Livelihood Strategies for Coping with Land Loss among Households in Vietnam's Sub-Urban Areas

Abstract

Using a novel data set from my household survey in a sub-urban district of Hanoi, Vietnam, this study is the first attempt using an econometric approach to investigate the relationship between farmland loss (due to urbanization and industrialization) and households' livelihood strategies. The results from the multinomial logit model provide the first econometric evidence that land loss increases with the probability of households adopting a strategy specializing in a single nonfarm activity (informal paid jobs or household businesses) or diversifying in many activities. This suggests that many households have actively coped with the shock of losing land. Such adaptation strategies in the new context can help mitigate their dependence on farmland as well as might help improve their welfare. Therefore, a possible implication here is that the rising of land loss should not be seen as an absolutely negative phenomenon because it can improve household welfare by motivating households to change or diversify their livelihoods. Besides, some household asset-related variables such as education, farmland, and the prime location of houses were found to be closely associated with participation in nonfarm activities. Based on evidence from the econometric analyses, the study proposes some policy recommendations that may help households diversify or specialize in lucrative nonfarm activities, given the context of shrinking farmland due to rapid urbanization in Hanoi's sub-urban areas.

Urbanization – changes in employment and incomes of people in Vietnam

“…These investments have contributed to profits and great benefits for people, thereby contributing to an increase in income for households. Research findings support the research hypothesis and previous studies by Cu and Nguyen (2021) and Tran (2013).…”

“…To study the effect of urbanization on people's income, the variables are selected as follows: Tran (2013), this is a scale to measure total costs that the household uses to spend in a year and is measured in units of millions of VND/year. According to Nguyen and Bui (2011) and Siegel (2005), if the cost of living of the whole household increases, the income of the household will increase.…”

“…The effects of urbanization on people's livelihoods have been studied primarily in the cases of those whose agricultural land has been acquired and thus incurs livelihood injury due to urbanization. People will now face new challenges due to the loss of means of production (Thuo, 2013;Abdissa & Degefa, 2011;Tran, 2013). They will receive compensation money when their land is acquired, if they use this compensation money effectively, they will have new livelihood strategies and their livelihoods will be better, and vice versa (Nguyen & Bui, 2011).…”

Development of industrial parks and a new livelihood strategy for the people in Vietnam

“…The reason is that people in that area, in the past, had a livelihood strategy of agriculture and fisheries; when the IP was built, they lost their labor materials, leading to a decrease in income. Tran (2013) and Nguyen and Bui (2011) analyzed factors affecting people's income, including education level, labor size, support policies, etc. However, Tran (2013) research subjects are households whose land is acquired in urban areas in Vietnam, while the research subjects of Nguyen and Bui (2011) are households of the Mekong Delta region.…”

Impacts of Industrial Park Development on the Surroundings’ Livelihood

“…Some research pointed at developing livelihood strategies for people whose land was acquired during industrialization and urbanization, e.g., Tran (2013); Nguyen and Bui (2011); Le (2007); Benayas et al (2007); Bryceson (1996); Jansen et al (2006). These studies analyze factors affecting the livelihood of households after land acquisition, and compare the income of households before and after land acquisition.…”