each household own 7-8 plots, 10% < 100m2


Crop yield and productivity trendsCrop yield and productivity trends

Crop

Output of crops (tones) Output 07 – 95 Yield 07-95

1995 2007 +/- (ton) +/- % +/-%Paddy rice 21.9 35.8675 13.9675 63.78 15.62Maize 0.8 4.1075 3.3075 413.44 83.46Total cereals 22.7 39.975 17.275 76.1 -----Tea 0.17 0.7049 0.5349 314.65 109.38Coffee 0.136 0.9612 0.8252 606.76 41.25Pepper 0.0075 0.00902 0.00152 20.27 430.80Cashew nut 0.046 0.3019 0.2559 556.3 818.00Rubber 0.097 0.601 0.504 519.59 74.06

Table 3: Trends in yields and outputs of major cropsUnit: million tones


Land use change and Environment

• Shifting from subsistence to commercial and high value crops

• Intensified uses of land resources for short-term benefits by increasing application of chemical fertilizer, pesticides, high yield varieties, deep ploughing techniques soil and water contamination and soil degradation and depletion, biodiversity loss, deforestation

• Few long – term investment can be observed (Neef, et al., 2000).

23- 24 November Ha Thuc Vien 9


Study VillagesStudy Villages

Three villages located in the buffer zone of Cat Tien National Park in the Southern upland of Vietnam, are the homeland of three distinctive ethnic groups.

Land allocation and titling started in 1993 and not yet completed

The study villages

The buffer zone

Cat Tien National

Park

Ho Chi Minh City

Ha Noi


Land use change following land reformLand use change following land reform

Types of land use 1997 (ha) 2004 (ha) -/+ (ha)1. Agricultural land 1.48 1.80 0.32 - Wet rice land 1.09 1.06 -0.03 - Other annual crop land 0.2 0.06 -0.14 - Industrial crop land 0.17 0.64 0.47 - Fish pond 0.02 0.04 0.022. Forest land 0.49 0.49 0Total land 1.97 2.29 0.32

(Source: A household survey 2004, 2005, 2009)

Table 4: Household Land Use from the Sample

• Expanding landholding

• Shifting land from annual crops (dry rice, cassava, sweet potato) to commercial crops (fruit trees, cashew nut coffee, pepper etc., ) fish pond, livestock production.

• Intensification and diversification of land use become main trends


Effect Mechanism

Perception HHs with HHs without LCT

Number (71) % Number (48) %

Satisfied 65 92 0 0

Not satisfied 6 8 48 100

Having more rights* 65 92 unobservable unobservable

[1] *“More rights” here refers to those who have land titles (LTCs).

1. Tenure Security Effect of Land Reform

Table 5: Local perception on land titling and tenure security


Effect Mechanism

Forms of credit Amount (mil. VND) Percentage of households (%)

1. Private credit in 1997 2.86 76

2. Total credit in 2004 5.71 86

- Land-collateral credit 3.47 45

- Private credit 2.24 53

Table 5: Household Access to Credit

Source: A household survey 2004, 2005,2009

2. Improving farmers’ institutional credit access


Effect Mechanism

3. Effect on agricultural investment and land use dynamics Land use strongly determined by upland agro-ecological

systems, but Tenure security and access to cheap credit investment

intensification (2- 5 times) Increasing crop diversification and shifting from traditional

and subsistence crops to high-value, commercial and industrial crops, inland aquaculture

Household’s initial endowments, access to productive assets, market liberalization, infrastructure improvement and population growth shifts in land use patterns and intensification and diversification of land uses

Shifts in household livelihoods

23 -24 November Ha Thuc Vien 16

Establishing national park ending shifting cultivation and excluding local access to land land use intensification

Land use intensification due to land reform, market liberalization, technology innovation, population growth over application of agro-chemical fertilizers, pesticides, HYVs, less use of manure land degradation, losing local varieties, loss of biodiversity, reducing land productivity.

Low local awareness on degradation of natural resources and environment

Favouring in short-term benefit behaviours while no long-term investment adopted

High risk due agriculture intensification and market fluctuation

Land reform, conservation, national park, Land reform, conservation, national park, and land use change and environmentand land use change and environment


Conclusions Land reform together with other sectoral reforms (market,

rural finance system, extension etc.), population growth, and technology innovation have significantly influenced land use towards intensification, diversification, high-value and industrial crops, land accumulation and land loss, increasing agriculture outputs.

Level of intensification is also very much dependent on farmers’ initial endowments and access to production resources.

Farmer favor in short-term benefit behavior while not take into account long-term investments degradation of natural resources and environment.


Extending land use rights term, improving rural credit system and production services to support households’ agriculture production.

Strengthening farmer’s capability towards sustainable agriculture practices by providing them sufficient technique and knowledge for integrating both agriculture development and the environment protection.

Towards community-based natural resource conservation.

Policy ImplicationsPolicy Implications


Thank You for Your Attention.Thank You for Your Attention.

Looking forwards training and research Looking forwards training and research collaboration with you in land and resource collaboration with you in land and resource management for sustainable developmentmanagement for sustainable development

Turn animation off

Land Reform, Land Use and Rural Environment: A Case of Vietnam Ha Thuc Vien Nong Lam University-...

Documents

Transcript of Land Reform, Land Use and Rural Environment: A Case of Vietnam Ha Thuc Vien Nong Lam University-...