Rice land protection in a transitional economy: The case of Vietnam

Abstract

Agricultural land protection (ALP) is a standard policy response to a desire for food security. However, ALP may result in a misallocation of resources. Examining rice land policy in Vietnam, we determine the optimal level of rice land protected against other crops using a stochastic optimization model built on top of a general equilibrium framework, combined with sequential micro-simulations on household data. We find that converting part of protected rice land enhances economic efficiency. Nonetheless, the policy is relatively pro-rich, implying a trade-off between poverty reduction and economic efficiency, making some households in already poor areas worse off. Our approach can be applied to land-use planning generally, highlighting the relevant tradeoffs and the search for needed optimal land-use policies.

Land Allocation Policy and Income Inequality: Evidence From Vietnam

“…Changes in crop activities, coupled with more opportunities on non‐farm businesses and wages resulted from land reforms and related policies, exacerbate income inequality in rural areas. Our results are in line with the study of Chu et al (2021), which finds that converting from rice to other crop activities is pro‐rich.…”

The economics of emissions in rice production: a survey-data-driven approach in Vietnam

“…The sampling employed is recognized as representative at the national, regional, urban, rural and provincial levels, as confirmed by Vietnam's General Statistics Office (General Statistics Office, 2019). The VHLSS data have gained extensive utilization in prior studies involving Vietnam's households within the realm of climate change and environmental economics (Arouri, Nguyen, & Youssef, 2015; Trinh, 2018; Chu et al. , 2021; Feeny, Trinh, & Zhu, 2021).…”

“…The government has implemented multiple policies to promote rice production. These policies range from command-and-control disallowing farmers to grow non-rice crops (Chu, Nguyen, Kompas, Dang, & Bui, 2021) to providing economic incentives, e.g. waiving irrigation fees (Phu, 2023) and providing subsidies to ensure profitability of rice producers (OECD, 2022).…”

Can government subsidies promote the construction of “Blue Basic Farmland”? Analysis of multi-subject management model in mariculture areas

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