Agriculture ensures social security

According to a plan designed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), farmland will increase in size from 8,973,783 ha in 2000 to 9,363,063 ha in 2010. Findings of a survey made by the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD) warned that the population will increase around 1.3 percent while areas under cultivation will reduce by 1 percent annually. Average farmland per capita has fallen from 0.113 ha in 2000 to only 0.108 ha in 2010.

Meanwhile, the world average rate is 0.23 ha. According to many scientists from the Vietnam Land Association, these figures are alarming. Although Vietnam has accelerated its industrialisation and urbanisation programme over the last 20 years, about 75 percent of its population still lives on farming.

According to the Co-op Department, MARD, the recent land recovery has affected the lives of 627,500 households of about 2.5 million people including 950,000 farmlands. What will be the future of landless farmers remains an open question.

Statistics released by the MoNRE showed that from 2001 to 2007, over 500,000 ha of farmland was lost. On average, more than 73,000 ha of farmland (80 percent for rice production) are turned into industrial parks and urban areas every year. Findings of a MARD's survey on land recovery in 16 major provinces and cities found that about 89 percent of the recovered area was fertile and high-yielding.

Bac Ninh province, east of Hanoi, is the smallest in the country. But as a result of opening up to foreign and domestic investment in industry very early, its farmland has been reduced from 49,000 ha in 2000 to 42,000 ha in 2008 to give way to industrial parks (IPs).

According to statistics, one in every five households has lost farmland for IPs. Some villages even lost up to 90 – 95 percent of their farmland. Hung Yen province, southeast of Hanoi, has suffered the same fate.