| Author | Tran Van Cong |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.RD-02-05 |
| Subject(s) | Home economics Vietnam Hung Yen
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of
Science |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Since the introduction of the renovation process, a rural household is considered as a basic
decision making unit in a rural sector. Rural household economy structure has been
changing. In order to improve and stable household income, rural people have to diversify
their economic activities. The research deals with the diversification of rural household
economy in Vietnam. The specific objectives of the research are to assess the socioeconomic
characteristics of rural households; to examine of the pattern of diversification in
rural economy, to analyze factors influencing the diversification of the rural economy; to
study people's attitudes toward the changes in rural economy; and to give
recommendations to strengthen the rural economy and provide policy implications.
Diversification in rural economy was examined both in farm and non-farm activities
particularly the impact after the reform period and the implementation of the government
policy in this respect since 1990s.
The research was conducted in the two communes in the Hung Yen province in the Red
river Delta of Vietnam representative in the two areas of recent rapid diversification and
traditional diversification by using a household survey questionnaire as a prime method for
data collection. The research was focused on quantitative analysis but qualitative technique
was also applied.
Findings from this study showed that the rural households in the two areas had different
farm and non-farm practices as well as occupational structure. In the recent rapid
diversification area, rural households were diversified in both farm and a non-farm activity
while the traditional diversification area was more focused on non-farm activities rather
than farm activities. As a result, the latter area obtained higher household income than
those in the recent rapid diversification. However, in the household income composition,
the farm income was still dominant in the recent rapid diversification while in traditional
diversification area, non-farm income was occupied in the major proportion. In those areas,
the non-farm households had higher income than the farm households. The degree of
diversification of farm households was higher than those in the non-farm households and
these had a trend for being specialization than having the diversification pattern. In the new
environment, the rural households participated actively in the supporting systems like the
credit system, extension service and social institutions, which the institutions continuously
played an important role in accelerating rural development.
Several factors were influenced on the diversification of household economy based on the
research findings. These included many of those in economic, social and institutional
aspects. The attitudes of rural people in the change of rural economy also found out,
relating to the change in production mode and production functions. Most of the rural
households agreed with the diversification in the context of having a combination between
farm and non-farm activities.
Certain recommendations were given in this research to improve and intensify the
diversification of rural economy including farm, non-farm production and off-farm
earning. The policy implications focused on capital support, land consolidation, marketing,
adoption of new technology, strengthening and providing vocational training in rural areas
and development of rural public infrastructure. |
| Year | 2002 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Rural Development, Gender and Resources (RD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Soparth Pongquan; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Weber, Karl E.;Routray, Jayant K.; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
(NORAD); |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2002 |