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

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.

Digital Rural Construction and Farmers’ Income Growth: Theoretical Mechanism and Micro Experience Based on Data from China

“…To examine the mechanisms by which digital rural construction promotes income growth of farmers by affecting their labor allocation, we use the proportion of non-farm employees in the household [29] and the total non-farm work time [30] as two proxy variables for non-agricultural employment of rural households. Likewise, we use the 2SLS method to correct for endogeneity.…”

Personal Earnings in Pakistan: Role of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Livelihood Diversification

“…Supplementing the agricultural sector, the non-farm sector greatly contributes to the households' welfare, especially in rural areas of developing economies including Pakistan (Habib et al, 2023b;Malik, 2008;Mellor and Malik, 2017). Livelihood diversification leads to the societies' well-being in terms of enhancement in income levels, reduction in poverty, improvement in food security, development of stronger social networks, and mitigation of risks, etc., (Habib et al, 2023a;Kassegn and Endris, 2021;Mulia et al, 2021;Salam et al, 2019). The study shall be a valuable contribution to the existing literature on evaluating the nexus of ICT development and livelihood diversification to personal earnings in Pakistan.…”

“…Livelihood diversification enables the rural community to expand their income sources beyond farm activities to fortify economic resilience, increase household income, reduce poverty, foster skills development, and improve food security (Habib et al, 2023a;Kassegn and Endris, 2021). It also strengthens social cohesion, mitigates risks, improves market access, and leverages local resources with more inclusive and sustainable development outcomes (Mulia et al, 2021;Salam et al, 2019).…”