Steady and strong growth in recent years has
fuelled Viet Nam’s ambitions to move up to middle-income country status. A net
importer of food during the early 1980s, Viet Nam has now become one of the
biggest rice exporters in the world.
The
agriculture sector accounts for more than 22 per cent of GDP, 30 per cent of
exports* and 52 per cent of all employment**.
Past agricultural growth was largely based on bringing additional
physical factors of production into use, including land, irrigation water,
labour and new technologies. Further growth acceleration in Viet Nam during the
1990s was brought about through institutional restructuring that created
incentives to invest and enhance productivity in a market-oriented economy. For
example, the effects on agricultural growth of price liberalization and land
titling were dramatic. The rural sector in Viet Nam has shown resilience and a
capacity for change and adaptation. The growth in agricultural output
contributed greatly to improved household income, as roughly 70 per cent of the
Vietnamese population is engaged in agricultural activities.
Meanwhile,
the country’s poorest rural people generally have small plots of low-quality
land or are landless, and their opportunities for off-farm employment are
scarce. The poorest people live in remote villages in upland areas, with
limited access to transportation and social interaction. Rural poor people have
limited access to productive resources and basic financial services such as
credit and savings. Village, commune, district and regional infrastructure is
poorly developed. Rural poor people face harsh natural conditions and frequent
natural disasters. They are particularly vulnerable to seasonal hardships,
community-wide crises and unexpected events, such as disease, which increase a
household's expenses and reduce income. Poor households tend to include more
dependants, especially children. Among age groups, poverty disproportionately
affects children. Poor people, particularly ethnic minorities, are often
uninformed about their rights and lack access to legal assistance.
The
poorest people in Viet Nam include:
-
members
of the country's 53 ethnic minority groups, who depend mainly on forest
resources for a livelihood (they constitute only 13 per cent of the population
but account for almost 30 per cent of poor people)
-
people
living in remote upland areas with a poor natural resource base
-
people
living in coastal areas that are more prone to adverse climatic events
-
households
headed by women
-
households
with disabled members
-
migrants
-
landless
people
There
are broad regional variations in the distribution of poverty. The regions with
the highest relative poverty rates include the north-west, north-central,
central highlands, central coast and north-east. But in terms of absolute
numbers, more poor people live in the north-central and north-east regions, in
the Mekong Delta and central coastal regions, which are home to seven out of 10
of Viet Nam's poor people.
* World
Bank. Report No.: 44575-VN (Washington, DC, 2008).
**
CIA.. World Fact Book (Washington, DC, no date)
Source:
IFAD
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