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Livelihood of farm households after land revocation: A case study in Song Khe Commune, Bac Giang City, Bac Giang Province, Vietnam
Thesis Abstract:
This study was conducted in Song Khe Commune, where the agrarian households had to cope with a sudden shock of land revocation caused by rural industrialization and urbanization. The cultivated land was transformed into factories, infrastructure, and residential areas. The study aimed to examine the changes of farm household assets after the land revocation, and to investigate farm-households’ coping strategies in order to maintain their livelihoods after the land revocation.
The study was conducted using qualitative methodology. Key informant interview and household survey were implemented. Sample households were purposively selected based on age of household heads. It appeared that percentage land lost for the older households were less than the younger households. Moreover, the selection was also based on farmers’ time availability and their willingness to answer the questions. There were 20 households selected for the interview, which included 10 household respondents less than 60 years old and another 10 household respondents over 60 years old.
The study revealed that land revocation created changes in household livelihood assets of both groups. Financial and physical assets, as well as education of the household member increased, while land asset and social aspect reduced after land revocation. For all households, after land revocation people had higher education and skills, better financial status, and higher life quality, but intrahousehold communication and among households reduced considerably. The priority for using compensation of interviewed households were to save money in a bank due to high interest, and invest in children’s education and vocational training. Few families used their compensation for working capital, building new house, and purchasing furniture. However, farmers especially the older ones, did not focus on rice production after land revocation. This was because income from interest earning at present were large enough to provide additional cash to purchase rice for a smaller family size now. In addition, few farmers who still planted rice were facing pest problem, which often damaged rice crop. Some farmers started planting herb to compensate the rice losses. Results of this research showed that non-farm strategies offered higher incomes than farm strategies. The households transformed their main livelihood from farming to waged work, small business, handcraft, and setting rooms for rent. Overall, the livelihood of farm households was improved and almost all people were satisfied with the land revocation.